Sounds like an illegal drug-related market doesn't it? Actually, it is the Online Program Industry and in the moments after I hit publish on the preceding post, I saw a tweet about 2U, the putative pioneer of the industry. I got cranky as I tend to do when I see yet more dialog about this [...]
Category: Calls to action
The soul of innovation
This thought that tech architecture might be rooted in something other than way cool technology or wealth creation rolls around in my mind all the time. It informed the due diligence methodology I recently proposed for IEEE's Global Humanitarian Technology Conference. It also relates to my memoir project covering my experience and insights as a [...]
What makes technology humanitarian?
This is the month when I deliver my very first talk at IEEE's Global Humanitarian Technology Conference. Here is the abstract: The United Nations addresses economic objectives in SDG 8 (promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth) and SDG 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries to achieve greater participation in economic growth). A 2017 UN [...]
Endowments and colonization
When a dear friend asked me to sit on a church organization's investment and endowment committee I balked. This is New York City, the land of Wall Street and astute bankers. What could I possibly add to any discussion, much less decision? Finally, I agreed but it would take many months before I was captivated. [...]
What can I do?
It's a question almost everyone I know is asking. What does it really mean to be fully anti-racist? I am a white person living in a gloriously diverse community. We have these exchanges more now than ever before but in that context I mostly am in listening, learning, and supporting mode. This post offers preliminary [...]
About economic justice . . . again
I'm still self-isolating although I do have plans to meet some friends for distanced drinks in a few minutes. Much more seriously, of all the news and punditry about the pandemic grabbing my attention, the one that rankles most is the way it is exposing economic inequality. And that inequality shows up in unequal access [...]
Once again, small is less
I write this as we in New York City are beginning to see pandemic numbers trending in an encouraging direction. Of course I scanned that news, but then this headline jumped out at me-- Businesses Say Big Banks Flouted ‘First Come First Served’ for Aid New York Times, April 20, 2020, by Emily Flitter. Yes, [...]
I’ll show you my credit score, if you’ll show me . . .
I just came across the news that Facebook has a patent on an invention that allows lenders to view the credit scores of our circle of friends on Facebook to determine whether or not we are creditworthy. Check out some coverage here. I couldn't be more concerned about how social data are being collected in [...]
descant labs 