paulwalk

Technical consultant and developer, working with Web technologies to support open access to research.

Lives in Frome, UK.

#openaccess #opendata #scholcomm #coarnotify #pompeyfc

Public Key

npub1vz9t9q9ma47dfrm39u26dh86shz7u3zqy0s79yw0ttn5mumj8k4q23rsun

NIP-05 Address

paulwalk@mastodon-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxpz4jsza76lx53acj79dxmnagt30wg3qz8c0zj8844e6d7derm2spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshtehym

Publishing to

public.relaying.io

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1vz9t9q9ma47dfrm39u26dh86shz7u3zqy0s79yw0ttn5mumj8k4q23rsun

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-05-08 07:52:29 UTC

Great article from @nprofile…eke9
"I am trying to build on the part of the internet that still has the properties I want software to have: durable, legible, user-shaped, hostile to enclosure, and quiet enough that a single person can still understand the whole thing."
This could be a manifesto for my working life! For years I have argued that "boring" is a feature - not a bug - of good infrastructure, and that distribution of systems/resources inoculates against enclosure.
https://www.terrygodier.com/the-boring-internet

2026-04-21 11:36:29 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 "blunt instruments" were what came to my mind the last time I used Ryan Air...

2026-04-15 15:38:50 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…w3h4 Good suggestion - thanks! I guess i should revisit BL Labs too - maybe some dig hums datasets there I can use?

2026-04-15 13:15:25 UTC

Looking for advice: I want to experiment with some data repository functionality and to do this I need some public-domain (e.g. CC0) & heterogeneous datasets to ingest for testing. Mainly I'm looking for things like:
- datasets - various file formats & data structures
- text (may try Proj. Gutenburg for this?)
- documents/papers
- images
I don't need huge quantities or data volumes - just enough to play with some processes.
Can anyone suggest some useful collections I can "borrow"?

2026-04-08 19:59:56 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 that's what I thought until I discovered Paul Sellers. The guy should be given "national treasure" status. He taught me (via blog/youtube) how to buy a handful of cheap tools and to build a functioning workbench out of crap "B&Q" timber. The rest has flowed from there. https://paulsellers.com

2026-04-08 19:51:51 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 Josiah Warren is the guy. I don't know much about him though. If you're interested in the book he has made a free download (PDF) available. But the hardback is beautiful
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/370/827/301/305/363/original/84257b77b5deecf8.jpeg

2026-04-08 19:41:49 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 it's based on a famous (in woodworkers universe) book by Christopher Schwartz. He refers to an American flavour of Anarchism defined by someone whose name I have momentarily forgotten. It's a fantastic book, and a clever design. https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest?srsltid=AfmBOorbNmSuSRNfGFqbnl5kYiv81naFRpHVtagBaE-_GSnAGzMdD5-A

2026-04-08 19:32:40 UTC

My Anarchist's Toolchest is taking shape. I think the hardest parts are done now!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/370/751/940/561/364/original/9c64c457a5f5e0b0.jpeg

2026-04-07 06:24:21 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…y4qv I hadn't bothered watching this because I assumed that it would be shooting fish in a barrel for Theroux...

2026-04-04 18:08:41 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 for a long time I have thought that the outcome was more likely to be Idiocracy than Terminator.

2026-04-02 08:30:35 UTC

I picked up a new and useful phrase today - "Cognitive Sovereignty"
https://www.paulwalk.net/2026/cognitive-sovereignty/

2026-03-23 11:32:46 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 @nprofile…m43q @nprofile…6q4p Yes - agreed that they will try to do this. And, moreover, people will *claim* their website is written by their (human) self, when they actually use some LLM to "draft" it.
But I think this experiment is about establishing "trust" relationships between websites. Maybe closer in spirit to the "blog roll" idea - semi-automated.
Again - I'm not at all sure this is viable - but I've become very interested in how we can identify human-generated content in The Age of Slop.

2026-03-23 09:22:01 UTC

Experimenting with `human.json` - a protocol to declare your allegiance to the human race ;-)
https://www.paulwalk.net/2026/experimenting-with-human.json/
(hat tip to @nprofile…6q4p )

2026-03-21 12:45:30 UTC

Google search keeps getting worse. Such a shame - I vividly remember seeing Google search for the first time - it was such an exciting development then. Now, it's kinda embarrassing how low it is sinking.. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/03/20/google-search-is-now-using-ai-to-rewrite-headlines

2026-03-04 14:15:44 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 @nprofile…nhqk yes - agreed - but most researchers would still need help + infrastructure provided to them so I think Sam's point stands in either case

2026-02-20 18:30:39 UTC

Interesting "disallow list" of countries....
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/104/379/458/901/288/original/837f0885994de222.jpeg

2026-02-05 16:09:52 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 Goodhart's Law?

2026-01-27 12:08:34 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 @nprofile…cpk2 its fine 😊

2026-01-27 11:32:05 UTC

I'm finding the new version (8) of @nprofile…cpk2 to be more stable in terms of the browser plugin behaviour (I generally use Safari still on MacOS and iOS).
I also think the interface changes are fine and not too drastic, so I don't have to "relearn" the UI.
Good stuff! :-)

2026-01-20 12:24:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 That's how I read it

2026-01-20 10:25:48 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 sure, in the case of an attack then all bets are off. But not now

2026-01-20 09:24:14 UTC

This man aspires to be Prime Minister of the U.K. Here is an example of the maturity and strategic depth of his thinking on the current crisis... 🤦🏼‍♂️
"The UK should consider expelling the US from British military bases, the leader of the Green party has said..."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/20/uk-should-consider-expelling-us-forces-from-british-bases-says-zack-polanski

2026-01-14 12:38:48 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 precisely

2026-01-14 10:26:13 UTC

Finally cancelled Dropbox account after many years of use. What was a brilliant service has steadily deteriorated to the point that I could no longer trust it to do the one, single thing that I wanted it to do which was to quickly and reliably synchronise two file systems.

2026-01-08 13:05:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tkx6 I'm 90% there. I read longer-form journalism at the weekends, but largely ignore news sites entirely. I'm definitely happier as a result.

2025-10-22 13:46:17 UTC

We need more of this kind of informed, objective evaluation!
https://hcommons.social/@mia/115418088717668214