Daily notes

Am going to try this note without bullets, just to see how that goes. Feedback welcome!

I’ve deleted all the social media apps from my phone as an experiment.

Cote has done a daynote: https://cote.io/2023/05/30/day-note.html

“We Need to Rethink ‘Digital’ in Most Public Services” – I am really not sure what this article is suggesting? Rethink from what, to what? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-need-rethink-digital-most-public-services/

I’ve just discovered (🤦) the ‘advanced’ view in Mastodon, which is more Tweetdeck like with columns. Makes things a bit easier. Wondering if I should start paying some money towards Mastodon too https://www.patreon.com/mastodon

“Lisa’s Final Act: how Apple invented its future by burying its past” https://www.theverge.com/23724804/lisa-computer-apple-steve-jobs-burial-utah-sun-remarketing-documentary

In Our Time about Walt Whitman https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001l99w

I randomly wondered earlier what Marissa Mayer is doing these days. Turns out she’s running a startup trying to fix phone contacts, which is a worthy endeavour if not, if I am honest, a lucrative-sounding one https://sunshine.com/

• I’m playing again on Mastodon, mostly because Twitter is starting to feel more broken than ever. I’m not altogether happy about it, mind. I think a big part of it is that all the things that Mastodon wants to fix in Twitter, I don’t have a problem with. I just want Twitter, but not run by some techbozo.
  • https://mastodon.social/@davebriggs
• I have an account on the mastodon.social server (that I even need to say this highlights a problem for mass adoption of Mastodon) while Mark says it’s actually better to just run your own (ditto). I suspect the biggest problem I have is the size of my network (76 following, 45 followers on Mastodon vs 7,076 and 7,693 on Twitter) which is going to take time and effort to build up.
• Bluesky is apparently another Twitter replacement that has some momentum, but is currently invite only and I’m not invited. The fact that it describes itself as a "protocol for public conversation" worries me. Most people don’t want a Twitter like service to be portable and federated. They just want it to not suck.
  • https://blueskyweb.xyz/
• Dave Winer keeps on working on these things
  • http://textcasting.org/
• Maybe as I type these notes into my text editor I ought to be copy and pasting them individually across Twitter and Mastodon too… or maybe I ought to look into rigging something up so it all kind of works automagically.
• "a comprehensive guide to the story of mel" – I can remember obsessing over bits of hacker folklore like this when I first discovered the internet and this particular bit of its subculture
  • https://melsloop.com/
• This from Matt Mullenweg, ruminating on the 20th anniversary of WordPress, struck a chord with me: "That’s what is beautiful about blogging. It’s too bad the advertising and social media platforms got us all caught up in status games for the past 15 years…All you need is one view, one like, one comment, to change your life."
  • https://ma.tt/2023/05/power-of-one/
• Mimestream looks an interesting Gmail client for Mac
  • https://mimestream.com/
• Carl has started a new blog
  • https://mutuallearning.wordpress.com/
• The Theranos story is one of the most interesting chunks of Silicon Valley hubris in recent times. I really enjoyed reading Bad Blood by John Carreyrou which documented the story, although was published before the legal process completed. This Guardian article is a useful primer
  • https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/30/elizabeth-holmes-enters-prison-11-year-sentence
• Mike Bracken on innovating digital public services
  • https://hellofuture.com/news/mike-bracken-on-innovating-digital-public-services/

• I’ve been busy getting married! and also being ill
  • Saturday was amazing, beautiful weather, a nice simple ceremony and then a party with many of our favourite people. Am a very happy and contented man right now
  • However I then got a cold almost immediately, with the coughing, sneezing and sore throating meaning I haven’t slept well all week. Just pleased we didn’t go on an immediate honeymoon, otherwise it might have been wrecked
• I’ve finally finished and published a long article I have been working on and talking to people about for forever. Am hoping it’s the start of many more conversations
  • https://sensibletech.co.uk/a-framework-for-council-technology-planning/
• The above article received praise from Tom Loosemore, which was jolly nice
  • https://twitter.com/tomskitomski/status/1661696283688484865
• Matt Edgar’s review of 10 years of digital transformation
  • https://blog.mattedgar.com/2023/05/21/marks-out-of-ten-how-are-we-doing-after-a-decade-of-public-digital-transformation/
• Books:
  • I just finished The Ruin of All Witches by Malcolm Gaskill, which was brilliant
  • Then I polished off Christian Beginnings by Geza Vermes, which I started last year and put to one side for some reason. Also very good.
  • Am continuing the non-fiction thing for now, with Anna Keay’s The Restless Republic
• I rather missed the excitement at the time – had other things to get on with – but Forest are staying up!
• Lloyd daynoted again
  • https://perfectpath.co.uk/2023/05/25/thursday-may-25th-2023/

• It’s really annoying when ctrl-k doesn’t work as a shortcut to insert a link somewhere
• It’s the agile mindset that matters for local government (by me)
  • https://sensibletech.co.uk/its-the-agile-mindset-that-matters-for-local-government/
• Two wonderful bit of work (and blogging) by Essex
  • https://servicetransformation.blog.essex.gov.uk/2023/05/12/testing-essex-gov-with-blind-and-low-vision-users/
  • https://servicetransformation.blog.essex.gov.uk/2023/05/17/tales-of-the-private-beta-supertesters-user-research-on-the-new-intranet/
• Learning, More than One Way
  • https://postshift.com/learning-more-than-one-way/
• Bristol Digital’s user experience principles
  • https://bristoldigital.localgov.blog/2023/05/16/ux-principles/
• Making a modern digital council
  • https://www.themj.co.uk/Making-a-modern-digital-council/227884

• I survived my stag do at the weekend, although to be fair, it was a quiet affair. Just me, 3 of my old school mates and my 22 year old son. Wedding is next Saturday, so exciting!
• Despite being split in two following some local gov reorganisation, the digital folk up in Cumbria are still on their blogging A game
  • https://cumbria.localgov.blog/2023/05/12/public-health-health-wellbeing-coaches/
• Testing essex.gov with blind and low vision users
  • https://servicetransformation.blog.essex.gov.uk/2023/05/12/testing-essex-gov-with-blind-and-low-vision-users/