Notices by Ben Werdmuller (ben@werd.social), page 7

What’s the best, most straightforward explanation of how ActivityPub actually works? I’m looking for how the data flows, what an inbox is, what happens when you post, etc, rather than how to implement the exact feed specs, which libraries to pick, or what Mastodon is.

"I find my feelings about AI are actually pretty similar to my feelings about blockchains: they do a poor job of much of what people try to do with them, they can't do the things their creators claim they one day might, and many of the things they are well suited to do may not be altogether that beneficial." #Technology https://www.citationneeded.news/ai-isnt-useless/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

"I am absolutely convinced that journalism’s most essential role at this critical moment goes far, far beyond what it’s doing. The status quo in political (and related) coverage consists of sporadically noting that gosh-maybe-there’s-a-problem, while sticking mostly to journalistic business as usual. The status quo is journalistic malpractice." #Media https://dangillmor.com/2024/04/14/whats-next-for-me/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

If you were buying a new car for a family today, what would you buy? EV preferred.

(Please don’t say “public transit”. Yes, I’d prefer functional public infrastructure too, and resent the need to own a car, but I live in America.)

ATTN: RAPTURISTS

THE RAPTURE HAS HAPPENED

YOU ARE RAPTURED

THIS IS THE OTHER SIDE

YOU CAN CHILL OUT NOW

FINALLY

PLEASE

JUST BE COOL, OKAY

TIME TO VOTE FOR SOME TRAINS AND STUFF

WE'VE GOT THIS

HAPPY RAPTURE

This hadn't really been on my radar: "Just one type of next generation geothermal — called superhot rock energy, where deep drilling reaches temperatures 400 degrees Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit) or hotter — is abundant enough to theoretically fulfill the world’s power requirements." #Climate https://grist.org/energy/the-us-aims-to-crack-the-code-on-scaling-up-geothermal-energy-production/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

Updated https://shareopenly.org for the last time this weekend - it now has instructions for adding "share to" links on your own site (you can see them live on my site at https://werd.io). #fediverse #socialmedia

Changed around the order of the site list and the form on ShareOpenly. An icon, WordPress plugin, and instructions for integrating it with your site are all in the works. https://shareopenly.org

Uh, we just had an earthquake. And it was felt as far away as NYC. What just happened??

I was asked to recommend some places to visit in Edinburgh. It's been a while since I was there - which seems crazy, because I lived there for so long. But here's what I loved at the time. https://werd.io/2024/my-edinburgh #edinburgh #travel

"Weeknotes are well suited to teams that want to communicate about their work to colleagues or management. But they’re useful in other circumstances, too, such as individuals communicating to the teams they’re part of, or leaders communicating to the people they lead." #Business https://doingweeknotes.com/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

I think it would be fun to (co-)organize an East Coast IndieWebCamp this year, mostly because I would like to go to an East Coast IndieWebCamp this year. Perhaps there's scope for an IndieWebCamp NYC in September / October?

"You’ve also got to look at the long-term, at the end of the BBC, which somehow is surely undoubtedly on its way in some shape or form. What, is Doctor Who going to die then?" #Media https://gizmodo.com/doctor-who-russell-t-davies-disney-bigger-budget-bbc-1851372537?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

So ... how *should* open platforms advertise their share intents? I made a #microformats proposal, but I'd love to talk about it. https://werd.io/2024/advertising-share-intents-with-microformats #indieweb #fediverse

So I built a prototype of a thing to help people share to the #fediverse (and beyond). It's a work in progress, and I'd love feedback. https://werd.io/2024/share-openly

I'm prototyping something. Would you mind clicking this link? https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=shareopenly.org&text=ShareOpenly%20is%20a%20one-stop%20way%20to%20add%20a%20%E2%80%9Cshare%20to%20social%E2%80%9D%20button%20to%20your%20site%20that%20includes%20support%20for%20decentralized%20social%20media%20and%20%23fediverse%20as%20well%20as%20all%20the%20usual%20sites.

I'm afraid to quote-boost on Mastodon because I'm worried most people won't be able to read the quoted post. Is this fear justified?

Some thoughts about how I use screens, inspired by @ntnsndr: https://werd.io/2024/how-i-use-screens

"While it was unclear whether, under Musk, X would continue leasing access to its users to Dataminr — and by extension, the government — the emails from the Secret Service confirm that, as of last summer, the social media platform was still very much in the government surveillance business." #Technology https://theintercept.com/2024/03/25/elon-musk-x-dataminr-surveillance-privacy/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

I wrote about building engineering teams - and most importantly, defining the culture to making them successful. https://werd.io/2024/building-engineering