Pam brings the topic this week of "fun in programming." More nostalgia, talking about how it feels in modern programming, the joy of problem solving. Also, we talk about how Sarah is hacking vending machines!
This episode, Sarah brings the topic and Pam & Sarah explore the intersection of technology and nostalgia, sharing personal experiences with early computers and video game consoles. The talk about the evolution of technology, the resurgence of "old tech", and how nostalgia influences modern culture.
Pam and Sarah bring back the podcast! I guess? Pam seems unsure. They talk about "unjaded internet." AI is discussed (of course), reflecting on AI since they last chatted in the new year's episode. What about social media and the youth? And Pam misquotes TS Eliot.
Pam Selle and Helen Horstmann-Allen, a self-identified radical optimist, talk about optimism, the challenges of decentralized products, the contrast between online and physical communities, and the importance of aligning personal values with financial decisions. What if there are ethics in investing? What are yours? Helen shares her insights on finding sustainable paths in personal and professional endeavors, and has encouraging words to get involved in their communities and recognize the impact of their actions.
Pam is joined by Meredith Finkelstein, an engineer, herbalist, and artist, who shares her unique journey from an early interest in nature to her current exploration of herbalism and blockchain technology. They end up diving into lucid dreaming, the wellness industry, menopause, and intuition. And Pam gets to ask Meredith about blockchain and why she's interested in it, crypto (cryptocurrency) and finance not being real. Pam ponders her quitting zine that remains on the idea plateau.Meredith's Blog: https://thewitchofendor.com/
Pam and Ben Garvey talk about data viz, remote work, job searching, IRL networking, startups, and more. There's a dash of AI discussion (of course), the magic secret of Networking (the people kind), and what if all software was modifiable? They also talk about the future of decentralized platforms and in praise of boring technology.
Pam's job search eBook: https://pamselle.gumroad.com/l/beyondtheresume
Ben's website: https://bengarvey.com/
Ben on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bengarvey.com
Go see Ben speak in NYC: https://www.meetup.com/datavisualization/events/305741335/
Pam and Kelley talk about developer relations and the changing landscape of "developer communities." They wonder where all the cowboys, er, developers, have gone. Kelley teaches Pam about 'product-led growth' (aka make things good and people buy it?). They also talk about how centering humans in technology, ephemeral data, and being vulnerable online, and of course a dash of philosophy and ethics.
Pam and Sarah Withee, of pilot episode fame, get together to reflect on 2024 and ring in 2025. When in doubt, put an AI on it. And what about that dog who just wants to play basketball?
Pam speaks with Tanveer Anoy, founder of Mondro, a Bangladeshi Queer Archive, and the Bangladesh Feminist Archives. They talk about the cultural context of LGBTQ+ issues in Bangladesh, the founding of the first queer archive, and lots on feminism, including intersectional feminism and transnational feminism. https://mondro.org/about-mondro-2/ https://bdfeministarchives.org/
Pam and Mjumbe Poe talk about "appropriate technology," the recent International Network on Appropriate Technology conference (INAT, which does *not* have a silly gnat mascot, unfortunately). They also talk about students (young adult humans) and cities and get into participatory budgeting a bit, which seems pretty neat.
Apartheid Mapping: https://www.dair-institute.org/spatial-apartheid-mapping/ INAT: https://www.appropriatetech.net/ Mjumbe's handle across the web: mjumbewu
Pam is joined by Nora Gibson, an artist and researcher who explores the intersection of technology, dance, and embodied experiences. Nora shares her journey from traditional choreography to integrating technology into her art, discussing the impact of technology on human connection and the loneliness epidemic. They delve into the philosophical aspects of technology as a tool for creating meaningful experiences and the importance of awe and wonder in art.
Pam is joined by Georgia Iacovou, a tech policy writer with a focus on AI and media training. They talk about tech policy, journalism, the US election (oof), how the 'left' can't stop cancelling itself, and Pam spends a bit of time calling Elon Musk a loser.
Pam flies solo due to some civic duty interfering with recording. This week she records a minisode and talks about voting (tis the season), vote swapping, ballot selfies, The Substance (f*ing insane), and the book Invisible Rulers, and talks about propaganda.
swapyourvote.org
Can you take a ballot selfie? https://www.vox.com/21523858/ballot-selfies-state-rules
The Substance: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/
Invisible Rulers https://bookshop.org/p/books/invisible-rulers-the-people-who-turn-lies-into-reality-renee-diresta/20664632
Seven common propaganda devices from the Institute for Propaganda Analysis https://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/Propaganda/ipatypes.html
Pam and David Dylan Thomas take the diversions counter off the charts talking about David's work in inclusive design and filmmaking, the nature of time, personal brands giving the ick, and the challenges faced in the tech industry and The Internet At Large. Why talking about ideas feels better than "talking about yourself," the impact of success on artistic expression, and the implications of language in politics and democracy. There's also diversions into: mindfulness and meditation, why nightmares becoming real is less scary than other things, and the movie Network and how it's SO still relevant. Just listen to the episode, ok.
Pam is joined by Asheesh Laroia, an engineer who was involved in the Code for America pilot program linked to the IRS' e-file program. They talk about how making government systems more accessibly has direct impact on millions of Americans, that really it's all about relationships (and ticketing systems), and how things are possibly better, but maybe we're not noticing.
Pam is joined by Christine Lemmer-Webber, executive director of the Spritely Institute and lead author of the ActivityPub standard. They talk about imagining a decentralized social web, what is means to be secure by default, and putting horse heads on cars so people better understand them.
Pam is joined by Jasmine Greenaway, and they talk about teaching computer science, wth is a data lake or vector databases, and talk about rest (not to be confused with REST), making things for yourself and for the joy of it, and that maybe plateaus get a bad rap.
Pam is joined by Dawn Wages, chair of the Python Software Foundation, Python community program manager at Microsoft, and lives down the street from Pam. They talk about open source, racism in open source, what does the next generation of software engineers want, and tell stories about the solarpunk future. Pam experiments with space noises for when the audio has to cut away.
For the pilot episode of Ignore All Previous Instructions, Pam is joined by Sarah Withee, polyglot engineer, open source maintainer, and cat fan. They talk about ethics in AI (what even is an LLM?), AI in government, WordPress vulnerabilities, and more. Pam rants a bit about how the City of Philadelphia exposed her data but didn't care.
For the pilot episode of Ignore All Previous Instructions, Pam is joined by Sarah Withee, polyglot engineer, open source maintainer, and cat fan. They talk about ethics in AI (what even is an LLM?), AI in government, WordPress vulnerabilities, and more. Pam rants a bit about how the City of Philadelphia exposed her data but didn't care.
