Connection Problem S03E17: Maintain the maintainers
Sitrep: I'm home with a hot cup of tea and a low fever, and just finished skyping into a meeting for Alexandra DS's #iotmark initiative (more on that below)—which ironically is happening just around the corner, in Berlin. It's nice that spring is finally here.
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As always, a shout out to tinyletter.com/pbihr or a forward is always appreciated!
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Trustmarks all the way
Above I mentioned the #iotmark initiative; it's one of the more promising initiatives for a certification for the Internet of Things. This kind of certification could help eliminate a lot of crapware from the market, hence raising the bar at the bottom—and establishing a new, better baseline. That said, from within the ThingsCon network I'd like to explore a different approach that aims for a similar goal: I'd like to launch a trustmark that raises the bar at the top. Something more aspirational, like so:
I wrote up the a snapshot of my early thinking over on Medium. Thoughts and feedback welcome!
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Sustainable pants
We were very happy to be interviewed by Deutsche Welle about our super versatile trouser project Zephyr Berlin. Zephyr is one of those passion projects that I learn and gain so much from even though as a business it only makes so much sense. That said, I don't consider it a pants project rather than a travel and lifestyle project in the sense that it's almost random that the first product was a pair of pants (or two, to be exact). Instead it could have been something else entirely, like a t-shirt or a scarf or who knows what: We'll know it when you see it.
The interview isn't out yet; I'll link to it once we have something to link to. (In the meantime, if you missed it there's last week's profile in The Craftsman).) As an aside, onus points for us, I believe, for doing the whole interview with a baby in my arms.
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Just put it on the SleazeChain
Steve Bannon is on a European tour (ZEIT.DE) to meet with the army of darkness, but interestingly one thing he kept rambling on about (and this is why I mention it here at all) is crypto currencies. At an event hosted by a Swiss right wing media outlet he lauded crypto currencies as—and I'm quoting the original quote in English not from the linked newsletter article but from a dodgy looking crypto currency website—as a tool to take power "back" from institutions: "We take control of the central banks away. That will give us the power again. (...) Once you take control of your currency, once you take control of your data, once you take control of your citizenship, that’s when you’re going to have true freedom."
I'd rather not think too hard about who's "we" and how's not "we", and how that would play out if Bannon and his brethren have their way. But if the rosy-cheeked illustration they made for their article is any indication, his position and his politics are welcome in at least parts of the crypto currency scene.
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[Insert creepy laugh here]
Amazon thinks it has a fix to Alexa’s terrifying laughing issue [Recode], which appears to have been a thing. "We put a 2-pizza team on it and they solutioneered the creepy laugh away." (Not an actual quote.)
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Demand better tech
Cory Doctorow says: Let's Get Better at Demanding Better from Tech. I like a good, constructive rant, such as this reminder from Cory.
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Know your rights
Co-Op Digital has made some lovely GDPR rights posters, available under CC license. Nice!
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Who Maintains The Maintainers
I don't think any single piece of writing has been popping up all over my radar this week as Hail the maintainers, a great essay on Aeon.
We can think of labour that goes into maintenance and repair as the work of the maintainers, those individuals whose work keeps ordinary existence going rather than introducing novel things. Brief reflection demonstrates that the vast majority of human labour, from laundry and trash removal to janitorial work and food preparation, is of this type: upkeep. This realisation has significant implications for gender relations in and around technology.
And, spoiler alert...
What happens after innovation, they argue, is more important. Maintenance and repair, the building of infrastructures, the mundane labour that goes into sustaining functioning and efficient infrastructures, simply has more impact on people's daily lives than the vast majority of technological innovations.
I think that's just lovely, and a perfect note to end this week's newsletter on.
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As always, a shout out to tinyletter.com/pbihr or a forward is always appreciated!
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Keep on maintainin' & have a great weekend.
Yours truly,
Peter
PS. Please feel free to forward this to friends & colleagues, or send them to tinyletter.com/pbihr
