I live and work on the edge of several different worlds: science, technology, society, academia, and writing. It is truly exhilarating trying to see the world from these different perspectives, though it can be exhausting–there’s a reason why I have multiple coffee and espresso machines! It is impossible to keep up with all the news, but I do try to dip into the streams of discoveries, advances, and life-changing events in these various domains as much as possible. In doing so I come across astonishing, puzzling, interesting, and sometimes mind-blowing articles. I also sometimes write articles and meditations on technology and life, thinking about living in and making sense of today’s world–about what I call Being Digital.

I’d like to share with you the best of what I glean. Towards this, as an experiment, I’m creating an on-going curated list of timely links and articles that I think you might find interesting. Here is a sample:

Society

  • A long article, but worth your time to gain insight into how many of the tech industry luminaries were motivated by lofty and noble idealism, but ended up hurting privacy and democracy for the entire world: The Internet Apologizes …

  • Related to the previous bullet, here’s an insightful TED talk by Jaron Lanier: How we need to remake the internet

We cannot have a society in which, if two people wish to communicate, the only way that can happen is if it’s financed by a third person who wishes to manipulate them. – Jaron Lanier

Security

AI and Machine Learning

  • Google is now offering a free crash course on Machine Learning: Machine Learning Crash Course

  • If you are looking for an accessible book on machine learning and artificial intelligence, you might be interested in this one: The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World. Be forewarned however, when dealing with technical topics, “accessible” means different things to different people, but even if you don’t have a technical background, I think it is worth your time and effort to come up to speed on machine learning and artificial intelligence, to help improve your technical literacy.

Writing

Academia

  • There are lots of how-to-write-a-book-proposal guides out there, but here’s one I recently stumbled across that is written from the viewpoint of publishing a book in academia, and it also gives good insight into what editors at academic presses are looking for (hint: no, they are not looking for your marvelous dissertation!): How To Write A Book Proposal

  • I’ve been thinking more and more about social media for academics. That you are reading this on my website and perhaps found this post via one of my own social media links is an indication for which side of the line I’m on, but some academics are amazingly (in the 21st century!) either actively resistant to the idea or passively ignorant unwilling to learn more about it. I’ve got more to say on this topic, but here are some thoughts by Mark Carrigan on some of the nuances: What does it mean to have a professional identity in an age of social media?

Making

Privacy

Health

Quote

We are drowning in information and starving for knowledge. – Rutherford D. Roger

So, what do you think of this curated list idea? Did you get some value out of these articles? Is this something you’d like to see more of? What other things would you like me to add to the list of topics?

This list takes my time and effort to create, and goes well beyond my day job, but if people can learn and get something out of it, then I’d like to continue this experiment.

I don’t know how often I’ll produce these lists–perhaps weekly, if there’s sufficient interest.

Onwards!