As you know, I'm a supporter of open technology. I write open source, I work on open standards, I care about open data. So I am delighted to have joined the board of OpenUK. Our purpose? To develop and sustain UK leadership in Open technology. I want to make the UK the best place to…
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How do you archive a conference? A decade ago, I blogged about how to archive a BarCamp - I don't think anyone took up my suggestions. I tried to put it into practice, but in this post about 2009's BarCampBrighton4, half the links have rotted away, cool media-hosting startups have gone bust and eaten the…
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I, unironically, love Reddit. But it's just USENET with a better UI, and a few moderation improvements. Most days I use DropBox. But it's just FTP, but a bit easier to use and automate. I waste a lot of time on Slack. When I explain it to old-school nerds, I say it's IRC - but…
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I'm going to start this discussion with the why and then move on to the how. Let's begin with a couple of user stories. As the recipient of some data, I want to verify that it hasn't been tampered with. and As the recipient of some data, I want to verify who originally published it.…
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I am a civil servant in the UK - this is my personal blog. As part of my job, I have to follow the Civil Service Code which, among other things, says I'm not allowed to be political at work. Political Impartiality You must: serve the government ... no matter what your own political beliefs…
Continue reading →In the early days of the web, I used to go hunting for Beatles Bootlegs. I scoured forums, emailed dodgy geezers, and swapped poorly encoded RealAudio™ files on USENET. The Beatles had recently released their Anthology series, and us nerds were desperate to hear more unreleased goodies. Sure, there were rarities and out-takes, but we…
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tl;dr Google forgot to renew a domain used in their documentation. It was mildly embarrassing for them. And possibly a minor security concern for some new G-Suite domain administrators Background Choosing a good example domain, to use in documentation, is hard. You want something which is obviously an example, so that users understand they have…
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If you'd like to set up a meeting or call with me, chances are, I've sent you a link to my calendar. It's a public website where you can see when I'm available. One important note, before we go any further, this public calendar only shows my free/busy status. It doesn't show the names of…
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A year ago, I swapped my comfy job at GDS for a new role at the Department of Health and Social Care. So, this is a sort of informal end-of-year review. It has been a fun and challenging year. Some of the things I've tried have worked, others less so. The Good Helped kickstart NHSX.…
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I set myself a resolution last year - go 12 months without using physical cash. No coins, no notes, no gold bullion, no cheques. I attempted to do all my spending on credit card, Direct Debit, and bank transfer (BACS). It worked! Mostly... Here's where it didn't work, and what I learned from it. Foreign…
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