dsearls
@dsearls.bsky.social
📤 914
đź“Ą 135
đź“ť 132
Journalist, author, blogger, podcaster, photographer, farting-arounder
Amazon's music on hold is the same as Rackspace's was before it failed in an attack and cost me years of email. Hope that's not a bad sign.
about 8 hours ago
0
0
0
Do partisan statements atop US .gov websites violate the Hatch Act? See
doc.searls.com/2025/10/03/q...
My idea here is mainly to help reporters follow what's going on by visiting links to every federal branch and agency I could find. See what they're saying during the shutdown.
loading . . .
Questions of Law, not Just Politics
Go to HUD.gov, and you’ll get this: Go to USDA.gov, and you’ll get this: Seems to me these violate the Hatch Act, aka “An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities.” I…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/10/03/questions-of-law-not-politics/
about 8 hours ago
0
1
0
Laws won't get us privacy online. Contract will. I explain why:
doc.searls.com/2025/09/11/p...
loading . . .
Privacy is a Contract
In the natural world, privacy is a social contract: a tacit agreement that we respect others’ private spaces. We guard those spaces with the privacy tech we call clothing and shelter. We also…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/09/11/privacy-is-a-contract/
23 days ago
0
0
0
A long-belated obituary of sorts, with a bunch of bonus facts:
doc.searls.com/2025/09/09/r...
loading . . .
Remembering R.C. Ward
The first thing R.C. Ward taught in our biology class at Guilford College was his eponymous Law: “If it works, it’s good.” He frequently mentioned Ward’s Law by name and req…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/09/09/remembering-r-c-ward/
25 days ago
0
1
0
One irony is that I'm pointing to this on a social medium and not putting it on my own Lovable Expert page:
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
loading . . .
Cartoon: Web's end
To support this work and receive my weekly newsletter with background on each cartoon, please consider joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon . Follow me on Bluesky ...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/8/27/2340363/-Cartoon-Web-s-end
about 1 month ago
0
0
1
Want to blow up cookie notices, and overturn the whole surveillance fecosystem? MyTerms is the way. I make the case here:
doc.searls.com/2025/08/14/t...
loading . . .
The Case for MyTerms
We know more than we can tell. That was how Michael Polanyi distinguished between tacit and explicit knowing. We may know tacitly how we form speech, ride a bike, or sense when to shake hands with …
https://doc.searls.com/2025/08/14/the-case-for-myterms/
about 2 months ago
0
1
2
Try seeing "mainframe" every time you see "AI." Because giant mainframes are what we're getting AI from, so far. "Personalized" is nice, but you don't drive. You're a passenger in a Waymo. We need truly personal AI. I've been writing about that here:
doc.searls.com/personal-ai/
loading . . .
Personal AI
Having personal AI is like having a personal computer. It’s yours. It’s not AIaaS (AI as a Service), which is what we get from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Perplexity, Meta, an…
https://doc.searls.com/personal-ai/
2 months ago
3
6
0
Just posted this:
doc.searls.com/2025/08/02/g...
loading . . .
Getting Real With AI.
When I read that some conversations with ChatGPT had appeared in Google searches, I did a search for “Doc Searls” ChatGPT and got a long and not-bad but not entirely accurate AI summary…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/08/02/getting-real-with-ai/
2 months ago
0
1
3
This post is about how both The Cluetrain Manifesto and The Intention Economy will finally come true. It's what many of us have been working toward since the last millennium:
projectvrm.org/2025/07/15/t...
loading . . .
The Cluetrain Will Run from Customers to Companies – ProjectVRM
For the good of both. Customers need privacy, respect, and the ability to provide good and helpful information to the companies they deal with. The good clues customers bring can include far more than...
https://projectvrm.org/2025/07/15/the-cluetrain-will-run-from-customers-to-companies/
3 months ago
0
5
0
This is among the saddest things I've ever read:
www.facebook.com/hammaduh/pos...
loading . . .
Hammad Ul Hassan
Pratik Joshi had been living in London for six years. A software professional, he’d long dreamed of building a life abroad for his wife and three young children, who stayed back in India. After...
https://www.facebook.com/hammaduh/posts/pfbid0meJ4hGeds6QnPpMMzFWmt4qE9nyeVxk4uBfYe7brr9RayDDzD218KHyPJZKtz9NDl
4 months ago
0
1
0
I make a bet (more like a wish) at the end of
doc.searls.com/2025/05/21/online-sports-betting-is-for-losers/
loading . . .
