Tag: newpublic

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Sept 2026)

What happens when the entire economy is a scam, with a large mobile phone stairing down at its user
Via: https://yourbrainonmoney.substack.com/

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed reading Zuckerburg’s deranged superintelligent AI future post, hearing about pagers leveraged for data breach and what could ever go wrong?

To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.“

You are seeing aspects of this with the EU finally embracing open source as part of sovereignty, Chicago public media launching a city wide social network with New public and will Meta’s settlement finally make the difference we need for traditional social media?

The reality of not believing what you see is here

Ian thinks: This interview with GetReal is honestly incredibly difficult and NSFW listen to. It certainly digs in to how the AI tools from the likes of Grok and Meta is have not only caused the deep-fake dilemma people have predicted for years. But also a crisis for those trying to report and stop them.

Disinformation and fear fuelled deaths

Ian thinks: On a similar point, Channel 4’s breakdown of what happened in the Ceuta migrant crisis, is a good solid watch. Watching it made super clear how disinformation is a real killer and how clearly thoughts about its weaponisation has long become a reality. Sadly its only going to get far worst.

The Surveillance as standard

Ian thinks: The EFF, are great for tools which help so many people understand the nuances of the digital surveillance state we find our selves in now. I would love to see tools like this become something which is shared with others organisations across the world.

Rethinking social software with Blane Cook

Ian thinks: I have a lot of time for Blane, I have come across he quite a lot and his thoughtful mind is perfect for this conversation. A little bit of what Twitter could have been but not the nostalgia nonsense I occasionally still here, but forks in the road where decisions could have made something much closer to what social looks like now.

One good thing going right

Ian thinks: This short TED talk is a reminder there is hope and there is a way forward, even when things are clearly not great.

Which end of the centaur are you?

Ian thinks: This interview on Jon Steward’s weekly show with Cory Doctorow is full of amazing insight about our lives with AI. I only started reading Doctorow’s Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, but I won’t lie I budged it to the top my reading list after watching this. Even if you are fed up of hearing about AI, this is a must read.

Public media and social networks?

Ian thinks: The digital public space or the public service internet. Both have been tried but like always, its about the timing. Maybe New_Public have it right this time? As there are a lot of events in the states which could really need stronger local news and communities. One to keep an eye on.

IKEA marketspace a good move or centralisation?

Ian thinks: I respect the points about trusted place especially when looking at the awful nightmare of Facebook marketplace. IKEA seem to be doing a solid for buyers and sellers. However I wonder about the centralisation of this all. There is a number of power plays they could put into action but time will tell, how successful it will be and how much control they will unleash? Dare I say enshittification…?

Is someone you know part of the grift economy?

Ian thinks: Following the Louis Threoux documentary about the Manosphere, the notion of grifting became a lot more common to most the internet users. Grifting isn’t anything new but the ecosystem which has grown around it is something super charged by the physiological super weapons of Gen AI. As usual the companies and people selling the tools are also benefitting off griffters. Just like people selling shoves during the gold rush.

Hetrosexual dating is broken beyond repair?

Ian thinks: As someone writing a book and building a new type of system to make connections more meaningful; I have found a lot of discussion about how straight dating is broken beyond repair, including one from the same Vox channel. This interview summaries a lot of the thoughts I have about this space. Yes its slightly broken (always was) but its turned up to 11 and echoed by the internet/social algorithms. Its not good and its a clear example of the real human effects, adding to the loneliness epidemic; even in part.

Like this newsletter? Subscribe to the newsletter here and find the monthly archive here

An update on where I have been recently (post R&D)

Ian and Alison in a hotel bar
My loving supportive partner Alison while Japanese whiskey tasting

Its been around 4 months since I officially left BBC R&D. Its been a while since I did a catch up of where I am and a lot has happened.

First of all I have setup a limited company, one of the main reasons is to seriously pursue how to build the public space as an viable alternative to commercial and government space.

A large part of this is working with others on the notion of a digital public space. One of the leaders in this space is New_Public and I’m really excited to announce, I am going to be working with them to achieve their open source plans. As most of you know, open source isn’t just about the code but about the community and everything which surrounds it. Hence my time running BBC Backstage, is certainly useful.

On the digital legacy front following on from the Republica panel discussion with Identity 2.0 and Linn. I have been thinking about the letter of wishes and how it could actually work in line with HDI (human data interaction) and public values? Its actually something I felt a public service company like the BBC could transform, as it screams public value but it wasn’t to be.

To this I entered my thoughts into a call for participation with the Mydata conference and happy to say they really liked it as a workshop. Which means in September, I will host a workshop around the notion of a machine readable letter of wishes. I am hopefully going to be joined by a fellow digital legacy collaborator but prepared to run it alone.
Been seriously thinking about how to make this real and a standard format seems the best way to go. What software/services which can read and execute this fungible document, is something for others; but a prototype is perfectly possible. Even if it scratches my own itch, it could also help me play/learn with some of the new declarative (React, Vue.js, Xproc) or even object-originated programming languages/frameworks (Rust).

In a similar space, of me rethinking what a public service company could do to be more relevant in the age of endless scroll, enshittification and a loneliness epidemic; as touched on in the future of social report recently.

I have had an enduring eye on matching and dating with true public value. There is so much I have written about it over time and even have a very long bookmark feed of interesting points.

