Leigh Dodds

CTO at EnergySparks (https://energysparks.uk) a UK charity helping schools be more energy efficient.

My background is in open data, data standards, infrastructure and sharing.

Ex. Director of Delivery at the Open Data Institute.

Proud dad of two kids. Likely posting about data, tech, energy, books, cooking, ttrpgs, comics and other nerdery.

Public Key

npub1xjg8eua3flv87wu22mz7w2ssvey6gnsyxknn0xhypdhg5jlvdxzshsp6ln

NIP-05 Address

ldodds@mastodon-me-uk.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrfyru7wc5lkrl8w99d3089ggxvjdyfczrtfehntjqkm52f0kxnpg0u0av4

Author Public Key

npub1xjg8eua3flv87wu22mz7w2ssvey6gnsyxknn0xhypdhg5jlvdxzshsp6ln

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Last Notes

2025-04-06 08:35:50

"Mood alignment" 😂
https://youtu.be/JeNS1ZNHQs8?si=aQVnVv5oGISukpwX

2025-02-24 10:44:24

Eleven things I've learned about wrangling half-hourly energy data.
http://blog.ldodds.com/2025/02/24/falsehoods-this-programmer-believed-about-half-hourly-energy-data/

2024-10-22 09:33:01

The first mention of blockchain appeared on change.nhs.uk at 8.59am this morning. The first mention of Solid at 15:14 yesterday.

2024-10-18 08:11:53

Amazon Alexa giving out incorrect information and wrongly attributing it to Full Fact.
https://fullfact.org/online/amazon-echo-misleading-voice-assistant/

2024-10-11 18:33:54

Love this
https://interconnected.org/home/2024/10/11/filtered

2024-10-11 13:36:51

We're looking for a part-time comms/marketing person to join the team at Energy Sparks:
Remote but based on UK.
https://energysparks.uk/jobs
#fedihired

2024-10-11 11:19:10

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Best recent robotaxi, IMO
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxfSphiZIgHSQeA65FTCDyoofI_pg7QizJ?si=zvqzFaNxeazuXGiF

2024-10-11 10:50:49

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@npub1dzv…mt3x no they herd fleshy humans into the killdozer

2024-10-11 10:45:55

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So bland I even got the names wrong.
Anyway, in my day Cybertaxi and Robovan would have been a 2000AD comic.

2024-10-11 10:41:31

The retro-future sci-fi aesthetics of the cybervan and robotaxi are embarrassingly bland.

2024-10-10 20:44:08

Well that series of Slow Horses was over way too quickly. Still brilliant.

2024-10-10 08:10:00

Plenty of lessons this week for people interested in public trust in, and access to, national (weather) data infrastructure

2024-10-07 19:12:27

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@npub17xt…a9hm
Seems about right based on my experience even in small orgs. Hope things go ok for you

2024-10-04 20:36:03

Just noticed that the hacker in Slow Horses has a copy of The Complete XML Reference on his desk

2024-10-04 09:49:52

I guess they found that missing £22bn and just decided to go wild
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/248/525/881/135/250/original/ba52c49394853fb9.png

2024-10-03 12:33:03

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First blog post in aaaaaages.

2024-10-03 08:47:09

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Am a bit skeptical about whether general purpose tools like this. More format/community specific tools can offer better feedback I think and nudge towards improving quality.
I wrote a bit about my experiences building validators a few years ago:
https://blog.ldodds.com/2021/05/27/building-data-validators/

2024-10-03 08:44:45

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I gave it a try. Despite the name it's more of a validation and packaging tool that an editor as you need to have existing data.
The validation behaviour looks like it needs work as it, e.g. flagged an empty row in a CSV but wouldn't let me delete it. And allows me to enter invalid dates.

2024-10-03 08:43:06

Open Knowledge have released a new version of their Open Data Editor:
https://blog.okfn.org/2024/10/02/the-open-data-editor-is-now-ready-for-the-pilot-phase/
Also looking for some developers to help with testing:
https://blog.okfn.org/2024/10/02/are-you-a-developer-help-us-test-the-open-data-editor/
#opendata

2024-10-03 08:34:31

Interesting view: AI is good for climate change, despite short-term emissions increases, because it's driving investment from tech giants and govts in deploying renewables and moving data centres off grid. 🤔
https://climate.benjames.io/ai-go-brrr/?ref=ben-james-newsletter

2024-09-27 08:23:22

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@npub1059…9pe2 I found the article on archive.ph, thank you. More progressive taxation seems like a good thing *as well*.