Online Sports Betting is for Losers
A few decades back my teenage son and I approached Las Vegas at night while traveling south on Interstate 15. When the skyline of the city began sparkling into view, the kid said, “Wow. Think…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/05/21/online-sports-betting-is-for-losers/
5 months ago
0
1
0
Motherings:
doc.searls.com/2025/05/11/t...
loading . . .
Motherings
Trump will be flying Qatar One instead of (or as) Air Force One: Aaaand,,,, Call your mother, if she’s still around. If she’s not, remember her anyway. I did that here. I’m pointi…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/05/11/tbds/
5 months ago
0
0
1
How "What's on?" is now mostly off.
doc.searls.com/2025/05/05/t...
HTs to
@jeffjarvis.bsky.social
and Clay Shirky.
loading . . .
The Offing of What’s On
For the final seven decades of the last millennium, most people in the developed world scheduled their evenings by answering a simple question: What’s on? For the first two of those decades, …
https://doc.searls.com/2025/05/05/the-offing-of-whats-on/
5 months ago
0
5
1
Want privacy on your terms online? Come help us make that happen:
projectvrm.org/2025/04/06/m...
loading . . .
MyTerms – ProjectVRM
IEEE P7012, nicknamed MyTerms—much as IEEE 802.11 is nicknamed Wi-Fi—is a standard we expect to go from draft to done later this year. But that should not stop us from developing for it. Because what ...
https://projectvrm.org/2025/04/06/myterms/
6 months ago
0
1
1
Cory Doctorow, of
@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy
and much else, will be speaking at noon (Eastern) tomorrow here at Indiana University and on zoom. Cory is always brilliant, and I can guarantee an hour well spent. See you there.
events.iu.edu/ostromworksh...
loading . . .
HLS Beyond the Web: Cory Doctorow
Please join us in welcoming author Cory Doctorow as he presents his talk: To Make Big Tech Less Harmful, Make it Less Important.
https://events.iu.edu/ostromworkshop/event/1843316-hls-beyond-the-web-cory-doctorow
6 months ago
0
1
0
The word "agency" is hot now, but it wasn't when I wrote a chapter about it 13 years ago. In the meantime, some of us (#projectvrm,
#CustomerCommons
,
#IEEE
P7012) have been working on a standard that can give our agency a giant lever in the digital world:
doc.searls.com/2025/03/23/real-agency/
loading . . .
Real Agency
I nominate agency as Word of the Year for 2025. I don’t nominate agentic, which is suddenly hot shit: See, agency is a noun, and agentic is an adjective. And, as Strunk and White taught us, W…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/03/23/real-agency/
7 months ago
1
2
2
After reading
www.npr.org/2025/03/15/n...
I am wondering if the VOA is still on the air. Anyone know?
loading . . .
'Bloody Saturday' at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks
Federal officials placed 1,300 employees at Voice of America on indefinite paid leave, while severing contracts with Radio Free Asia and other U.S.-funded networks.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake
7 months ago
1
0
0
Some guidance on tonight's full
#LunarEclipse
:
doc.searls.com/2025/03/13/t...
loading . . .
Tonight’s Lunar Eclipse
Right now, for those on Earth who see it when they look up, the Moon is as full as it can get without moving into the shadow of the Earth . Which it will. Shortly. Here is where Earth’s shado…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/03/13/tonights-lunar-eclipse/
7 months ago
0
0
0
If you care about reporting on government meetings, this will be a highly leveraged talk:
doc.searls.com/2025/02/23/l...
I'll host it, this Wednesday at Noon Eastern time. Free on Zoom. Register at the link in the post.
loading . . .
Lifting the Lid on Government Meetings
On the left is Tom Evslin, former CTO for Vermont, among many other distinctions. On the right is the golden dome atop Vermont’s capitol building. Underneath that dome, and in countless space…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/02/23/lifting-the-lid/
7 months ago
0
1
1
Zoom, in case you're here (and not just on Xitter and Threads), need help with this:
8 months ago
0
0
0
doc.searls.com/2025/02/17/m...
loading . . .
Maybe I need re-writer’s block
I’ve never had writer’s block. Give me a writing assignment and I’ll blab something out. It might even be good, or at least good enough. But I don’t write in final draft. Or…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/02/17/maybe-i-need-re-writers-block/
8 months ago
0
2
1
Zoe. Good dog.
8 months ago
0
2
0
It may not seem this way, but I've written a tough-love letter to @cvspharmacy (which seems not to have an account here yet)
projectvrm.org/2025/02/12/a...
loading . . .
