Daily notes

Not published one of these for a while.

Newsletter went out yesterday, with a long article I wrote at the weekend about the local digital declaration and where things are at: https://www.davebriggs.email/p/daveslist-volume-3-issue-7

Some great, addictive little browser games in here: https://kottke.org/23/07/your-favorite-addictive-flash-games-back-from-the-dead

Does the browser need reimagining? These folk seem to think so: https://arc.net/ – I don’t like the insistence on opening an account before you can do anything else.

Really excellent advice on ‘shadow IT’ https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/shadow-it

“Worldcoin: a solution in search of its problem” https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/worldcoin-a-solution-in-search-of

“The eternal principles of an (enterprise) app stack” https://cote.io/2023/08/01/the-eternal-principles.html

I sent a newsletter – https://www.davebriggs.email/p/daveslist-volume-3-issue-6

“Maybe the real design tool was all the conversation we had along the way” https://www.dxw.com/2023/07/maybe-the-real-design-tool-was-all-the-conversation-we-had-along-the-way/

Am consistently impressed with dxw’s blogging. Always authentic, always helpful. Very rarely sales-y.

Last weekend we started watching the Mission:Impossible films in order. Fair to say they are of variable quality. However, my favourite moment BY FAR is in the first one. Tom Cruise’s character needs to track down the identity of someone codenamed ‘Max’. He knows they sometimes use the internet. He opens his laptop, and with a sense of expectation searches Usenet for the URL ‘max.com’ and hits enter. The sense of disappointment on his face when this brilliant scheme doesn’t produce results is heartbreaking.

My piece about single customer accounts seems to have gone down quite well in most parts. My focus in the last year has mostly been on people and capability stuff, and before that on some of the trickier IT problems facing councils. It’s great that my current work in Lambeth is giving me the chance to revisit the ‘digital experience’ and challenge my thinking a bit: https://sensibletech.co.uk/should-you-develop-a-single-customer-account/

There’s lots of very good stuff in here from Coté: “Waiting for the close of open – how long can the 2000s spirit of open source and open APIs last?” https://cote.io/2023/07/21/waiting-for-the.html

“How Signal Walks the Line Between Anarchism and Pragmatism” https://www.wired.com/story/signal-politics-software-criticism/

“Delivery Needs a Strategy” https://jdosreme.medium.com/delivery-needs-a-strategy-94ef09954f36 (also why oh why do people still publish on Medium?)

Elon Musk has already had a company called X. It merged with PayPay in 2000, and then within months the PayPal people got sick of what a terrible guy he was to work with, and sidelined him. I dare say rebranding Twitter is the first step in what Musk hopes will be his great ‘I told you I was right’ project. He’s re-opening a 23 year old wound. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66284304

“Inside 4chan’s Top-Secret Moderation Machine” https://www.wired.com/story/4chan-moderation-buffalo-shooting/ (I wanted to read this so much I actually subscribed to Wired’s online edition for the privilege!)

I wrote about why I don’t think single user accounts are a good thing for local councils: https://sensibletech.co.uk/should-you-develop-a-single-customer-account/ – also sent as a newsletter https://www.davebriggs.email/p/daveslist-volume-3-issue-5

Matt ‘Jukesie’ Jukes is looking for work. You should hire him! https://digitalbydefault.com/2023/07/20/whats-next/

I keep seeing this image popping up in various online places, and it sums up exactly where a lot of local gov is when it comes to Ai, machine learning etc:

“Better government tech starts with people. New Jersey shows how” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/13/new-jersey-digital-unemployment-insurance/

Love this quote from the above article: “smart digital investments must start with people”.

“This is my new thing after five years of talking with large companies about digital transformation: it just takes a long time.” https://mastodon.social/@cote@social.lol/110751957148905976

Delighted to see another local gov blog launching today! https://warwickdc.localgov.blog/

Some lovely stuff in here: https://waxy.org/2023/07/vote-on-the-tiny-awards/

Maddening but brilliant, like a reverse Tetris: https://vividfax.itch.io/fudge