McFilter

Interesting Things on the Internet: August 5th 2019

• London says FCK U BORIS. I passed this as I happened to be in London that evening, but sadly was en route to an event so couldn't join in.
• Why the Open Data Movement Has Not Delivered as Expected. Maybe we should be talking about digital commons rather than open data, and having more conversations about safeguarding them. Maybe digital actually inverts the idea of economies of scale - coping with the bandwidth and server overheads of another twenty people using a resource for their side-project is basically free, but when a thousand users show up consistently that has a noticeable cost. How do we charge for the digital commons in ways that allow (and encourage) experimentation and small-scale projects, while ensuring that those which unlock massive value from the commons also contribute to its upkeep?
• The Doteveryone definition of done: how we make complex ideas travel. Excellent advice on how to share/encourage people to take up your ideas.
• U.S. Sanctions Impact on the Git Community. A reminder that "cyberspace" is still governed by laws in countries, and that centralised infrastructure is a single-point-of-failure.
• Boris Johnson: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. This would be enjoyable watching if it wasn't twenty minutes of how terrible our country's new Prime Minister is.
• England’s new rentier alliance. The lie that the Tories are the party of business becomes ever clearer as they show they don't care about anybody running a business if they can give preferential treatment to finance and landlords.
• Anatomy of an AI System. Fantastic long-read unpacking the iceberg hidden behind the plastic puck of an Amazon Echo.