Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
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It's feeling more and more like Substack will be toast if they don't significantly walk back their policy on Nazis. (And honestly, at this point, even if they did, who would want to be associated with it?) "This was never about the fate of a
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An in-depth writeup of Meta's fediverse meetup last year by Tom Coates, who was one of the roughly 20 people in attendance. Most of these details have been discussed and speculated on at this point, but it's good to read them in one place, and I
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I like this argument that generated content is an invasive species in our content ecosystem. "As generated material rapaciously populates the Internet, human-created artworks will be outcompeted by generated graphics on social media platforms by virtue of volume." I agree that this is something to be concerned with,
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"The tools that likely brought down Harvard president Claudine Gay are improperly used on students all the time. [...] The technology of text mining can be used to destroy the career of any scholar at any time." Tools like Turnitin are rife with false positives, and can be weaponized
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I think Chuck Tingle is awesome and proves love. This was a disappointing decision by the Texas Library Association, which is hopefully a learning moment for every organization like it. Chuck's description of the intersectional challenges at play here is in-depth and well-stated. And there's this
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This was why I started Known, and I wonder if I should try again. "If we want the future web we’re all clamouring for, we need to give people more options for self-hosted independence. If we seriously, truly want the independent, non-enshittified personal web to flourish, we need
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The headline here is a little misleading, because it should end: "... but not proactively, and with no changes to our content policy." Substack seems to want to have its cake and eat it: to offer content deals, promote writers, and shape its writer community, but also be treated
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"Every year, the Supreme Court’s nine justices fill out a form that discloses their financial connections to companies and people. Using our new database, you can now search for organizations and people that have paid the justices, reimbursed them for travel, given them gifts and more." Journalism
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Not just a retelling but a complete recasting of 1984. It's helpful to consider this as a separate work: a response to 1984, in a way, rather than a layering on top or a direct sequel. It's a criticism, an extension, a modernization, and a deep
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Every single one of these titles looks beautiful: I'm excited to put them on my want-to-read list. I don't think I read a single graphic novel last year, and I love them. I'm grateful to Ritesh Babu for putting this list together. It'
Previous birthday posts: 44 thoughts about the future, 43 things, 42 / 42 admissions, 41 things. This post is in partial answer to Matt Mullenweg’s birthday request for everyone to blog, which is a lovely idea in its own right - happy birthday to you, too, Matt. 2024 feels like
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Molly White, who has been one of the most important voices on technology and society, has moved her newsletter from Substack to Ghost because of the Nazi problem. As she points out: "To be very clear, we're talking about Substacks that are using swastikas, sonnenrads, and photos