2024-09-27 08:16:07

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@npub1059…9pe2 gift link doesn't work unfortunately, but will try and track down the article

2024-09-27 08:15:10

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@npub1059…9pe2 excellent, thank you.
I've been skimming this report which has some cost/benefit analysis
https://www.ukwealth.tax/

2024-09-27 07:54:20

Have Labour taken any kind of stance around a wealth tax?*
There's a lot of good research on impacts of even one-off taxes, including widespread support. But feels like it just goes into a vacuum.
Just curious about the opposing arguments, if any
* other than the one implied by not creating one

2024-09-26 14:33:34

@npub1upu…m0rd have you ever had issues with premailer? Inlining CSS styles seems to be quite slow and very cpu intensive. And bootstrap-email means the nokogiri_fast adapter doesn't really work. Wondered if you'd used anything else or had similar issue

2024-09-25 15:36:50

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@npub15x0…9dqj red lights on the dashboards are not good

2024-09-25 15:34:47

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got a brew though, so improving

2024-09-25 15:34:14

https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/198/920/295/981/594/original/0f1f9762a005a74b.jpeg

2024-09-25 08:45:03

Fewer Luddite explainers, more Luddite emulators.

2024-09-24 16:27:16

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@npub1sjv…6nqm yes we were worried about that, but no issues thankfully!

2024-09-24 16:09:08

Went to Scotland last week. It was nice.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/193/392/868/074/656/original/27d3d31e146a7c95.jpg
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/193/394/681/170/333/original/937dcd21465894e7.jpg

2024-09-09 21:27:42

The Substance: 😲

2024-09-07 07:59:36

Another positive vision of possible futures powered by solar. By @moleitau.bsky.social
https://kardashevstreet.com/2024/09/04/kardashev-street-planetary-energy-system-changes-at-street-level-a-talk-at-the-conference-malmo-august-2024/

2024-09-06 15:56:46

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@npub1zu7…c2ee yeah, but now I need to ferret out this earworm.

2024-09-06 15:56:10

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@npub13zy…3zww they should call it Clever Hans

2024-09-06 14:13:01

Following up after another call where I try to offer advice on open standards for data with links to the ODI Standards Guidebook and the work we looking at how people are successfully building standards-based data infrastructure from the bottom-up.
https://standards.theodi.org/
https://theodi.org/insights/reports/comparing-decentralised-data-publishing-initiatives-report/

2024-09-06 12:30:17

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And while I'm posting amazing talks.
Give this 1989 lecture from Ursula Franklin a listen: "The Real World of Technology"
https://archive.org/details/the-real-world-of-technology

2024-09-06 12:25:44

I've only watched the first part of this recently digitised 1982 talk by Grace Hopper, but she touches on data infrastructure, the value of data and the risks of poor quality data.
She's an engaging speaker. Makes you realise how little we've moved in many ways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si9iqF5uTFk

2024-09-06 10:39:49

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@npub16ul…7s8d nice setup! I've literally just cued that up as well, (although digitally)

2024-09-06 08:20:25

The other thing I found interesting about this is how we can suddenly hit the limits of existing infrastructure so we need to refactor, extend and rebuild.
Infrastructure is a reliable, background presence, until it isn't.
https://mastodon.me.uk/@ldodds/113089305503485637

2024-09-06 08:14:10

This talk by @npub19jl…6qc4 on engaging people to imagine the future through prototyping is really excellent:
https://planb.nicecupoftea.org/2024/08/26/poking-holes-in-reality-with-prototypes/

2024-09-06 06:57:37

This is interesting on off-grid solar
https://climate.benjames.io/solar-off-grid/

2024-09-06 06:31:35

Scavengers Reign (2024)
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/08/biohybrid-robots-controlled-electrical-impulses-mushrooms

2024-09-05 16:40:24

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@npub16ul…7s8d guess I'm listening to that tomorrow

2024-09-05 14:34:51

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@npub1naq…70as been a while since I listened to that, will have to remedy that.

2024-09-05 14:33:56

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@npub1dzv…mt3x I was 100% expecting this reply from you.