With all this, I have been writing my own book about this all and pretty much finished. Can I also say how amazing Librewrite has gotten for editing complex books like this…

In the last few months I submitted my book to Conduit Books and signed up to a course by Kenyon author services. Mainly to rethink how I proactively encourage people to buy the book or at least read it. Considered going through the publishers and agent book again but I just don’t have the time, plus I have a plan of action which includes a online dating manifesto, potential podcast and maybe a potential dating service which clings to public values and the HDI principles mentioned before. Some of this might come sooner than expected, as I actually mentioned the dating manifesto (borrowed heavily from Julia) and even showed the cover & title (tbc) to my book at the PublicSpaces conference, during the lunch break.

The manifesto which will be collaborative, will feature at the end of the book and is something  Mydata is interested in because its very related to HDI and use of data. I did put it in as a session but it may work better as a short workshop. Watch this space…

View on Mastodon

I have had a long relationship with Mozilla via the festival (Mozfest), which this year goes global in Barcelona in November. Unfortunately the call for participation has closed and the wrangling part has started. The spacewrangler role is very important, as we are the face and hearts of the festival. One thing which concerned the spacewranglers was the price of the tickets compared to 2019 ticket prices in London. Yes that was a while ago ,a lot has happened including a pandemic and global inflation. However the wranglers have pushed back on the Mozilla foundation. Mozilla have listened and replied with a number of changes including community badges which are a similar price to the ones in London in 2019!

Lets be honest this is a deal, especially with all the challenges Mozilla is facing right now. I would grab your community ticket for €45 now and join us as we write the internet’s next chapter.

Running a limited business comes with a bunch of administrative challenges including accounting. Originally I thought I could use something open and self host it but, the realisation that no accountant will use it and even if I transfer it to something like Xero, Freeagent or Quickbooks. They would need to run through the whole thing again. So I am using Quickbooks for now and seeking a good accountant which isn’t too expensive, can deal with international clients (I have spent far too much time trying to understand and fill in the W-8BEN-E form) and manage my lack of interest in taxes. The notion of a portfolio career keeps coming up, but its really not me… However I do generally have quite a few projects going on at once. This post is testament to this.

In the meanwhile, I have been travelling a lot, my carbon footprint isn’t great but I did recently go to southern France. Somewhere re-reading my school report I wanted to live. Crazy eh?

Framework laptop with ubuntu with my background

In the background, I have made a lot of changes to my self hosting setup. I still need to fix quite a few things including my Yunohost Pi server which was broken due to the Debian bookworm update. I decided my mixgarden should just be a Peertube instance which makes a lot of sense. I certainly need to sort out my docker setup because that would make things so much easier. In the meanwhile I have finally settled on Anytype for my personal knowledge store and Vikunja for tasks and kambam. My Framework laptop is going well, especially with a 64gig of memory now, however Ubuntu is doing strange things with the keyboard while using Wayland.
Considering blogging more and setting up separate spaces for the publicservice internet notes, business stuff (which I really need to sort out) and a few other things.

Another strange thing, I just started is baking my own Sourdough bread. Its early days but will attempt my first loaf tomorrow. Yes I know its years after everyone was doing it during the pandemic but hopefully I’ll get into it.

There is so much more but not for public blogging right now. I’m still seeing friends when ever possible, mainly in the UK but when I’m out of the country, catching up with international friends.

I’m very fortunate to have a loving, caring and understanding partner, who is helping me through all this insane amount of change.

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Mar 2025)

Female newsreader faces a camera with green screen behind her

To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

You are seeing aspects of this with over 200 UK companies committing to the 4 day work week, Pebble smart watch is opensource and the social web foundation and W3C get closer.

Enshittification hit list

Ian thinks: This list of the worst offenders of enshittification, is interesting but I am very surprised to not see cars and dating apps on this list. Something which is regullaryly on Mozilla’s privacy not included lists.

What is mate crime, and is it symptom of our social networking?

Ian thinks: Mate crime is a short term for exploitation by people who are close. It’s increasing and there is a lot of pointers to the less that ideal anti-social spaces we live in now. Isolation is a killer and starved of social contact, we can become easy prey for toxic friendships.

Building AI news anchor with Channel 4

Ian thinks: This is a good short piece about making a AI news anchor. The process is understandable but what got me was the wider impact of this has on general trust of news. Ultimately this all adds up to a lack of trust all around.

Undersea cable wars

Ian thinks: We already know how important undersea cables are but few are fully aware of the ongoing war happening not only in Europe but also across the world including the east China sea. As you can imagine with Taiwan and China.

Spotify’s affect on the music industry and society?

Ian thinks: Back in 2015, I headed up a project which needed 25+ types of music. I worked with students to identify the music; but there was a unreal moment when I needed to explain Spotify does not contain all the music in the world and they should look elsewhere. This interview is a clear reminder of the impact of Spotify and what the alternatives are.

Town squares are not global

Ian thinks: Eli parser’s speech at Vatican is a real detailed one, raising up a lot of the underlying fodder we seem to have forgotten. The line lets have faith, is just perfect

How loneliness is affected by culture and place

Ian thinks: This conversation is full of interesting points from the question of the 3rd place, mental health, etc. But what I found most interesting is the difference in cultures. Its why BBC R&Ds future of social report will go a step deeper. However the notion of online connection as the junk food of connection is quite interesting.

Making better use of doom scrolling time

Ian thinks: I think this is great. Similar to how many others are starting to use the user interface mechanics used to trap and keep people hooked. How many times in the past have you spent time clicking through Wikipedia, learning more as you read more.

Where does the UK stand on AI?

Ian thinks: This is a important question which Rachel Coldicutt uncovers. Our European neighbours have taken a clear stance of safety, while the American oligarchy find this bizarre, and can’t resist telling them during the AI summit. As the UK like the USA refuses to sign a international AI declaration. Is this a clear sign?

Like this newsletter? Find the archive here