A simple plan to de-enshittify CVS – ProjectVRM
Fifteen years ago, The Onion published this story: Study Finds Paint Aisle At Lowe's Best Place To Have Complete Meltdown Now it's the vitamin aisle at CVS: When Cory Doctorow coined  enshittification...
https://projectvrm.org/2025/02/12/a-simple-plan-to-de-enshittify-cvs/
8 months ago
0
1
0
GRAND THEFT AUTOCRACY. Just a headline somebody might want to use.
8 months ago
0
6
2
reposted by
dsearls
Library Innovation Lab
8 months ago
Last year we started a project to download and preserve public data.
lil.law.harvard.edu/blog/2025/01...
Since saving public data is in the news today — but is always needed — let’s talk about what you can do to help.
loading . . .
Preserving Public U.S. Federal Data | Library Innovation Lab
https://lil.law.harvard.edu/blog/2025/01/30/preserving-public-u-s-federal-data/
17
428
215
If you want regeneration after a disaster, and not just recovery, invest an hour at noon on Wednesday to zoom into this, which we're hosting live online from Indiana U:
events.iu.edu/ostromworksh...
loading . . .
Ostrom Workshop | HLS Beyond the Web: Kevin Jones
What Works after a Disaster Happens? A live report on progress in Western North Carolina When the Swannanoa River crested nearly three storys a...
https://events.iu.edu/ostromworkshop/event/1791882-ostrom-workshop-hls-beyond-the-web-kevin-jones
8 months ago
0
0
1
And Now the
#HughesFire
:
doc.searls.com/2025/01/22/a...
Latest in my series on
#LAfires
.
loading . . .
And Now the #HughesFire
Twenty-fourth in the News Commons series. 3:45pm—Watching the Los Angeles TV stations (each with a tab in my browser) cover the Hughes Fire. I have them arranged by channel number, going up, left t…
http://doc.searls.com/2025/01/22/and-now-the-hughesfire
8 months ago
0
3
1
My latest on
#journalism
and the
#LAfires
:
doc.searls.com/2025/01/19/t...
loading . . .
The Blame Game
Twenty-third in the News Commons series Disaster coverage tends to go through four stages: Live reporting. TV stations stop all advertising and go into round-the-clock coverage. Radio stations drop…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/01/19/the-blame-game/
9 months ago
0
1
0
Jan Searls and I are trying to save our alma mater, Guilford College. The idea I posted here four years ago is still right on. Great to have my sis weigh in on it too:
doc.searls.com/2020/12/23/g...
loading . . .
A simple suggestion for Guilford College
Guilford College made me a pacifist. This wasn’t hard, under the circumstances. My four years there were the last of the 1960s, a stretch when the Vietnam War was already bad and getting much…
https://doc.searls.com/2020/12/23/guilford/
9 months ago
0
1
0
Toward the best possible
#journalism
on the
#LAFires
, I just posted How Facts Matter:
doc.searls.com/2025/01/14/h...
HT
@calfire.bsky.social
@LAist
@abc7.bsky.social
@latimes
loading . . .
How Facts Matter
Nineteenth in the News Commons series. Facts don’t matter, or they matter much less than people think—Daniel Kahnemann Facts don’t matter. What matters is how much we hate the person talking—Scott …
http://doc.searls.com/2025/01/14/how-facts-matter/
9 months ago
0
1
2
My latest on the LAfires , now zoomed in on Brentwood, starring aerial firefighting:
doc.searls.com/2025/01/11/a...
loading . . .
Aviation vs. Fire
9:00am—The battle against wildfires in Los Angeles is almost entirely won by aerial firefighting. Helicopters and airplanes dropping water and retardants on fires and along perimeters saved Hollywo…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/01/11/aviation-vs-fire/
9 months ago
0
1
2
Ten aircraft, filling up at Encino Reservoir, are defeating the Palisades Fire on the ridge above the San Fernando Valley. Blogging about it here:
doc.searls.com/2025/01/10/p...
loading . . .
Palisades Fire on the Ridge
10:15pm—Here is a Google Earth Pro view of the Palisades fire crossing the wilderness north of Pacific Palisades and south of “Dry Mulholland”—the dirt road that serves as a firebreak a…
https://doc.searls.com/2025/01/10/palisades-fire-on-the-ridge/
9 months ago
0
8
1
My post on the
#PalisadesFire
. Includes data sources that can help you follow what's up (or down):
doc.searls.com/2025/01/07/o...
loading . . .
On the Palisades and Eaton Fires
We’re watching KABC/7 from Los Angeles, live on our Roku TV (which has it among hundreds of “Live TV” channels), and in a browser on this laptop. One screen grab: Fire.ca.gov has …
https://doc.searls.com/2025/01/07/on-the-palisades-and-eaton-fires/
9 months ago
1
2
3
Every wannabe chat is from an obvious scam. Just saying.