2024-09-05 14:31:27

decksanddrumsandrockandroll is still brilliant.

2024-09-05 08:34:25

There's a Minecraft film that is about kids building communities for themselves, telling stories to each other and hacking something handed to them by adults to make their own richer, better worlds.
I don't think they've made that one though.

2024-09-04 18:19:02

Posting this again because its my album of the year and you should all listen to it. Beautiful.
https://theemarloes.bandcamp.com/album/perak
#thisismyjam

2024-09-04 09:51:18

Current feelings about a National Data Library
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/078/663/467/825/947/original/c46902d8ffab1a72.jpg

2024-09-04 06:52:20

Building a fire alarm when the house is already filling with smoke.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/09/04/1103555/the-uk-is-building-an-alarm-system-for-climate-tipping-points/

2024-08-31 11:55:58

Felt obliged to go in
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/056/504/768/582/773/original/a29a0e269e34bd12.jpg

2024-08-29 13:24:22

I have funded the AI from your budgets, which you would probably spend somewhere else. Forgive me it was so vital and so safe
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/how-well-support-ai-to-reduce-workload-and-improve-outcomes/

2024-08-28 16:10:07

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@npub1d40…u7lw the article says "£4 million of government investment"?

2024-08-28 15:19:04

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@npub15hc…sfdp Yes! Really saves digging into those difficult questions about trust, governance and profit sharing, referenced at the end of their own research.

2024-08-28 14:34:56

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Just spend £4m on some openly licensed lesson plans and resources instead?

2024-08-28 14:33:33

I spend my days trying to help schools save money and reduce emissions, and now the govt wants them to use that money to pay for tech that will undo all that work. Feeling great!
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/teachers-to-get-more-trustworthy-ai-tech-as-generative-tools-learn-from-new-bank-of-lesson-plans-and-curriculums-helping-them-mark-homework-and-save

2024-08-28 13:36:33

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@npub19lt…qfjk In case you hadn't seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxOqWYytypg

2024-08-28 08:23:23

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@npub1059…9pe2 same, I think that's one of the only ones I've not watched, for that reason.

2024-08-27 11:28:10

Are the astronauts unionizing yet?

2024-08-27 08:28:19

Looking forward to when LLMs reach the "Yeeted into the Sea" stage of the Hype Curve

2024-08-26 14:42:32

When Weyland-Yutani bought out the rights to his own music, Apone was forced to join the Colonial Marines.
https://youtu.be/LSIqoJDAuJo?si=infQOMyNHvrmA3Dl

2024-08-24 12:55:33

Painting the kitchen and listening to Jeff Wayne's War Of The World's. Forgotten how brilliant it is.

2024-08-24 07:02:10

Another good piece. Watching the Pixel 9 ads I keep wondering how the tech will be misused for gaslighting and abuse.
Even just tweaking your own photos, I'd be uncomfortable about becoming unmoored from my own memories.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/22/24225972/ai-photo-era-what-is-reality-google-pixel-9

2024-08-24 06:29:50

This is brilliantly written
https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/essays/an-age-of-hyperabundance/

2024-08-19 09:26:19

Still not sure how much I'm really absorbing from learning Welsh via Duolingo, but over two years in at this point.
I read this weekend that they've just published The Hobbit (Yr Hobyd) in Welsh for the first time. So now I've got something to work towards
https://melinbapur.cymru/products/yr-hobyd-the-hobbit-in-welsh

2024-08-17 23:50:06

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@npub19jl…6qc4
Never seen one of these, will be on the lookout

2024-08-17 13:49:25

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@npub1nxp…8flq
There was at least one as I've looked before. The list linked from the Wikipedia page page about 555 numbers doesn't seem accessible at the minute

2024-08-17 13:42:23

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@npub10uk…djn3
That will be John Sheridan https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/executive-team/john-sheridan/

2024-08-16 21:27:44

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David Jonsson was great though

2024-08-16 21:22:24

Alien: Romulus is what you get if you put all the previous films into a blender. Got a bit tired of the call backs.

2024-08-16 15:02:41

The Stillsuits are happening. No AI required so Butlerian Jihad approved.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240815124142.htm

2024-08-16 08:23:35

Give that both Mastodon and Blusky both require images to be uploaded separately, why is there no option to select from previously uploaded images when doing a new post?

