Earlier this month the Ford Foundation published Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure. Written by Nadia Eghbal, the report addresses the challenges of sustaining our digital infrastructure: Everybody relies on shared code to write software, including Fortune 500 companies, government, major software companies and startups. In a world driven by technology,…
Tag: digital
The Seductive Lie of the Literature of Creativity
The literature of creativity describes the heroic pathways of discovery and invention. You know the stories: The post-it note and Swiffer to the music of Dylan and the art of Monet. These creations form the heart of gripping non-fiction accounts that provide a narrative around the individual achievements and miraculous inspirations that have delivered disruptive new ideas and technologies….
The Politics of Bitcoin – A Reading List
I am increasingly fascinated by Bitcoin, the crypto-currency, and thought it might be useful to begin compiling a list – a reading list – of articles and posts on bitcoin and the distributed ledger Block Chain. Specifically, these articles relate to the politics and social/political implications of the technology. Over the next few days and weeks I’ll…
Twitter’s Missing User Manual
In a recent tweet, Eric Stoller shared a wonderful resource: Twitter’s missing user manual. Twitter’s missing user manual [***share this with everyone!***] https://t.co/glwMrxdvfh — Eric Stoller (@EricStoller) March 7, 2016 The ‘manual’ (it’s really an extended blog post) aims to clarify and highlight all those additional bits of functionality or clever tricks that aren’t immediately obvious…
Redesigning Government
I recently came across this fantastic video of Mike Bracken (ex. Head of GDS and currently CDO at Co-Op Digital) and Tim O’Reily (O’Reily Media). It’s worth watching to find out more about how design and user research is transforming government services and systems. It’s also really interesting to hear Mike talk about his current…
What’s in a Name? Digital Engagement or Digital Inclusion
The Government Digital Inclusion team have recently announced their move into the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). As part of the move the move the Inclusion team also revealed a change in their name. A change from Inclusion to Engagement. This change in name made me think about the terms used to address digital…
Bookmarked: Report – From Bricks to Clicks
Today sees the release of The Higher Education Commission’s report entitled: From Bricks to Clicks – The Potential of Data and Analytics in Higher Education As the authors describe it, the report: undertakes a review of the current data landscape across English higher education institutions, looking at data collections, learning analytics and the current barriers…
A New Chapter
In mid-March this year I will be starting a new job as Head of Digital at the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB). I will be working on a combination of new digital projects and the more corporate web/social media side of things as well. I will greatly miss my colleagues and work at the…
A Reading List for 2016
I read some great books in 2015, both fiction and non-fiction. My highlights include: David Graeber’s Utopia of Rules, Julia Blackburn’s Threads: The delicate life of John Craske and Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves But, I always have a long list of books I want to read; my reading to-do list. So, I thought I would begin to…
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