Ann Bergin / is on Nostr

Former technical editor and publishing systems nerd now learning web development with an emphasis on #a11y. #Neurodivergent. (She/her)

Last Notes

2024-09-27 08:21:23

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@npub194h…4ewx I think Mastodon might be doing the thing where the preview generated has a different link to the text of the gift link 🤦🏻 but otherwise he's made these points in quite a few different outlets including a series of useful interviews on Radio 4's PM.

2024-08-28 08:17:32

Seems like a good time to mention that I'm a big Studio Ghibli fan, but that I most likely won't be watching Grave of the Fireflies on Netflix as it's very, very grim.

2024-07-06 13:02:41

About time, love to see this.
https://www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion/all-news-opinion/sutton-trust-analysis-of-labour-cabinet/
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/739/663/228/687/323/original/eee6f4db17f5fef8.png

2024-05-05 10:29:41

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@npub194h…4ewx This bodes extremely ill for the amount of IT support I'm going to be doing 😭

2024-04-08 11:17:45

The thing about democracy is that we can change the government ministers and therefore the direction given to the civil service. We can't do that as effectively if ministers and officials rely on a machine that's predicting how things have been written down previously.
Relying on the regurgitations of the inductive prediction machine, especially after the last 4 years of very poor quality ministers (Raab, Dorries, Dowden, &c) and Brexit panic would be a grave error.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68724499

2024-04-06 07:06:40

Regular PSA about the Uni of Worcester pollen forecast, they're the data suppliers for the Met Office but their website is a bit more specific than what the weather forecast usually mentions.
This week: high tree pollen, low to moderate fungal spores.
https://www.worcester.ac.uk/about/academic-schools/school-of-science-and-the-environment/science-and-the-environment-research/national-pollen-and-aerobiology-research-unit/pollen-forecast.aspx

2023-12-27 08:55:33

Entirely unshocking news that only 1.3% of respondents wanted more imperial units.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/choice-on-units-of-measurement-markings-and-sales/outcome/choice-on-units-of-measurement-consultation-response

2023-10-31 08:34:01

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 Just checked, and the book is open access too: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781315761954/debtfare-states-poverty-industry-susanne-soederberg
(Stella Creasy has I think, done a lot to get this on the agenda. Her talking point to get across how bad the situation is with BNPL, is that she recommends payday lenders over BNPL because the former is regulated.)

2023-10-18 16:44:12

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@npub194h…4ewx My partner has a Beurer TL20 that he likes, it's small and rectangular and very bright white light. Prices online seem variable, between £18 and £50.
Unfortunately the model that my Dad and I both have is no longer made [INNOSOL Rondo Bright Light] but we both love it because it's a 35 cm diameter circle and it's like having an indoor sun 🌞. Was over £130 nearly 10 years ago but very much worth it, more of a yellow white light. Sometimes come up on ebay.

2023-09-09 15:08:16

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@npub19lt…qfjk I read all your post, all of James O'Malley's, part of Jeremy Driver's.
Did you read the background on this from Transport for All?

2023-09-09 14:34:49

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@npub19lt…qfjk This is really shocking coming from someone with your record on accessibility.
Have you read the background from Transport for All?

2023-09-08 07:15:22

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 Thanks, that's the impression I gained from the NAO report. I think there's much more to come out about the systems-built blocks as record keeping appears to have been patchy and proper surveying is apparently very invasive.

2023-09-08 07:04:00

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 oh, are RAAC and systems-built the same thing?
I've been wondering how linked these are, because the NAO report on schools buildings treated them as if they were fully separate?
(At least it sounded to my non-expert ears that the surveying to find and understand where these were was different and had different challenges. Specifically surveying for timber framed systems-built blocks is mentioned.)

2023-08-20 08:02:11

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 I think he meant "stochastic parrot" ...
and he ought to have mentioned that this comes from the work of Emily M. Bender, Timnit Gebru, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Margaret Mitchell:
https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445922

2023-08-08 12:34:58

The Electoral Commission has announced today they were subject to a cyber attack.
"The incident was identified in October 2022 after suspicious activity was detected on our systems. It became clear that hostile actors had first accessed the systems in August 2021.
During the cyber-attack, the perpetrators had access to the Commission’s servers which held our email, our control systems, and copies of the electoral registers."
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/privacy-policy/public-notification-cyber-attack-electoral-commission-systems

2023-08-02 08:44:33

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@npub194h…4ewx Go for it, and tag them so folks can find them.
(Fedi making folks feel gauche about sharing work makes it a less valuable network imo.)

2023-07-13 07:52:47

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 Cambridge was at £600 in 2015.
A very predictable crisis years in the making that needs house building + rent controls + councils to have capability to regulate.

2023-07-05 18:36:25

Transport for All (a disabled people's org) have a massive campaign going against rail ticket office closures.
If you care about disabled people being able to use the railway, please join in and respond to the consultation. We need to do all we can to resist this attack on the railway.
https://www.transportforall.org.uk/campaign/ticket-office-closures/
#NotJustTheTicket #accessibility #disabled