Canvas is open source, but its cloud services ransomware attack really hurts
It's "the biggest student data privacy disaster in history" - even though the core platform is open source.
Latest
Notable links: May 8, 2026
Building a civic information economy, not cultures of extraction.
Plugging the gaps won't save news. It's time to redesign
"Journalists, cultural workers, content creators, and other trusted messengers are enabling better civic insight for communities. How do we economically support the civic information future that society needs?"
The way to save news is not to create monopolistic monocultures
"Why, a funder asked me recently, do two intermediaries this funder saw as offering duplicative services both still exist? Because you—and your funder colleagues—let them, I said." But consolidation is a dangerous road.
Open source maintainers need to go in with open eyes
"To labour out of love, and to choose to share their work freely in a market society, OSS developers find themselves in a position where they are vulnerable to exploitation and harm."
Claude Opus can now identify an author from their writing
"AI only needs 150 words to identify me. What does that mean for you?"
Notable links: May 1, 2026
AI and society; and sustaining innovation has failed us.
IndieWeb Fiction Carnival: May 2026
This month's prompt is "sticks and stones will break my bones".
Matt Mullenweg thinks WordPress is in decline. He may be right
When open source becomes a bureaucracy, it stops being able to innovate. For a product, that can mean death.
Product-shaped or movement-shaped?
People love your work because of its impact, not how it works.
Building with love, and paying for it
How do you fund work people don't want to pay for?
That terrible Signal exploit has been fixed. We have journalism to thank for it
"Apple’s fix means iPhones should no longer save copies of deleted messages from Signal or other apps, and Apple said the patch also purges already saved and related notifications."
Music
All You Fascists (Bound to Lose)
A collection of Woody Guthrie covers
Democracy
Sustaining innovation has failed us. It's time to think more radically
Some innovations create a new future that serves people better. Some sustain the status quo. It's time to think more radically.
AI
AI is not a magic wand and it won’t fix your problems
Without investment in people, processes, and working conditions, AI becomes merely "a technological smoke screen for deeper institutional decline."
AI
The world is not a database
One of the most important pieces of AI commentary: "software brain" is important to understand if we want to get through this era with our humanity intact.
Notable links
Notable links: April 24, 2026
Data and electronic civil rights in wartime; building safer creativity at work.
Technology
In wartime, megascale data centers may make way for distributed architectures
"To avoid collateral damage, countries consider ditching giant server hubs for smaller, distributed ones—especially now that military and civilian data live side-by-side."
Culture
XOXO Explore is fitting showcase for a brilliant experiment
XOXO was completely wonderful. This site is a lovely showcase of why.
AI
The user-tailored newsroom
Newsrooms typically treat publishing as a one-size-fits-all broadcast. What if they tailored their work to a reader's needs and interests?
Business
It pays to reward curiosity more than looking smart
"Curiosity signals that ideas are welcome, not risky." Modeling it is a crucial part of leading a team.
Technology
Copyright and DMCA Best Practices for Fediverse Operators
For instance and community operators, "copyright’s “statutory damages” regime allows for massive, unpredictable financial liability. That’s why it’s important to limit your risk." This guide helps you to get started.
Democracy
The Technological Republic, in brief
In which a defense contractor lays its anti-democratic, pro-fascist ideology bare.
Notable links
Notable links: April 17, 2026
How AI is affecting thinking and distribution – and why relationships are still at the heart of great teams.