Sep 2Can Machines Read?What does AI mean for authors — and is collective action the solution? This piece was written in June 2023. An edited version was published in the Summer 2023 edition of the Society of Author’s magazine, The Author. The question of how humans coexist with machines has long vexed all…AI9 min readAI9 min read
Jun 1On Understanding Power and TechnologyOn Understanding Power and Technology I went to a Q&A by the “godfather of AI” Geoff Hinton the other night, and was invited to a (mostly) academic dinner afterwards. In the slightly awkward period at the beginning when we were milling around (also known as “pre-dinner drinks”) I started chatting…Artificial Intelligence5 min readArtificial Intelligence5 min read
Jan 13Easy to use but hard to understand: moving beyond the pitfalls of frictionless digital designThis blog post is the first in a series I’m writing as a Citizens Advice Policy Associate, exploring the social impacts of online choice architecture for consumers. Modern digital design tends to optimise for speed, simplicity and stickiness. When we use an app or visit a Web site where we…Design13 min readDesign13 min read
Dec 21, 2022Some things at the intersection of technology and society that will probably happen in 2023Earlier this week, the 2012 Horse ebooks tweet “Everything happens so much” popped up again in my timeline, like a 10-year anniversary special. …Predictions8 min readPredictions8 min read
Nov 29, 2022Three recommendations to improve the safety of safety techEarlier this year, I was part of a team working on a piece of research to assess the impact of safety tech on the UK digital economy. …Tech4 min readTech4 min read
Published inCareful Industries·Oct 26, 2022Sunshine Machines: Towards a feminist future of digital careThis essay was commissioned as part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation programme Social justice in a digital age in response to James Plunkett’s essay The care paradox. …Feminist15 min readFeminist15 min read
Sep 14, 2022The Case for Community Tech: Report launch and fund newsCommunity tech — technology that gives power and generates benefit for communities — is a vital part of the modern technology ecosystem. While a small number of very large companies might seem to dominate the digital landscape, the reality is that the Internet is full of alternatives and possibilities —…Community3 min readCommunity3 min read
Published inCareful Industries·Jul 2, 2022Systemic Digital CareExploring innovation as care work I read this post by Meg Conley this week and it stopped me in my tracks, particularly this sentence: “Care work is the anticipation of grief.” This post is a rumination on how that term applies to care in a very different context. Being care-full The research…Ethics5 min readEthics5 min read
Published inCareful Industries·Jun 24, 2022Who owns the future(s)?Understanding the ingredients for a foresight commons When Careful Industries started to develop the Civil Society Foresight Observatory for the National Lottery Community Fund, a part of the brief was to work out what a Foresight Commons could look like — some kind of shared space and resource that might…Commons5 min readCommons5 min read
Published inCareful Industries·Jun 1, 2022A digital power glossaryWhat do the words we often use to talk about digital power really mean? This glossary offers definitions for and groups some of the terms commonly used to describe the intersections of power and digital technologies. In creating it, we found that some terms are more likely to be used…Ethics11 min readEthics11 min read
