The end of the school year is always a busy time, finishing off the last of the lessons, fielding questions from students about the end-of-year exams, setting the exam questions, and marking exams and papers that have already been completed.

Whilst teaching is only part of my job, the end of term takes up a lot of space on the calendar, leaving me with little time to do other tasks. But it is such a rewarding profession at times that I can’t see myself giving up teaching now that I have become experienced at it over the last four years. Out of the three schools I teach in, two have already requested more hours from me. This is the dilemma, as I need to build consulting hours as a priority. With a little luck that might be about to change over the coming weeks.

If you’ve been following me, you’ll have noticed that I have become a little sour on Big Tech lately. I’d like to clarify that I am still an out-and-out tech enthusiast who sees technology as a tool that could be so useful for the human race over the coming decades and centuries. However, tech has become polluted by a class of people who are liars, grifters, thieves, and wealth extractors. They have utterly destroyed the reputation of tech for me and many others in the industry. Some of us still hold hope that this is a phase, and it too will pass. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

Much of what is happening is, and corresponds, with the rise in the ultra-right wing and what is essentially fascism in the world. Those with the money, the connections, and the power are starting to show their cards. And they are outing themselves as dreadful human beings. There are too many to mention here, but a little digging and a little reading around the subject should clue you up fairly quickly. If you want to reach out, I’d be more than happy to discuss it.

Actually, whilst I think of it, after I posted a glib comment on Mastodon, I had an online discussion with the CEO of an education company that I tried to keep as civil as possible. However, the person attempted to bully me by suggesting he had over twenty years of experience in the field of AI (it doesn’t look like according to LinkedIn). He said that AI was just a replica of the human brain (neural networks based on those in the brain). I ignored this suggestion and simply mentioned that this could not be the case, as we still have no idea how the brain actually works; ergo, it is impossible to replicate what we don’t know. The discussion ended there. Not sure why. 🤷‍♂️

Reading

Anyway, as always, I have been reading a lot and thought I’d share here, too.

Let’s start with another example of how France has decided it wants to be an authoritarian state when it comes to the internet and the freedom of its citizens on the open web. After recently joining the list of shame of Internet shutdown states (the first time a Western democracy has done so), it has decided that it needs to interfere with the major DNS providers to block a couple of sports sites streaming live games.¹ Do they not learn? I mean, HADOPI worked out really great, huh?

Last week saw a lot of online discussion about the entitled scraping of online content to train LLMs without consent, attribution or remuneration. Apple, Google, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic have all been at it, but worse, they have been lying to the websites about “who” is accessing public sites. It’s technical, but it boils down to bots that “present themselves” to websites to indicate why and what they are accessing a site. Many people, like me, have implemented a robots.txt file that essentially politely tells bots to go away and that they can’t scrape. Ignoring this request is one thing; lying is another. This is not over yet, and many Big Tech companies are in for a rude awakening in the coming months.² (My sites are all under the Creative Commons licence allowing non-commercial reuse, and attribution. If anything were to be used commercially or reused without attribution, I would have cause to legal redress.)

SEO. Ah, that. OK, I’ll admit it. I’m not a fan of it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it is collective fraud. SEO should, in my opinion, be banned. It has led to the most awful of incentives on the Internet, second only to unregulated surveillance advertising (cancer on the Internet, in my opinion, but that’s for another day). Anyway, Google hasn’t been (surprise, surprise) particularly honest, even when you’ve been trying to play the game they invented. Shameful.³

Let’s end with an upbeat article that I really enjoyed. If you have anything to do with professional or high-level sports, you’ll know that the mind is such a critical factor that it can often be the difference between winning and losing. Professional athletes have been working with sports psychologists for years, but this article about a ballerina really articulates the utility and journey professionals traverse through their careers. Focus on the now. Cut out the mind talk by counting, breathing, and other tools. Really good article. ⁴

I’m still digging and reading a lot of articles about Internet Governance, as this is the focus for me over the coming years. I have an announcement to make shortly, but the time is not right yet.

Have a great week.

I’d mentioned previously that I had been travelling, specifically I was in Spain for 10 days or so. Sadly I haven’t been myself since coming back and probably caught a virus or something similar that has affected my health over the last few weeks. I won’t bore you with the details, but it did culminate in a bout of severe dizziness and nausea. I seem to have gotten over it now and hoping to get back up to full speed soon.

Last week was full with teaching. It is getting to the end of the school year for most of the organisations I work with, and as such we have an urgency to finish the programmed lessons and practicals before the end of year exams. I have very little time to anything for these weeks (including this week) a part from teach, plan, read and a few administrative tasks.

