Is Facebook the new Prime Minister’s weapon of choice? It seemed an odd choice of platform to use when he announced his latest wheeze, an unofficial Prime Minister's question time, apparently online. The headlined idea was to allow real people to ask questions of him which he could then answer. Of course, I imagine the … Continue reading Weapon of choice
A ski slope of data
There have been many times throughout my career in tech when the problem described is not the problem that needs to be solved. This has often been the case when people have complained about the ineffectiveness of a software application only to find out that it is not set up correctly or that they have … Continue reading A ski slope of data
Beware of anonymisation
I have such a large back catalogue of blogs pieces now that it is almost certain that some of my predictions and comments come true. Despite this I still get the mild glow of self satisfaction when it happens and so it was when I was reading the Telegraph (you need to read some earlier … Continue reading Beware of anonymisation
Tech enabled care
Tech enabled care is very much in vogue in the social care sector. With slashed budgets and a seemingly never ending increase in demand, technology is seen as the panacea to all the sectors troubles, but is it? Technological change has been huge. We can all accept that our lives are very different now than … Continue reading Tech enabled care
Time to fight back
It’s time to fight back. Our data is being used to profit from us, influence us and even trick us. The question is what can we do about it? Well, we already have a lot of power under the law. We can demand from companies to treat our data in accordance with General Data Protection … Continue reading Time to fight back
For the love of it
A couple of weeks ago my daughter bought me a present. Actually it was a combined birthday and Father’s Day gift. It was a Google Home Mini. She knew that I hadn't got one and so she kept the receipt just in case it was not up my street. But I’ve kept it and it's … Continue reading For the love of it
Happy Birthday GDPR
GDPR is a year old. How cute, I remember when we were all excited about it arriving, getting everything ready and all the fuss that was made. Now it’s had its first birthday and it is really starting to grow up. Since its delivery, GDPR has quite rightly been all over the news. Big fines … Continue reading Happy Birthday GDPR
The average reading age is…?
The average reading age of the UK is 11. That’s what the speaker told us at the last Socitm meeting I attended. It struck me as an interesting statistic and possibly a damning indictment of our education system. Of course it may not be true and I felt I needed to explore it a bit … Continue reading The average reading age is…?
Defining a problem
Understanding the tech industry in the region is a new challenge for me. For various reasons, including out of personal interest, I have been grappling with this as a problem over the last few months. You would think that information about businesses, markets and turnover would be readily available. Perhaps it is but so far … Continue reading Defining a problem
Why can’t I get the data?
I’m trying to help grow the IT industry across the North East. This is why I am a member of Dynamo North East, Digital Union and Socitm. All of these organisations have the same problem - a lack of meaningful data. I would like to know how many businesses there are in the industry across … Continue reading Why can’t I get the data?
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 