9 months ago
0
0
0
More:
doc.searls.com/2025/01/02/a...
loading . . .
AI Achieves Sentience, Commits Suicide
I think up Onion headlines all the time: American Dream Ends When Nation Wakes Up. CAPTCHASTAN Capitol Lacks Bicycles, Motorcycles, Buses, Crosswalks. Local Pothole Has No Bottom Earthquake Denies …
https://doc.searls.com/2025/01/02/ai-achieves-sentience-commits-suicide/
9 months ago
0
2
0
News:
trunkli.org/2025/01/02/l...
loading . . .
» Local Pothole Has No Bottom Trunk Line
https://trunkli.org/2025/01/02/local-pothole-has-no-bottom/
9 months ago
0
0
1
Just posted this:
doc.searls.com/2024/12/29/t...
loading . . .
The Kraken Won
Imagine what would have happened had Martin Winterkorn not imploded, and if Volkswagen, under his watch, had not become a datakranken (data sea-monster, or octopus), spying on drivers and passenger…
https://doc.searls.com/2024/12/29/the-kraken-won/
9 months ago
0
0
1
The
@spacex.extwitter.link
launch from Vandenberg this evening at 5:48 Pacific will likely be a spectacular watch. If you're in central or south coastal California, dig it:
spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-11-3
loading . . .
SpaceX
SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-11-3
9 months ago
0
0
0
Where am I?
9 months ago
1
1
0
I have two
#Epson
printer/scanners. Both won't scan unless you turn them off and on again. Am I alone with this problem?
10 months ago
1
0
0
#Overheard
on a list: "Broadcasting isn’t dead, it’s just laid out nice!" Might we say the same for
#journalism
? (FWIW, by "broadcasting" the writer means the over-the-air kind.)
10 months ago
0
1
1
#Overheard
: “Being old is a good time to catch up on all of music.”
10 months ago
0
1
0
reposted by
dsearls
"Marketing was not built for talking to people. It was built for typifying people."
doc.searls.com/2023/12/29/g...
over 1 year ago
0
3
1
This is in a little less than two hours. Hope to see you there:
doc.searls.com/2024/12/01/c...
loading . . .
How communities without one can build a local library
That’s what Charlie Schweik and friends will be talking about in the next salon in the Beyond the Web series at Indiana University, hosted by the Ostrom Workshop and the Hamilton Lugar School…
https://doc.searls.com/2024/12/01/community-library/
10 months ago
0
0
1
Something constructive, Wednesday at Noon, EST:
doc.searls.com/2024/12/01/c...
loading . . .
How communities without one can build a local library
That’s what Charlie Schweik and friends will be talking about in the next salon in the Beyond the Web series at Indiana University, hosted by the Ostrom Workshop and the Hamilton Lugar School…
https://doc.searls.com/2024/12/01/community-library/
10 months ago
0
0
0
Just posted this for a friend who would have been here:
doc.searls.com/2024/11/25/r...
loading . . .
Redirecting...
https://www.facebook.com/wa8dzp
10 months ago
2
3
0
A label we might want to use:
doc.searls.com/2024/11/16/t...
loading . . .
The Redstream Media
For a detailed version of the image above, dig the one below: The headwaters came ahead of Rush Limbaugh. But he’s the one who started the deluge. Dozens of wannabes filled the talk radio wit…
https://doc.searls.com/2024/11/16/the-redstream-media/
11 months ago
0
1
0
Why we need our own damn
#agentic
AIs:
doc.searls.com/2024/10/25/p...
loading . . .
Personal Agentic AI
“Agentic” is hot: As an adjective, it is typically used as a modifier for AI: Not surprisingly, Gartner puts it atop its Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2025: Here is one explana…
https://doc.searls.com/2024/10/25/personal-agentic-ai/
11 months ago
0
3
2
I just noticed that I'll be flying to and from Paris in a few weeks in my least favorite airplane:
doc.searls.com/2017/09/16/7...
loading . . .
A dark review for United’s Boeing 787
An update on 1 May 2024: Read what Cory Doctorow published today. Pro tip: avoid 787s if you can. On top of what Cory says in that piece, what I wrote here is secondary stuff, but somehow consisten…
https://doc.searls.com/2017/09/16/787/
12 months ago
1
0
0
The beginning of the end for over-the-air broadcasting:
trunkli.org/2024/10/16/t...
loading . . .
» The Tall Tower Market Collapses Trunk Line
https://trunkli.org/2024/10/16/the-tall-tower-market-collapses/
12 months ago
0
0
0
Load more
feeds!
log in