I’ll have a second rush shortly after that too, as I’ll need to mark the exams and read and assess the mémoires submitted in my Project Management course. I have 10 students there, with each providing a 30-page mémoire. A lot of reading to be done. 😱

I’m looking forward to building the consultancy side of my work, with more focus on getting clients over the coming months, as that is what is lacking in the development. I’m building a strategy to do that at the moment, based on what I’d done previously of course, but it takes time and effort that I don’t have fore the time being. My doctor said slow down a little and I should definitely take heed.

Reading

As we get closer to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, we’re starting to see a number of reports about the state of cybersecurity (and other subjects like the egregious use of biometric identification systems), like this article that exposes a number of major shortcomings in the critical infrastructure of the games.¹

The next piece of writing I’ve wanted to share for a long time is about the use and abuse of the word “ecosystem”, particularly in the ICT sector. I co-wrote a report with USAID, where we studied the digital ecosystem of the Caribbean and we used the term to highlight a broad set of areas and how they interacted together, akin to an, er, ecosystem. You can read it here.² But the following article is more critical of the over use of the term.³

This recent news particularly annoyed me. As a longtime un-fan of Meta and its democracy-busting properties, this confirmed its intentions in being the most awful company on the internet. Research about the effects of Social Media is very important, but it seems that despite being a company that likes to know everything about you, it doesn’t like anyone outside knowing too much about them. The sooner the world is rid of Meta, the better as far as I’m concerned. There’s a place for Social Media, but the flavour of these types. From Mastodon: ⁴

One the same theme, Meta are liars. It is often best just to come out and say it as it is. Meta recently stated that the EU is preventing it from introducing AI tools to its user base in the economic region. Citing the ruling against it from the EU on GDPR grounds, it stated that it couldn’t work on AI tools in the EU. That is a lie. There is no other way of putting it. Liar, liar, pants on fire! It’s about consent dumbasses! ⁵

This last share, I’ll not summarise and let you read it for yourself. It’s not long. Enjoy.⁶

Thanks for reading. Have a great week.

Another week done with a flurry of activity more towards the end of the week than in the middle.

I’ve been working with a client, helping one of their clients implement some basic first steps in digital transformation. Conversely to others, when I talk about Digital Transformation, I’m being very specific in my definition. I’ve talked much about the uses and abuses of the term, and it seems that I am still swimming against the current. Anyway, back to what Digital Transformation really means for MSMEs.

The company deals with several bills and invoices and requires a more robust tracking and analysis system. The basic workflow is understood, but the tools currently used are a mix of manual, brain storage, and other shoestring systems. As part of the work, the end users documented the process from start to finish, taking into consideration as much as possible. My role involved re-documenting this workflow and translating it into a technical specification, then proposing a technical solution that met the customer requirements. I then set up a PoC and demonstrated it to the client, who approved it with a few modifications. This week was the setup of the system and putting it into the clients’ hands for testing before generalisation. As always in these types of projects, the act of setting it up for actual use (even as a test) provoked some discussions where the client thought of things that were initially forgotten and things that would be “nice to have”. I’ll work on some of that in the coming days and weeks.

However, what is startling is that when you start to work closely with an organisation, you see the enormous opportunity to help them digitalise the most basic of systems that are scrabbled together. This work can provide tangible benefits to the businesses for a minimal outlay.

Much of it can be done by purchasing specialised applications, but generally, those applications are too sophisticated and not adapted to the inner workings of MSMEs. I aim to get those businesses using tools specifically adapted to them with little to no outlay on extra software.

Reading

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last year or two, you’ve no doubt encountered a plethora of articles about generative AI (genAI) and how it is going to “change everything”. I don’t believe it. Development and capacity have considerably slowed over the last nine to twelve months, indicating that in its current form, these LLMs (Large Language Models) are nearing the end of their run. I also think we humans are getting much better at spotting their weaknesses. We are uncannily adept at this, having hundreds of thousands of years of development and practice structured in our brains. The following article I forgot to link to previously is a good primer on what is actually going on inside an LLM.¹

A much deeper look from Stephen Wolfram can be found online.²

If there is one computing platform that changed everything for me, it was the Commodore Amiga. I keep threatening to write a deep dive into the origins and outcomes of one of the most sophisticated computers the world had ever seen at the time. It is, unfortunately, no surprise to hear that the curse that has plagued the platform continues.³

When using the internet, most of us do not think about the infrastructure that allows us to stream music, communicate in real-time, etc. Only when that goes bad do we realise that infrastructure is essential. When a ship sank off the coast of Yemen, damaging undersea cables that affected millions of users of the Internet, it caused political disputes over access to the waters for the ships tasked with repairing the damage.⁴ I would recommend this issue of The Continent for an extensive article on life onboard the ships that fix the Internet for us, in what are surely very difficult circumstances.⁵

Lastly, this discussion about the ownership rights of genAI-generated code is a good example of the minefield upon us. Let’s not even start to contemplate what it means to cybersecurity!⁶

Have a great week.

