Werd I/O
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

NotableLinks

How Twitter broke the news

This hits the nail on the head: "No one chasing money in media ever chased Twitter. But anyone chasing power found themselves irresistibly drawn to the platform. And eventually, the platform started to actually deliver that power in ways that continue to reverberate around the world." I do

12 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

AI, and everything else

It's reassuring to see Benedict Evans have a lot of the same business questions as everybody else about AI - What actually is this? What will it look like? Will OpenAI be a gatekeeper? Albeit no mention of the ethical issues that are also a hugely important part

12 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

Meta/Threads Interoperating in the Fediverse Data Dialogue Meeting

Really good to hear about this meeting at Meta about joining the fediverse. It sounds like development is continuing apace; I really appreciate the transparency. I have to admit that I feel a pang of FOMO. This is such an important movement and moment in time for the web.  #Technology

11 Dec 2023

Being a humanist technologist

I was very taken by Robin Berjon’s description of technologists: Someone needs to navigate the digital world (for a business, a project, any institution) without blind deference to vertical experts, and without monkeying dumb Silicon Valley tropes or giving credence to breathless LinkedIn thoughtleadering. The full post is a

09 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

Designing Mastodon’s reply safety features

An interesting breakdown not just for people interested in Mastodon - but for anyone who cares about safety on any community platform. These kinds of prompts turn out to be really useful, with measurable impacts, if they're done right. It's great that an open source project

08 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

What it means to choose pregnancy in America after Roe v. Wade

"The United States has long lagged when it comes to pregnancy-related health. There is a unique danger to pregnancy for Black Americans, who face higher mortality and morbidity rates because of entrenched, systemic racism." An important series of articles examining what pregnancy looks like in modern-day America -

08 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

New Pew study shows Black news consumers favor local media coverage

No surprise that Black consumers favor local papers that are more reflective of their communities (vs national outlets, which still skew white and male). "Black news organizations — and also Black reporters at mainstream outlets — understand the local issues better and are less likely to engage in tired tropes and

07 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

Spoutible Introduces Cross-Posting to Mastodon and Bluesky

This is something, but it would be nice to see real ActivityPub support in a way that would allow Spoutible profiles to be first-class profiles on the fediverse. Still, the nice thing about building in support for Mastodon and BlueSky is that - unlike when I built support for Twitter

07 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

NLRB Files Case Against Mozilla for Not Hiring Apple Labor Activist

"The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint Tuesday alleging Mozilla refused to hire Scarlett because of her past labor activism. The agency’s prosecutors called on Mozilla to offer Scarlett the position she applied for in 2021 or a similar role, and to otherwise make her whole for

06 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

US retail lobbyists retract key claim on 'organized' retail crime

This data was widely cited and used to justify some frankly racist rhetoric. I particularly noticed it in the usual circles who complain about the decline of San Francisco supposedly due to progressive policies. It speaks to the power of data to tell stories, and to peoples' willingness to

06 Dec 2023

NotableLinks

Nick Fuentes: ‘The Window Has Shifted Noticeably’ On ‘White Identity’ Since Elon Musk Acquired Twitter

Some of the worst humans on the planet, crediting a third worst human on the planet for paving the way for their noxious ideology. "Now everyone’s a white identitarian. Maybe not fully, but certainly it’s far more acceptable in the conversation — even the word white — than it

06 Dec 2023

A fistful of Matters

Matter - coaching, consulting & training for executives and entrepreneurs. Plus managing 74 accelerator investments from 2012-2018. Matter - an iOS app designed to help you capture the best moments in your life, collect and reflect on your memories of good experiences, understand how those experiences affect you on a

05 Dec 2023
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Werd I/O explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. It's independently published by Ben Werdmuller, reader-supported, and always free to read.