2024-08-16 08:22:19

Off to see Alien: Romulus tonight which is enough of an excuse for me to post my Ripley's Believe It Or Not game again.
https://downpour.games/~ldodds/ripley-s-believe-it-or-not
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/970/728/774/989/091/original/23acc0dc40c1d1a3.png

2024-08-15 17:04:22

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@npub17mk…ur8l lets not overwhelm anyone, I'm enjoying this first step

2024-08-15 17:00:22

Arranging for someone to come look at our boiler and they just sent me a calendar invite to book the work. I may have swooned.

2024-08-15 16:43:16

Anyone here on Letterboxd? I'm obsessively logging all my film watches over there:
https://letterboxd.com/ldodds/films/diary/

2024-08-15 13:46:37

Have only just discovered that the ONS have revamped their style guide. 🤩
https://service-manual.ons.gov.uk/

2024-08-14 15:06:31

"Slip on your Lonsdale Slipons and move"
https://thebugclub.bandcamp.com/track/lonsdale-slipons
Disappointed they aren't touring near me.
#thisismyjam

2024-08-13 16:40:01

I've changed my desk layout, screen positions, keyboard and app bar location all at the same time. The struggle against muscle memory is real

2024-08-10 11:43:25

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@npub19lt…qfjk just wanted to say, I picked one of these up based on your review. Very happy with it so far!

2024-08-09 17:51:13

Forget how I came across this article, but nice to put a name to something: "quality ratchets".
Not just a tech thing either.
https://leaddev.com/building-better-software/introducing-quality-ratchets-tool-managing-complex-systems

2024-08-09 17:37:01

Billionaires won't do this obviously but, as with so many things, with more progressive taxes and thinking we could be living in a very different future.
https://grist.org/energy/heat-pumps-expensive-bought/

2024-08-09 09:13:18

I mean, it's clearly a summoning circle for Bboyzebub, right?
https://mastodon.me.uk/@ldodds/112931098992984170

2024-08-09 08:23:38

The Olympic Breaking Arcana
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/extra/68hxs9lsfb/breaking-the-new-olympic-sport-for-2024-explained
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/931/091/384/346/592/original/0eb16b80ebe754d5.png

2024-08-09 08:11:46

Today I will be mostly listening to Perak by The Marloes.
https://theemarloes.bandcamp.com/album/perak
Absolutely in love with this music #thisismyjam

2024-08-08 21:47:13

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@npub1k08…c8r2
Will give there a listen, thanks. I've only listened to a few of their tracks

2024-08-08 11:22:38

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That's just because I enjoy doing it, despite being crap at it. Not a diss.

2024-08-08 11:17:33

Doing some web design. Or as I like to call it "cutting and sticking"

2024-08-08 08:16:11

This EP really waking me up this morning:
https://invt.bandcamp.com/album/loca
#thisismyjam

2024-08-07 07:17:09

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@npub1k86…gvee I was hoping they might show it because it's new, yeah

2024-08-07 07:02:35

Anyone know if the BBC will be showing the Olympic Breaking this Fri/Sat? And if not where I can watch it? #Olympics2024

2024-08-06 20:59:46

Enjoyed Kneecap. Funny, and the music was great

2024-08-06 12:29:47

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@npub1p9r…malw I bought one, so will let you know

2024-08-06 11:11:44

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@npub1zu7…c2ee couldn't resist, bought one!

2024-08-06 11:00:09

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Hmm, comments below article here say it works fine with Ubuntu and you can programme the keys directly
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/08/8bitdo-nes-mechanical-keyboard-looks-awesome
Reddit says it works fine too and there's also an open source keymapper for linux
https://github.com/goncalor/8bitdo-kbd-mapper/
Might have to snag one of these.

2024-08-06 09:44:00

These keyboards are gorgeous, shame the software for programming the buttons isn't compatible with Linux
https://www.8bitdo.com/retro-mechanical-keyboard/

2024-08-05 15:09:35

To whichever product team it may concern,
I will follow the Prime Minister's updates *on the news* not on LinkedIn
Thanks,
L.

2024-08-05 13:03:15

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@npub19rs…rf2c went away last weekend for a mini-break :)

2024-08-05 10:25:19

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@npub1dzv…mt3x thank you, and congratulations for tomorrow :)