Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
Fediverse
[Flipboard Expands Publisher Federation with International Partners] Flipboard just launched 124 new publishers to the Fediverse - bringing the total number it hosts to 1,241. "We’re excited to announce that Flipboard is beginning to federate publisher accounts in France, Italy, and Spain, while also expanding federation in Brazil,
Notable links
[Mark Mansour] Stephen Miller, who the author rightly labels as the most dangerous person in America, has argued for removing a core constitutional right for millions of people on American soil. He wants to classify unauthorized immigration as an "invasion". It's insane, and is the precursor
Technology
[Shakeil Price at The Marshall Project] The technology situation for incarcerated people in the United States is beyond bad: "Because prison telecom vendors tend to bundle their services, corrections systems often contract with a single provider, regardless of quality. And dozens of states make “commissions” from user fees. Within
AI
[Mike Caulfield in The Atlantic] A smart analysis and suggestion about the current state of AI by Mike Caulfield: "I would propose a simple rule: no answers from nowhere. This rule is less convenient, and that’s the point. The chatbot should be a conduit for the information of
What would I do if I was building an open social web platform from scratch?
AI
[Cy Neff in The Guardian] This is straight out of Black Mirror: "Chris Pelkey was killed in a road rage shooting in Chandler, Arizona, in 2021. Three-and-a-half years later, Pelkey appeared in an Arizona court to address his killer. Sort of. [...] Pelkey’s appearance from beyond
Fediverse
[Andy Piper at Mastodon] It’s really exciting to see these new movements from Mastodon - not least because they’re very intentionally marching to their own rhythm. Mastodon wouldn’t be a good fit for being a standard tech company, and it won’t be one. “Mastodon has taken the
AI
[Adam Wierman and Shaolei Ren in IEEE Spectrum] An interesting finding on the energy use implicit in training and offering AI services. I do think some of these principles could apply to all of cloud computing - it’s out of sight and out of mind, but certainly uses a great
Science
[By Sarah Gilbert, Michael Zimmer, and Nathan Matias at the Coalition for Independent Technology Research] A strong statement from the Coalition for Independent Technology Research: "On April 26, moderators of r/ChangeMyView, a community on Reddit dedicated to understanding the perspectives of others, revealed that academic researchers from the
Notable links
[Joint Subreddit statement posted on r/AskHistorians] 30 or so Reddit communities have joined together to make a joint statement in defense of US research. This comes from people with real expertise: in addition to the depth of research talent involved in these communities, Dan Howlett has signed the statement,
Technology
[Tim Stevens at The Verge] It's rare these days that I see a new product and think, this is really cool, but seriously, this is really cool: "Meet the Slate Truck, a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle that enters production next year. It only
Notable links
[Toby Buckle at LiberalCurrents] This resonates for me too. About the Tea Party, the direction the Republican Party took during the Obama administration, and then of Trump first riding down the escalator to announce his candidacy: "If you saw in any of this a threat to liberal democracy writ