Fair weather, foul weather: navigating to positive impact in turbulent times
The National Data Library can deliver its vision,but it must pivot to build trust in the age of today’s web This post builds on observations […]
Author: Gavin
Alternatives
How can we find the Goldilocks Zone of our National Data Infrastructure?
(please note my disclosures at the end of this post) This post contains (as-always) personal opinions and thinking-in-progress (strong opinions, weakly held) as I navigate […]
How Will We Be Long?
Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli is Lord Mayor of the City of London from 10 November 2023 until 10 November 2024. Michael’s working theme is ‘Connect To Prosper […]
Don’t let the mediocre be the enemy of the good
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” Oft-cited to help motivate us to get on with making something. But what happens when we’re not […]
Diome: definition
Diome [noun] A data biome that represents a temporal cluster of data from which specific insights can be learned, analysed and/or derived. Discussion This is […]
Pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable
via https://donellameadows.org/archives/dancing-with-systems/ “8. Pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable. Our culture, obsessed with numbers, has given us the idea that […]
How to get now playing album art from Spotify API
In a previous post, I hacked this by getting the album artwork jpg from my amplifier. Unfortunately, upgrading to a new amp ‘improved’ its operating […]
ai code example: animated planetary orbit
Today’s example of how easy AI can make it to write code. The interactive animation below is the final output from various experiments below.[My words […]
Lessons from an Emergency: Achieving Data Readiness in Challenging Times
This insightful report, from the Royal Societies DELVE initiative, “Data Readiness: Lessons from an Emergency” delves into the crucial role of data in emergency situations […]
“Too good to be true”
We are in the midst of two exponential changes: our environmental crises (e.g. climate change) and the web of data. I created Icebreaker One to […]
Bringing album art back to life (‘pi-fi’)
So, after asking Spotify to treat album art properly for over a decade I ended up giving up and fixing it myself (and let them […]
On data: where is it and what can we do with it?
From a discussion with a non-technical board which I was helping recently There was confusion around ‘where is the data?’, ‘who owns what?’ and ‘what […]
Testing out this AI thing
Here’s a basic algorithm for trading based on 1% value swings: Note: This is a basic algorithm, and there are many factors to consider when […]
What is a data infrastructure strategy?
I’m often asked to unpack ‘data’. There’s a lot of confusion and, often, people think it’s a function of ‘IT’ and just for the geeks. […]
A stereo or a soundstage?
Is that a hi-fi or a soundstage?
D0 principles for Global Data Infrastructure
https://dgen.net/d0 Having spent quite a number of decades working on data at scale, we’ve worked to codify some of the baseline principles that could underpin […]
What three things? These three things.
Three climate actions you can take today. One of the challenges we all face in addressing climate emergency is “what can I do that would […]
Open Life Data Framework
Report: https://dgen.net/1/OpenLifeDataFramework-2021-11-18.pdf Official site: https://appg-longevity.org/open-life-data-framework Vision: To enable consent-based, trust-enhancing and secure sharing of personal ‘health-relevant data’ from the private sector to improve and level […]
Open Finance — the FCA points to a future of Open Standards for Shared Data in the UK
The FCA has put forward all the major recommendations we (Open Finance advisory) made in 2019… laying a path towards Open Standards for Shared Data […]
Tracking – compare and contrast
What is ‘good behaviour’ in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism? Follow the data: https://pagexray.fouanalytics.com/q/www.dailymail.co.uk%2Fushome%2Findex.html vs https://pagexray.fouanalytics.com/q/yoti.com Compare and contrast. I continue to believe that we need commercial companies to […]
Net Zero Data
Net Zero Data ™ Data related to delivering Net Zero impact on our ecosystem.
