🐣 Happy Easter!: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/04/04/happy-easter.html

Most social purpose orgs rely on US Big Tech in ways that only show up when something breaks. Like a data centre in the Middle East 💥 TechFreedom is a 3-session pilot to map risks & reduce dependency. Pilot cohort now open: blog.dougbelshaw.com/techfreedom-... #TechFreedom #DigitalSovereignty

Last bit of work before I go on holiday: decided my consultancy website was too sterile, so made a lot more human 😊 dynamicskillset.com

The report on #AILiteracies I wrote with @laurahilliger.com for BBC R&D has now been released! 🙌 It was delayed due to the charter renewal process, so hopefully it still stands up to scrutiny... downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/responsib... [PDF] #AILiteracy #DigitalLiteracies #DigitalLiteracy

Social purpose organisations deserve tech they can trust. #TechFreedom walks you through mapping dependencies, scoring risks, and creating a practical roadmap. @tomcw.xyz and I are welcoming the pilot cohort in 20 days' time. Will you join us? techfreedom.eu #Nonprofits #DigitalResilience

We've just added a GO DEEPER section within the risk assessment section of the #TechFreedom website... techfreedom.eu/alternatives/

Nobody: "Have you got a #TechFreedom newsletter I can subscribe to?" @tomcw.xyz and me: "Yep!" Scroll to the bottom at techfreedom.eu 💪

March 2026: too many projects, not enough naps. AI as an e-bike for the mind, TaskDial, Sightlines, Stacktopolis, weird-shaped badges, TechFreedom, WAO closing, and five weeknotes because time is fake. blog.dougbelshaw.com/march-2026/ #AI #SystemsThinking #OpenBadges #TechFreedom #OpenSource

What's your high score? #TechFreedom techfreedom.eu/stacktopolis/

So where is your org at? Is it a boiling frog? Subject to a panopticon? techfreedom.eu/lenses/ #TechFreedom

I made a game. blog.dougbelshaw.com/stacktopolis/

You'll have to wait ~12 hours for this to all make sense... #TechFreedom

Middle-aged man in "sits in front of various size screens" shocker. blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-13-...

No, the verdict in the ‘social media addiction’ lawsuit was not a win against big tech, it creates a legal precedent for mass surveillance, censorship, the total destruction of the open web. Go to badinternetbills.com and fight these laws!! 👈👈👈

A Victorian-era LLM: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/29/a-victorianera-llm.html

Clippy sez: Just Do It: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/clippy-sez-just-do-it.html

Each came down with spectacular clarity, each a wingless fuselage, quietly descending to the depths of the ocean floor.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/each-came-down-with-spectacular.html

I must trouble the reader to correct the errata For I am quite tired.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/i-must-trouble-the-reader.html

Thought Shrapnel's 50 most-referenced sources (2008-2016): https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/thought-shrapnels-mostreferenced-sources.html

This just arrived in time to flick through on the way to Huddersfield for my daughter's JPL match later ⚽

The hard work of building a thing now isn’t writing the code: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/the-hard-work-of-building.html

Your future needs you. Your past doesn't.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/your-future-needs-you-your.html

If a computer is a bicycle for the mind, then LLMs are like e-bikes: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/28/if-a-computer-is-a.html

#MozFest returns to Barcelona this October. Save the Date🎉 🗓️ 28–30 October. Recinte Fabra i Coats. Sign up to hear about tickets first 🎉 mzl.la/47PLTG9

I write about learning, technology, systems, and open recognition, and share that work freely through Open Thinkering and related projects. If you would like to support this, here is how: blog.dougbelshaw.com/support-my-w... #OpenThinkering #OpenRecognition #DigitalLiteracies

Is This Just a Skill? At one point everything was an app, or at least someone said it should be an app. Now I wonder, is everything a SKILL? And what's the difference between a skill and an actual product? tomcw.xyz/is-this-just...

I write about learning, technology, systems, and open recognition, and share that work freely through Open Thinkering and related projects. If you would like to support this, here is how: blog.dougbelshaw.com/support-my-w... #OpenThinkering #OpenRecognition #DigitalLiteracies

Between 2018 and 2020 I was Product Manager of #MoodleNet, the world's first decentralised digital commons. This eventually became #Bonfire (bonfirenetworks.org) a federated app toolkit. I've started hacking on it to see if I can resurrect the original #OER dream...

#ActivityPub nerds will/should be all over this

I'm now using Stream on a daily basis, and I've just updated it to v0.4.0 dynamicskillset.github.io/stream

#TechFreedom blog.dougbelshaw.com/techfreedom-...

Many social purpose orgs are exposed to hidden risks in their tech stack. TechFreedom is a three-session pilot, run by @tomcw.xyz and me, to map those risks and build a plan for change. Pilot cohort now open: blog.dougbelshaw.com/techfreedom-... #TechFreedom #DigitalSovereignty #PublicInterestTech

Happy chicken day dajbelshaw.github.io/Decadi/

Work in progress... #OpenBadges #VerifiableCredentials #Skills #DigitalLiteracies

Work in progress... #OpenBadges #VerifiableCredentials #Skills #DigitalLiteracies

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Of course we do!

I've always been interested in the French Republican calendar, and so I've just created this: dajbelshaw.github.io/Decadi Explanation and GitHub repository: github.com/dajbelshaw/D...

Here's #Stream, a browser‑based RSS reader that works with FreshRSS or Feedbin and treats feeds as a... stream, not an inbox. Wrote up the why/how here: blog.dougbelshaw.com/stream-rss-r... Code (AGPL): github.com/dynamicskill... #RSS #OpenSource #SelfHosted #IndieWeb

Many thanks to @mrlockyer.bsky.social who just gave up some of his precious time to give me feedback on #TaskDial, which he's using on a daily basis! dynamicskillset.github.io/TaskDial/

Here's #Stream, a browser‑based RSS reader that works with FreshRSS or Feedbin and treats feeds as a... stream, not an inbox. Wrote up the why/how here: blog.dougbelshaw.com/stream-rss-r... Code (AGPL): github.com/dynamicskill... #RSS #OpenSource #SelfHosted #IndieWeb

This week I have been mostly... blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-12-... #weeknote

LLMs are "in the game, even if they’re not strictly playing it.": https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/llms-are-in-the-game.html

Creating the conditions to make things possible: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/creating-the-conditions-to-make.html

Institute of Pragmatic Solutions: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/institute-of-pragmatic-solutions.html

Maybe the loose end isn't a failure of facilitation: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/maybe-the-loose-end-isnt.html

Why it's all kicking off (again): https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/why-its-all-kicking-off.html

A useful reminder: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/a-useful-reminder.html

Disgust is a complicated emotion: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/disgust-is-a-complicated-emotion.html

Recursive logical fallacies: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/21/recursive-logical-fallacies.html