project – Cubicgarden.com…

Have you thought about your digital legacy? at EMF Camp 2026

Ian on stage talking from EMFCamp

Recently I had the pleasure of talking at EMF Camp about machine readable wishes. The slides are linked here.

The proposal originally was a workshop but converted to a 20min talk in the main stage of EMF Camp at 10am.

Death is inevitable, yet our digital infrastructure remains woefully unprepared for it. While traditional “Letters of Wishes” provide a static roadmap for executors, they lack the agency to interact with our complex, data-driven lives. This workshop introduces the concept of the Machine-Readable Letter of Wishes: a framework for post-mortem autonomy. By applying a “If This, Then That” (IFTTT) logic to digital legacies, we will explore how to automate final wishes across various services, ensuring data is handled with human dignity and precision.

The main reason for the workshop proposal is to hear the views of other people, which was great because in a separate tent in the sunshine; we had a 2 hour conversation about the machine readable wishes.

Update: the video is now available here on peertube and youtube

Thanks again to everyone who turned up at 1000 on a Sunday morning for my 20min talk and the excellent 2hour questions and answers afterwards

Shelfies #29: Ian Forrester

It was David Eastman who introduced me to the Shelfies project. I sent my post a while ago but didn’t hear anything, assuming I might not be of interest because I generally listen to Audiobooks and have a shelf of books to lead out to friends and family. I also tend to post a status of my book reading on Bookwrym.

However I was wrong and it was also David who posted on Bluesky (his shelfie is here) about my own book shelf.

It appears to be the shelfie of my podmate @cubicgarden.com shelfies.beehiiv.com/p/shelfies-2…

— eastmad (@eastmad.bsky.social) 2025-03-28T15:39:34.372Z

Ultimately the shelfie project is…

…a unique peek each week into one of our contributors’ weird and wonderful bookshelves! We love books – and we’re the sort of people who love checking out other people’s collections! With Shelfies, we’ve asked a wide range of readers, authors and collectors from all walks of life to share not just their shelves with us – but the books that changed them.

You should go check out my thoughts and also other peoples book shelves. Heck maybe one day I’ll update it with my own book maybe… Thanks Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin for accepting my shelf.

Put your git repo where your mouth is?

I like this idea from Martin Rue… startupsmanchester.com

The idea is pretty simple. Assuming you have a git repo for your project, you simply register your project/startup on the site and you’ll get a post-commit git hook script. Drop this script into your repo’s .git/hooks directory and it’ll start sharing your progress with the rest of the community each time you commit.

It doesn’t share anything sensitive and stores only the commit message, the commit author name and a count of the files changed. It also calculates some basic stats for each project to give a better idea of how much continual work is happening on the project.

Now we’ll all be able to see who’s actually doing stuff and who’s just talking. Maybe seeing 3 or 4 other startups doing lots of stuff will even encourage you to keep up the pace. It certainly will for me!

As he says, “put your git repo where your mouth is…”

The Orange project revealed

Tom sent me a link to the guardian article titled Public get to star in Orange ads. It outlines exactly what the Orange project was about. Because of the registration I'll blockquote the important parts.

Orange has turned to Pop Idol-style auditions to find members of the public to appear in an advertising campaign, with the chosen “stars” encouraged to record footage to be put on websites such as YouTube.

Candidates for the ads, which launch on August 1, were found through a text message and press campaign asking for people to take part in the filming of “a secret project in a stunning location”.

The campaign will form the latest stage of the mobile operator's “Animals” campaign – featuring a raccoon, canary, dolphin and panther – with each designed to represent the usage habits of different types of customer.

People who responded to the ads were interviewed and divided into the each of the animal personality groups. For example, dolphins are fun-loving people like Cheryl Tweedy and Charlotte Church, while raccoons are more like Carol Vorderman or Gordon Ramsay.

The four groups of people will be given a Big Brother-style task and the ads will film the different ways they tackle them.

The campaign, created by the agency Mother London, will comprise one 60-second “introductory” commercial and four 30-second spots focusing on the performance of each animal group.

Orange is hoping the posting of “making of” clips by consumers online will drum up word-of-mouth publicity about the campaign.

The ads are being filmed in Spain.

And to be honest it all makes sense when you look at the questions they asked you for while signing up. But generally its a let down and I'm kind of glad I didnt get on it.

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Orange are up to something…

Recieved a email from Orange the other day. All it said was…

We’re creating an something. Something secret. Something big. if you’re interested, click here

This leads to a page with the following details.

On July 17, 18, and 19 we'll be working on a unique project at a secret foreign location and would love your help. You will work as part of a team constructing an amazing installation in a stunning landscape. You'll be expected to get your hands dirty – but don't worry, you don't need specialist skills, enthusiasm is enough. The whole thing will be filmed and broadcast on national television, as well as reaching an international audience on the internet.

If you'd like the chance to be selected for the casting session, which takes place on Wednesday 12 July in London, and to be part of filming this amazing experience, click on the 'next' button below.

This opportunity is available to anyone over 18. You must have a have a valid passport, be free from 16 to 20 July and be willing to pay for your travel to the casting session in London.

If you are chosen for the final project then we'll be paying for you to fly abroad to our secret (European) location and we'll put you up in a hotel. However, you'll have to pay for your travel to Gatwick Airport.

Entry form closes at midday 10 July.

And curiousity may have killed the cat, but I've signed up deciding that I can drop out at anytime if I really wanted to. Anyway, I'll have my camera to hand if I do get invited to the casting session this Wednesday. Oh and for those interested, I signed up as a self-confessed work-a-holic.

update I got my orange email today saying I was not selected for the orange project. Oh well, I'm sure it was something very naff anyway.

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