It has been quiet around here for a while as I was travelling for a few days in Europe. Then, as soon as I got home, I contracted a nasty cold. It knocked me out for a good 10 days or so, and I’m only just getting back to normal. Not fun.

One of the things I enjoy as an independent consultant is that I get to work on some new and interesting projects. Sometimes, those projects are a little outside of my core competencies, but that’s what makes them fun. I’ve recently finished a market research/opportunity study for a small client in the textile industry. The business is struggling a little and hasn’t embarked on any modernisation since it was founded a couple of generations ago. It has been ticking along successfully up until now. Times are changing and it is evident that businesses that don’t modernise are going to find the going more and more difficult.

Last Thursday evening I was invited to participate in a round table discussion during the annual general meeting. The subject was, of course, artificial intelligence. With three of us, a lawyer, a data scientist, and me, a generalist, the discussion was interesting and, I think, useful to the members of the association concerned. It was a private meeting, so I’m not at liberty to detail anything other than to say that it is clear that small businesses are having a hard time understanding what AI may or may not bring them.

I tried to clarify a little of that, but the time allowed was short, and we weren’t able to get deep into the weeds. Perhaps another session is on the cards.

Reading

I like cross-Atlantic travel as it gives me time to read books. The out journey is difficult, as it is usually overnight, so I can’t disturb too many people in the cabin with a light (I sleep poorly, if at all, on the plane). I tend to listen to a lot of music or podcasts during this time. I should perhaps try audiobooks, but I can’t get on with them in normal circumstances, so I doubt I’d like them on the plane. The return journey, however, is during the day and more conducive to lecture. I finished one book I had just started and then proceeded to finish a second book during the nine-hour flight.

I finished Machine Readable Me by Zara Rahman. A very interesting short book on the impact of our data-obsessed society and where it can lead to serious issues, particularly with those least privileged in society.

The other book was about ADHD. I’ve been diagnosed recently, despite my knowing for the last thirty years or so. This book was a whim purchase and contained some interesting information and articulated reasonably well the difficulties of this condition, despite the overly North American tone, which is a little too much for me. It’s worth a read if you have, or you know, someone who has ADHD.

I’ve been discussing for a number of months the rather egregious deployment of video surveillance for the Olympics in Paris this year, particularly the use of AI to biometrically identify people. Well, it goes further than that, and I’m not comfortable with that. This article (in German—use the translate page feature of your browser) explains what’s happening, and it is not pretty.¹

Meredith Whittaker, CEO of Signal, recently gave a speech at an award acceptance event. Regardless of your position on the use of cryptography, the speech is worth your time.²

Lastly, this article exposes the limitations of current generation genAI systems. It delves (🤭) into the use of words and how the (over) use of some is a telltale sign of genAI.³

That feels better, to have sat down and written some thoughts.

Have a great week.

As you know, I’ve been taking Internet Governance very seriously for a few years now and have accelerated that implication over the last couple of years. One of the highlights of that journey recently was attending ARIN 52 in San Diego and remotely attending ARIN 53 in Barbados.

As an organisation responsible for the management and distribution of Internet number resources in the North American region, including much of the Caribbean, ARIN is an important cog in the system of good governance and community-developed policies. It’s crucial to acknowledge that the success of ARIN’s initiatives and policies is largely attributed to you, the users of these resources. Active community involvement in promoting good governance drives progress. ARIN not only helps enforce policies but also gives back to the community in various ways. It is present at a large number of Internet governance conferences, provides support for organisations working in that area, and hosts its open-to-anyone conference twice a year (I’ve attended a couple virtually and one in person. See above).

However, ARIN runs a little-known assistance program that is currently looking for participants. The ARIN Community Grant Program offers up to 20,000 USD for a project. Smaller grants are also issued for smaller projects.¹

I would encourage you to apply, even if your project idea is not fully baked yet. ARIN will absolutely help get the project going if it aligns with its mission. Many of the people who work for ARIN directly or who are on the various councils would be only too happy to help out where possible.

I recently had a proposal with Stanford University rejected due to an extremely high level of interest, so I am looking at finding a way to redesign that project so that it can be considered by ARIN. I’ll let you know and update my Research page as and when.²

Please take a look at the ARIN Grant Program page for more information: https://www.arin.net/about/community_grants/program/

The 2024 application period runs from 22 April to 7 June, so you should start the application process as soon as possible. Learn more about how to apply in this post on the ARIN Blog.³

P.S. You may find you’ve benefitted from the program without knowing it. If you have attended the Virtual School of Internet Governance, they were a recipient in 2021.

Let me know if I can help in any way.