Ben Werdmuller
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

NotableLinks

A Seattle Airfield Offers a Rare View of ICE Deportation Flights

"The observation room at Boeing Field offers what is arguably America’s best real-time window into our vast network of privately run deportation flights, a system that has generated troubling reports of passenger mistreatment and in-flight emergencies." Important work from some pretty brave activists that sheds light on

12 Mar 2024

NotableLinks

AI news that's fit to print

"What I thought would be helpful, instead, is to survey the current state of AI-powered journalism, from the very bad to really good, and try to draw some lessons from those examples. I'm only speaking for myself today, but this certainly reflects how I'm thinking

11 Mar 2024

How do we make progress in America?

Someone I follow posted this weekend about how the progressive wing of the Democratic Party was stupid because it consistently pushed for projects that would require higher taxes. I don’t like the framing, and as a self-identified progressive I’m not particularly excited about being called stupid. But there

11 Mar 2024

NotableLinks

Doing weeknotes

"Weeknotes are well suited to teams that want to communicate about their work to colleagues or management. But they’re useful in other circumstances, too, such as individuals communicating to the teams they’re part of, or leaders communicating to the people they lead." This is a pretty

11 Mar 2024

NotableLinks

AI gives the news you need

I can't share a quote from this one without ruining it. But you should go read it.  #AI [Link]

10 Mar 2024

The internet, addiction, and me

I used to have a night-time routine. I would help my mother up the six stairs from the living room to her bedroom, give her a hug, and set her up in bed. Sometimes, if she was feeling particularly weak, I would bring her toothbrush to her with a mug

10 Mar 2024

NotableLinks

Make better documents.

"We almost never never actually teach people how to use the ordinary tools of business communication in more effective ways. So, I'm gathering some advice that I regularly share with people, in hopes that this helps you get your messages across more effectively." This is brilliant:

10 Mar 2024

ChatGPT as a writing partner

Confession: I’ve started to find ChatGPT to be useful in my fiction writing. And now, before proceeding, I must very quickly add that I haven’t let it write a word of the story, or come up with any ideas, or engage in any ideation. That’s all me.

10 Mar 2024

Gardens and power

Manu Moreale discusses the dual use of the garden metaphor for both walled gardens and digital gardens: It’s interesting how we’re using the same metaphor—the garden—to describe two completely different things. [The walled garden] is the embodiment of the capitalist mindset applied to the digital ecosystem

10 Mar 2024

NotableLinks

Downpour is out!

"It would not be worth all that to make a game that is a single stupid joke. And I like games that are single stupid jokes, and so I guess I have spent a few years in the hopes that I can let more people make more of them.

08 Mar 2024

Startup pitch: Fediverse VIP

Here’s my pitch for a fediverse product for organizations. Think of it as WordPress VIP for the fediverse: a way for organizations to safely build a presence on the fediverse while preserving their brand, keeping their employees safe, and measuring their engagement. We’ve established that the fediverse is

08 Mar 2024

The fediverse is really happening

Threads has begun its wider beta test of publishing to the fediverse. You can follow accounts that are part of the test from Mastodon, and even see them interact with each other. Here’s Evan Prodromou’s post on Threads, and you can see it if you search for evanprodromou@

07 Mar 2024
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Writing at the intersection of technology, journalism, and community.

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Ben Werdmuller explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. Always independently published, reader-supported, and free to read.