I'm an accountant but have some tech related interests, including:
220325 - Adolescence TV Series - Recently I've finished watching the TV show adolescense. Its been very popular in the UK and I think qualifies as a media "Event". I thought it was a really well made show, containing clear morals and messages about how kids grow up in the modern age, and the effect of technology and social media on them. Many people have concluded watching the show that there needs to be greater controls and safeguards of kids usage of the internet. I agree partially, but watching the show I couldn't help but feel that the skill of the director and actors, in how good the show was, helped to raise awareness of the topics the showrunners wish to highlight. I think for many topics, if you have enough money and a cause to promote, an incredibly well made tv show or movie can do a lot.
150325 - Embroidery - I've been interested in patches for a while, I think they look nice on certain jackets, and bags, Its nice to personalise your clothing in a way that means something to you. The only problem is that commercially sold patches rarely have the designs I want. Patches for the TOR browser, the open source initiative, the eff and the open rights group would be nice. So thats how I've gotten into embroidery, the desire for Niche Patches. I've made a very crude Copy left patch, I didn't have a embroidery hoop at the time, at it really affected the result. Now I've got one, and working on an open source initiative design. Think i'm gonna put them on a rucksack.
Im only about 60 Pages into this book, but so far I'm loving the themes. There is a huge company called the cloud, they are an online retail store, and their warehouses are essentially also small towns for their workers. They have huge power over their workfore, monitor everything about their employees etc
Cory Doctorow is one of my favorite authors. I've read little brother, homeland, the internet con and Pirate Cinema
so far. His writing is good, but the biggest driver of my interest in his work is the topics he writes about.
He writes about internet and software freedom, often about tech dystopias that contain lessons about authoritarianism
and goverment survellience.
Pirate Cinema is set the present day UK, the only difference being that film and TV show rights holders have even more power than
they do now. The punishments for online piracy are strict and getting stricter. The story is about a guy who enjoys making videos
via editing and remixing film and TV content. He leaves home after getting into legal trouble, and is homeless in london. He ends
up joining/forming an anti copyright activism group.
It's a great book, I loved the story. The homelessness angle was a suprise, but It was interesting to have protagonists in that
situation. It certainly made me more sympathetic to homeless people I encouter. The most exciting part of the book is the team brainstorming ideas to try and stop the introduction of a new copyright law. I think the book also contains some lessons in how to run successful grassroots capampains, and was quite inspring on that front.