Commentary on links that caught my attention around the web.
Technology
"When you all give us your hard-earned money, we feel a deep responsibility to use it as well, and as efficiently, as possible." A responsibility A New Social lives up to in spades.
Media
"Substack faced talent drain in 2024 linked to its platforming of Nazi newsletters, but now it’s not just the platform’s stance on hate speech that’s driving away creators."
Media
"If there were a dictator of the internet who intentionally set out to destroy your ability to get accurate information, the result would look a lot like what’s already on your screen. But why?"
Technology
WordPress is the most popular publishing platform in the world. It wants you to publish and be heard - and that means supporting conversation.
Technology
It's "the biggest student data privacy disaster in history" - even though the core platform is open source.
Notable links
Building a civic information economy, not cultures of extraction.
Media
"Journalists, cultural workers, content creators, and other trusted messengers are enabling better civic insight for communities. How do we economically support the civic information future that society needs?"
Media
"Why, a funder asked me recently, do two intermediaries this funder saw as offering duplicative services both still exist? Because you—and your funder colleagues—let them, I said." But consolidation is a dangerous road.
Technology
"To labour out of love, and to choose to share their work freely in a market society, OSS developers find themselves in a position where they are vulnerable to exploitation and harm."
AI
"AI only needs 150 words to identify me. What does that mean for you?"
Notable links
AI and society; and sustaining innovation has failed us.
Technology
When open source becomes a bureaucracy, it stops being able to innovate. For a product, that can mean death.