Leadership Learnings — team alignment
Given the number of times that people/startups ask me for insights about team-building (and the fact I’m building upon them with Icebreaker One under lockdown conditions) […]
Tipping points…
Our transition to net-zero is underway — how can we ensure it is provable, robust, secure and fair? via The FT we have The world’s largest oil […]
Designing the UK’s shared data infrastructure
Smart Data: Research on Consent, Liability & Authentication The government has estimated that the impact of personal data mobility enabled productivity and efficiency is worth […]
Data. Ecosystem. Market design?
Digital ≠ website design ; Digital = market design What is the whole-of-market design for data-sharing? Rather than giving a detailed narrative at this stage, […]
How Can We Stop Losing Our Minds?: Producing a Legacy From Development Projects, Not Just a Document
Have you ever run, funded or been part of a development project? Have you ever gotten to the end of it and felt that, […]
Calling all dance & ‘digital collection’ enthusiasts
We are launching a new two-year development program to help connect people with DCD’s digital collection. And of course, as usual, it’s not just about […]
Data governance — how to move fast and *not* break things
I’ve been receiving a lot of calls from people asking how they can use data to ‘help’. To help frame a potential response that isn’t […]
Tip of the data iceberg
In City AM [Re: Why Open Banking is the next finance revolution] As co-chair of the original Open Banking Standard, it’s great to see the […]
Open Finance — Designing for Cohesion and Interoperability
The Financial Conduct Authority set up an Advisory Group on open finance to discuss the potential of extending open banking-like data-sharing to a wider range […]
Open Banking, its evolution into Open Finance and beyond
Open Banking—is a regulated standard that addresses data sharing across the banking sector. It addresses: Rights Liability models Dispute resolution and redress Consent Security Legal […]
An evolution in process
The above chart is an evolution of the work of Simon Wardley, which I’ve been following for many years. It feels like we’re in another […]
Icebreaker One announced at UN Climate Action Summit
After an 18-month industry consultation, we opened Icebreaker One at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. –> More information here on the new IcebreakerOne.org […]
Designing for people not things — a digital archive in the age of the web
Working with Dance Collection Danse (DCD) we have created a vision for their new national digital archive: a shared history that could be a co-created and co-managed […]
Longplayer Day 2019
I opened the second edition of Longplayer Day, a peripatetic festival that takes inspiration from the themes and philosophies that underpin Jem Finer’s one-thousand-year-long musical […]
IcebreakerOne announced at the UN DRR Global Platform
We announced of our first open consultation for IcebreakerOne at the UN DRR Global Platform on 13 May 2019.
The Data Spectrum: defining Shared & Closed
One of the things I’m most proud of creating at the ODI is the Data Spectrum, to us help understand the language of data. When […]
Codename: Icebreaker One (IB1)
Development of the Open Environmental Risk Standard continues: this week, we’ve been working on a one-pager to translate what we’re doing in to more simple […]
Some thoughts on the ‘long-shot’
I recently re-watched The Big Short. … and have, in many conversations, been testing out the idea that we are approaching a potential ‘market collapse’ […]
OERS — an introduction
Yesterday, we hosted the kick-off meeting for the Open Environmental Risk Standard start up team. This is our summary of that conversation. Over 50% of […]
Your voice: on the future of financial services …
Interested in the future of open banking, open pensions, open insurance, open … finance? What do you think? Open Finance will … in your words: […]
“Extreme sharing is a political act”
What Alex has created in the Algorave movement is quite remarkable. He’s ‘cracked the code’ [literally] of how to transform coding into a live creative […]
OERS briefing note 2019-02-04
Based on six months of consultation we are developing an Environmental Risk Constellation (a federated partnership programme) to: develop an open standard for sharing environmental […]
Global Open Banking Summit — announcement & notes
“A full view of your financial world” From my perspective, Open Banking is one of the most interesting things happening right now. It’s like going […]
An open environmental risk standard?
UPDATE 2019-02: briefing note here Working with Europe’s leading climate innovation fund, Climate KIC, we are initiating the creation of an Open Environmental Risk Standard for […]
Air quality data – ripe for disruption?
