Some more facts about SpotlightOnSpend for FullFact.org

8 July 2010

A website dedicated to getting behind the spin decides to take Spikes Cavell’s word that they’re doing a great job on council spending data transparency.

Digital simulacra and the iPad human interface guidelines

17 June 2010

This was originally posted as a comment to an article in UX Magazine about the iPad human interface guidelines. I was reminded by it today by this blogpost by Ben.geek.nz about the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 UI design. While I haven’t seen a WP7 in the flesh it looks as if it may come closer [...]

Philippa Stroud’s statement regarding The Observer’s story

2 May 2010

I have just received an email from Philippa Stroud confirming the following statement from her in response to this story in the Observer: “I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However, it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested [...]

How to lie with statistics, Liberal Democrat style

27 April 2010

Analysing a dodgy bar chart supporting the Lib Dems’ bogus claims about Labour support in Cardiff North.

It’s easier to mash than to filter

12 March 2010

A common social media dilemma solved: Imagine you’re running social media for a public library service. You’ve got ten libraries in the service and you want to use Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. How many accounts do you need?

Why councils shouldn’t run Google AdSense ads

25 February 2010

Shortly after Nottingham City Council presented at the Google local government conference last year and announced their £15K windfall from AdSense, I took a close look at their site to see what kinds of ads were being served and how they were presented. Variously, I found numerous ads that seemed to act against the direct [...]

How ebooks will replace printed books

3 February 2010

Do you remember when film photography was ubiquitous and consumer digital cameras were just starting to come onto the market? (Worryingly, there will be readers of this blog that won’t.) At the time, there was any amount of commentary from the tech boosters who said that of course digital photography would supplant film soon enough. [...]

Why wouldn’t you want an Apple iPad on your coffee table?

28 January 2010

The Apple iPad isn’t just the first credible device in a new category — it’s leading the way towards a world of elegant, specialised computers.

Can you be sued for gritting pavements if someone hurts themselves? Ask the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers

10 January 2010

So you decide to do the community-spirited thing and help to clear ice and snow from your public street. Then someone slips over and hurts themselves. Can you be sued?

What’s the point of a tweeting mobile library?

17 December 2009

Last week I launched @SutMobLib, a Twitter account that tweets the location of Sutton’s mobile library in real time. No, I’m not sitting here all day sending messages. A program does that automatically. Every time the library gets to a new stop it posts up its location.