Adverts and search engines have massively impacted the ways in which we read online. I don't just mean how we find things to read, but impacts on how we read and the quality of reading online. Adverts make content worse in many different ways Even simple banner adverts add visual clutter to a page. Pop-ups, … Continue reading The struggle for readability
Category: Web
Prompting
My feed is full of screenshots of AI generated images made using Midjourney and DALL-E. I've seen Kermit the frog in, well, everything and Foucault on a swing. Creative prompt engineering can lead to some interesting results. And because interesting results leads to clicks which lead to revenue, then engineering interesting prompts will be a … Continue reading Prompting
Downloading magazines from the Internet Archive (and making gifs from their covers)
I like reading old magazines and books over at the Internet Archive. They've got a great online reader that works just fine in the browser. But sometimes I want a local copy I can put on my tablet or other device. And reading locally saves them some bandwidth. Downloading individual items is simple, but it … Continue reading Downloading magazines from the Internet Archive (and making gifs from their covers)
Thinking through decentralisation as a process, not an architecture
I tweeted this the other day: https://twitter.com/ldodds/status/1458562522919936001 I don't claim this is a new or even particularly profound insight. But I do sometimes feel that discussion around the need for more decentralised products and services focuses more the technical design of a system, rather than how it is governed. An expectation that a decentralised protocol … Continue reading Thinking through decentralisation as a process, not an architecture
Quick tips for chairing remote meetings
There's a growing set of useful resources and guidance to help people run better remote meetings. I've been compiling a list to a few. At the risk of repeating other, better advice, I'm going to write down some brief tips for running remote meetings. For a year or so I was chairing fortnightly meetings of … Continue reading Quick tips for chairing remote meetings
GUIDE, a retrospective
This article was first published in the February 2030 edition of Sustain magazine. Ten years since the public launch of GUIDE we sit down with its designers to chat about its origin and what's made it successful. It's a Saturday morning and I'm sitting in the bustling cafe at Tyntesfield house, a National Trust property … Continue reading GUIDE, a retrospective
Long live RSS! How I manage my reading
"LONG LIVE RSS!" I shout these words from my bedroom window every morning. Reaffirming my love for this century's most criminally neglected data standard. If you've either forgotten, or never enjoyed, the ease of managing your information consumption via the magic of RSS and a feed reader, then you're missing out mate. Struggling with the … Continue reading Long live RSS! How I manage my reading
Observations on the web
Eight years ago I was invited to a workshop. The Office for National Statistics were gathering together people from the statistics and linked data communities to talk about publishing statistics on the web. At the time there was lots of ongoing discussion within and between the two communities around this topic. With a particular emphasis … Continue reading Observations on the web
Enabling data forensics
I'm interested in how people share information, particularly data, on social networks. I think it's something to which it's worth paying attention, so we can ensure that it's easy for people to share insights and engage in online debates. There's lots of discussion at the moment around fact checking and similar ways that we can improve … Continue reading Enabling data forensics
The British Hypertextual Society (1905-2017)
With their globe-spanning satellite network nearing completion, Peter Linkage reports on some of the key milestones in the history of the British Hypertextual Society. The British Hypertextual Society was founded in 1905 with a parliamentary grant from the Royal Society of London. At the time there was growing international interest in finding better ways to manage … Continue reading The British Hypertextual Society (1905-2017)
Lost Boy 