Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
idno
I wrote a post over at werd.io about idno, the open source publishing tool I've been building: What decisions would I make if I was building Elgg today, in 2013? What would I do the same way, and what would I do differently? It's still
idno
I just stumbled on this old thread by Marc Canter and Stephen Downes (emphasis mine): The primary use of OpenID should not simply be identification, but also, to tell remote sites where to direct our actions. So – in a sense – I carry all my own home website tools with me
Data control
This post was originally published over on werd.io, my idno-powered site, where I'm hosting all of my new posts and social media updates. There's been a lot of news stories lately about how technology companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo! may or may
Data control
I'm posting over at werd.io, a site I've set up based on my idno software. I wrote a short technical introduction to the platform: IndieWeb principles Right now I'm using it as a blog, but the intention is that it could power a
General
I'm using the term respectful software to describe software products and services that: * Maintain your ownership and control over your data. * Allow you to export anything you've entered or imported into it. * Allow you to extend their functionality with other software, without having to ask them
Software development
It looks like I'm not the only person who likes the idea of signed HTTP requests as an authentication method. Joyent and Digital Bazaar have co-written an Internet draft for cryptographically signed HTTP requests: Several web service providers have invented their own schemes for signing HTTP requests,
Data control
Jotting down some quick notes for something to consider: mobile devices as proxies that redirect content types to services as required, cacheing data on its way to / from the Internet. Some properties and use cases: * I take a picture, and my mobile device knows about the services I use that
General
I've worked in startups for almost my entire career - sometimes my own, sometimes companies started by other people. I'm good at what I do, and I love it: I get to create tools that empower people to do things they previously couldn't, or that
Software development
Ryan Holiday laments the loss of Google Reader and RSS in general in Our Regressive Web, arguing that if someone came up with them today, we'd think they were brilliant ideas: We’re just regressing. [...] RSS is impervious to blogging’s worst, but most profitable traits. [...] No wonder
Software development
This site is (right now) powered by the WordPress open source blogging engine. If you hit "view source" in your browser, somewhere near the top, this is what you'll see: <meta name="generator" content="WordPress x.x.x" /> (Where x.
Web
Internet security expert Bruce Schneier is worried about the increase in Internet nationalism: For technology that was supposed to ignore borders, bring the world closer together, and sidestep the influence of national governments, the Internet is fostering an awful lot of nationalism right now. We've started to see
Software development
Tantek Çelik has written an important post about silos vs an open, social web: Selfdogfood It's thought-provoking, and worth a read: On Silos vs an Open Social Web. Tantek defines "selfdogfooding" as "using your own creations on your own personal site that you depend