What can we possibly trust in an online world with near-perfect CGI? When a 21 year old Carrie Fisher turns round at the end of a film made when she was in her 60s and talks about hope, and an aging Trump turns and arches his back on a hotel bed in St Petersburg, what
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That Twitter Share Offer: Robbing Your Free Content to Pay the Rich
Quite a few news outlets have been covering the news that Twitter is to be floated on the stock market today, with a valuation of $18bn. Shares will be offered at around $26. A couple of these recent flotations – I’m thinking of Facebook and, in the UK, the Royal Mail – have given me
Read on »On Being Insufferable On Facebook
A couple of days ago ‘Wait But Why’ published a piece on the Huff Post entitled ‘7 Ways to be Insufferable on Facebook.’ You should go read the piece for yourself, but in précis, the 7 ways were: 1. Bragging (including Humble Brags) – ‘Guess Who Got into Med School!’ 2. Posting Cryptic Cliffhangers
Read on »We Are All Geeks Now (But We Should Be Luddites)
Over the next few days thousands of normal people will be plunging into the depths of updating the core operating system of their Apple mobile phones and tablets. Under the hood this is a highly sophisticated technological operation. But no matter, we are all geeks now, and happily tap away at iOS7 updates and Android
Read on »Religion: No Longer The Dope
There was a ‘spending review’ here in the UK yesterday at which the Chancellor Jeffrey George Osborne announced even more financial austerity over the next few years. At the same time, it was announced that SnapChat was valued at $800m. On a day when economic forecasts were more gloomy than ever and those on benefits
Read on »Inform vs Transform – Limits of Online Discourse
Been thinking about the post I wrote yesterday, and wanted to respond properly with a post rather than a comment. Actually, with a question, I think, which is this: Have you ever had your viewpoint transformed by online discourse? Sure, we’ve all received information, and perhaps become informed by discussions. We may have actually changed
Read on »‘Dervish At The Door’ | Fertilising Debate
Dervish At The Door A dervish knocked at a house to ask for a piece of dry bread, or moist, it didn’t matter. “This is not a bakery,” said the owner. “Might you have a bit of gristle then?” “Does this look like a butchershop?” “A little flour?” “Do you hear a grinding stone?” “Some
Read on »Playing Pirate with the Web | Privacy, Privatisation and Militarisation
With the recent furore over The Guardian and Washington Post’s revelations about PRISM, and the apparent willingness of pretty much every large tech company to give the US government direct access to its servers, I’ve been mulling on a great book that Barry Taylor recommended to me: Geert Lovink’s Networks Without A Cause. It’s perhaps
Read on »The Law, The Media… and Social Media: Bringing Balance to Campaigning
With the recent victory we had over Friends Life, it’s been a busy time talking about the campaign and thinking through more deeply what lessons can be learned from it. I’ve got a blog piece up over at the Huffington Post talking about the story behind the campaign, but I wanted to highlight one key
Read on »Digital Privacy: Techno-Conservatism, or a Matter of Freedom?
Brilliant weekend away over the Bank Holiday, with loads of surfing, go-karting and some great evening conversations with a bright and challenging bunch of friends. One of the most interesting areas we talked about was around privacy in future technologies, and, when I outlined my major concerns about Google Glass-type devices I was quite surprised
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