Stories
Adopta.Agency is an ongoing project for me. I'm still using the template as a basis for some custom open data work, but I wanted to pause for a moment and think about what Adopta.Agency means to me in a Trump administration. The need ...
I have been running Charles Proxy locally for quite some time now. I began using it to reverse engineer the APIs behind some mobile
I was just having a conversation with a friend on a social network about test-driven development (TDD) and behavior-driven development (BDD), as we progressed through the conversation I used both my blogs kinlane.com and apievangelist.com as references for thoughts I've had on the subject, providing them with a single URL t...
We were just having a conversation about the information our Sonos is sending back and forth. One of a handful of devices we've willfully purchased and plugged into our home network. In today's environment, we are becoming hyper aware of what our applications and devices know about us and are communicating outside of our netw...
Can you see an algorithm? Algorithms are behind many common analog and digital actions we execute daily. Can you see what is going on behind each task? Can you observe what is going on? To use an antiquated analogy, can you take the back off your watch? An example of this is our world right now would be the #immigrati...
I met with a handful of friends who are (still) working in the federal government about how they are doing this last week. The tone within federal government seems to be on par with what I'm hearing from the outside -- people are seriously concerned about a wide range of things, and fearful for what this adminis...
Stories of whether or not we should fear losing our jobs to robots have been going on for a long time. Another layer of this I'm seeing expand lately is whether we should be fearing machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). I am always fascinated to hear the reasons people fear technology as well as the reasons people giv...
We are increasingly looking through an algorithmic lens when it comes to politics in our everyday lives. I spend a significant portion of my days trying to understand how algorithms are being used to shift how we view and discuss politics. One of the ongoing themes in my research is focused on machine learning, which is an aspect...
I'm always trying to unpack and understand the digital world unfolding around us. Understanding where the physical world is colliding with the digital world is increasingly difficult to see, let alone articulate to average people (this is why I tell stories, so I get better at it). One aspect of this collision that regularly leaves me ...
I am always fascinated by how people see data or don't see data. Startups are definitely seeing it right now, but the average citizen seems unable to see it, care about it, let alone understand that it is actually their private data. I was reading this post about startups sell...
I have had enough businesses, and business dealings to understand the realities of the game, and with almost 30 years of experience under my belt, I have come to realize I am not good at business or politics. This is why I run a single person business, under an LLC umbrella with my partner in crime Audrey Watters (
I'm thinking a lot about my bits lately, and the legacy of my work in a digital environment. As I'm working and writing on this topic, an email came through my inbox from the White House on the archive work they've done...
I spend a lot of time looking through the tweets I've favorited, curated, and retweeted, digging deeper into the digital presence of the people and companies behind them. This is how I expand my LinkedIn, Github, Twitter, and other networks, as well as establish a better understanding the people who are moving things forward in the API ...
I have a side project going on right now where I'm working to define what I'm calling Domain Literacy. I am looking to take my knowledge of the web and APIs and help folks better understand some of the digital currents they are swept up in online each day. Whether...
I take flack from folks when I write posts like I did last week about Oracle acquiring Apiary. I can't help be blunt about these fabricated realities that many folks claim to be "inevitable"....
I spend a lot of time thinking about how technology can be used for good, and for bad. I feel pretty strongly that many technologists do not think deeply about the alternative ways in which their technology can be used, for both good and evil. This is one of the big challenges in the world of APIs, how do you encourage companies to open...
Have you ever spoken up critically on the Internet about a company? I'm not talking about the random gripe with a brand when it comes to their products or services, I am talking about taking a direct shot at the ethics of a company. You know that feeling you get when you do this, where your mind starts going through the...
I'm thinking about my digital bits a lot lately. Thinking about the digital bits that I create, the bits I generate automatically, the bits I own, the bits I do not own, and how I can make a living with just a handful of my bits. I have an inbox full of people who want me to put my bits on their websites, and people who want to put their bits on my platform so that they are associated...
Domain literacy is one of my new causes in 2017. We'll see how successful I am convincing people of what domain literacy is, what the benefits are, and the power of the domai...
Further evolving what I mean when I mean when I say "domain literacy", and wanted to brush up on the benefits of domain literacy are, which is why this is an area I'm focusing more attention on in 2017. It is important to me to be able to articulate...
Things seem really out of control right now, because they are. After getting through a very dark period after the 2016 election, I am working to better understand what is going on, and find the most effective path forward in my work. Over the holidays I overwhelmingly lost faith that the majority of US citizens were de...
I feel the overlapping bubble(s) I witnessed on my Facebook profile during the 2016 election is just a little taste of what the future of the web will look like. Many of my conservative friends don't believe they live in a bubble, as well as many of my more liberal friends. I saw claims that "fake news" and "disinformation" does not exi...
Online web domains are an increasingly important aspect of our daily business and personal lives. I get that the average folk could care less about domains, DNS, and the nuts and bolts of how the web works, but after this election, and as more of our personal and professional lives move online, I feel like folks ignor...
I wanted to use the recent news about Medium downsizing as an opportunity to educate folks about the importance of maintaining your...
This is the first time I've written about the 2016 election. Last year was difficult for me, and I'm guessing things aren't going to get better. I am not going to rail about Trump, as I would rather spend my energy on progressive things, but I will say I am extremely disappointed in many of my friends, family, and fellow citizens. I feel like it came down to ...