Friends in the area tell me that this is the site that everyone is using to monitor air quality in the CA wildfire region. A […]
A national archive fit for the 21st century
Working with Dance Collection Danse (DCD) we are initiating a project to create a new national archive: a shared history that will be a co-created and co-managed […]
BBookproject launches
Constellator Anna Versteeg has launched her new project: https://bbookproject.com “a collaboration between medics, scientists, researchers, writers, artists, designers and the general public, exploring science and […]
Can government stop losing its mind?
Can government remember? Is it condemned to repeat mistakes? Or does it remember too much and so see too many reasons why anything new is […]
John Lewis to trial CupClub
John Lewis Partnership has announced a collaboration with London startup CupClub, (disclosure: I’m a non-exec director), which will see the subscription service trialled within the […]
Report – International review & benchmarking of Open Banking
We have completed our comprehensive International review & benchmarking of Open Banking for the Canadian government, covering: Australia Europe Hong Kong India Japan Mexico Malaysia […]
Exploring refugee financing
Working with DFID, UKaid, International Rescue and the Centre for Global Disaster Protection, we helped lead a day-long innovation lab that convened over 40 experts […]
Quantum Quipu
How the visual language of technology comes around every 1,000 years or so… “talking knots were recording devices fashioned from strings. The Inca people used […]
A quantum city?
Light pipes for photons, in triangles and loops (in the photo, the oblongs are loops of fibre to create delays and the lines all fibre […]
A Digital Commonwealth?
At the 2015 CHOGM in Malta I suggested it would be prescient to consider the future of the Commonwealth through a digital lens. At the […]
Report – Development of UK open banking
We have completed our review of the development of UK open banking for the Canadian government, tracing its history back to the 2007-2008 financial crisis […]
Can government stop losing its mind?
On Wednesday 18 April, Nesta is hosting the launch of a new report prepared by Gavin Starks. The report entitled ‘Can government stop losing its […]
Data is infrastructure
Great to see Data Infrastructure gaining traction with the National Infrastructure Commission: 1. https://www.nic.org.uk/publications/data-infrastructure-paper-national-infrastructure-commission/ 2. https://proftomcrick.com/2018/02/03/data-as-infrastructure Background In 2015, while at the ODI, I helped […]
A blockchain for that…?
Continuing the theme of “do you need a blockchain for that?”, consider the following questions: I am often presented with “We use blockchain to solve […]
Are we about to do something useful?
“Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose.” Larry Fink, CEO, Blackrock (who manage $1.7 trillion of active funds) “Not all […]
Open banking is now regulation in the UK — Open APIs matter
The Open Banking Standard, which I co-chaired the development of, started to roll out on 13 Jan 2018. Creating open APIs is part of the […]
DECODE – personal data & the public good
I’ve joined the Advisory Board of DECODE, which is exploring tools that put individuals in control of whether they keep their personal data private or […]
SDG Hackathon in Davos
I joined the judging panel at FutureHack, the first ever Hackathon to take place around Davos during the week of the World Economic Forum, as a […]
Difference trains
An experiment with an old track (2002) and more recent video (2018)… [best watched full-screen & if you like repeating patterns with tiny variations] Music […]
GAFA — the extractive industries of the mind
In the 20th century ‘globalisation’ was heralded as the future, but a subtlety that is lost in the ether is that this was only if […]
Provenance raises $800K for blockchain-based product tracking + appoints Starks as Chair
Provenance raises $800K to launch groundbreaking service for transparency in the food and drinks industry British tech startup Provenance, a digital platform enabling brands and […]
Adventures in acoustic cosmology
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE RAS PR 17/30 (NAM 13) 3rd July 2017 A project that explores whether there is a musical equivalent to the […]
Data is not the new oil. Data > Oil
“The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data” says The Economist “Data is the new oil”, said Clive Humby and many others [*update: […]
TALK — Forms of Knowledge: Calculations and Creativity
“In celebration of a new installation of work by glass artist Dr Shelley James, The Hospital Club presents a panel discussion about the science […]