~ or, at least, stop solving the wrong problem and wasting your time!~ Question: Modern life. Adulting. Dayjobs. Projects, Clients, Stakeholders. Our families. Vacations. Money … Which one of these doesn’t have problems? Answer: they ALL do, sadly. Our challenge is to identify WHICH problem to work on next with our precious, limited time. That’s… Continue reading Be a Problem-Finding Wizard
Author: femmetech
Design Experiments with Blockchain teams
I’ve run a few experiments this year as I kickoff working with teams who are innovating on the bleeding edge – blockchain. Below are two case studies from 2018 – click through to read the methods and takeaways. GAMES, SPECULATIVE FICTION + DESIGN THINKING Design Thinking is popular and proven technique for learning tons about… Continue reading Design Experiments with Blockchain teams
Digital Security Training Guide for Organizations
From Fall 2017 – through the Spring of 2018, I got to work with ten other trainers to collaborate on the design and facilitation of a digital security training series for organizations, and our pilot group was organizations supporting immigrants in NYC. In particular, our goal was to “build power – not paranoia!” Over the… Continue reading Digital Security Training Guide for Organizations
Secure your facebook data
The tragic thing about the Cambridge Analytica data is that it was collected in part because people said “Yes” to a Facebook app without getting informed. Given the recent dragging Facebook is getting for being a pipeline to share people’s data, I thought this instance of IT Tech Tips could focus on: Things you can do to make your facebook use… Continue reading Secure your facebook data
Civic participation, digital infrastructure, and why the US is behind
The one simple thing that US digital infrastructure can’t do to encourage civic participation: Share UIDs Those who know me appreciate that I like to get to the bottom of things if I think it’ll help solve a problem. There’s a reason – logical or otherwise – why things are the way they are. While technology… Continue reading Civic participation, digital infrastructure, and why the US is behind
Using Open Data to Understand Needs: PBNYC Case Study
If you’ve never worked with data, you might think that finding an open data set available through a trusted city provider would be the end of your journey. And then, you’d open the data set, try to use it in your favorite visualization tool, and realize you had a long way to go. No matter… Continue reading Using Open Data to Understand Needs: PBNYC Case Study
A data stewardship approach to security audits
While the concept of a security “audit” can turn off some folks, I like to bring in data stewardship as a care practice to ground us in why digital security matters — and how audits can become a normal and non-creepy part of your technology practices. Data stewardship is a caring approach to data security.… Continue reading A data stewardship approach to security audits
Creating an open data set of participatory budgeting
Part of my work in early 2017 was to methodically go through the digital assets of the Participatory Budgeting Project and decide which to prioritize to update. Given that the Case Studies web page is consistently in the top five visited pages on the site, and that the demand for a clean and ordered set of… Continue reading Creating an open data set of participatory budgeting
PBP’s work in the NYC Open Data report
I’m excited to share that my work with Participatory Budgeting, leveraging open data to help both elected officials and residents make data-informed choices made it into the 2017 MODA Open Data Report. Read the report here.Â
The ethics of algorithms: nonprofits, open data, and feedback loops
I recently gave a talk at Thoughtworks’ Ethics of Algorithms series, which was a great opportunity to examine how structured logic appears in my work with decidedly unstructured-leaning organizations. A few key takeaways: Feel free to grab the slides if they’re of interest: Ethics of Algorithms_Dec16