Category: design

  • Toxic by design

    Toxic by design

    Digital, data, and technology (DDaT) are increasingly being misused to create a 24×7 surveillance society, behavioural manipulation and, in some countries, institutional discrimination and subjugation. This surveillance increasingly underpins private sector revenue and state control, online and offline. All too often, it can seem like there’s little to distinguish between governments and global businesses as they indulge in…

  • A state machine for the state machine

    A state machine for the state machine

    Digital, data, and technology (DDaT) are being used to build shared platforms and infrastructure, and to improve the user experience of government services. But improving services within their current policy and administrative silos won’t achieve the “digital transformation” much spoken of and little delivered. Let’s step back briefly to 1996 to understand why. In July…

  • Book extract (work in progress)

    Book extract (work in progress)

    My book exploring digital, data and technology—and how politicians and policymakers can understand and use them more effectively—is (slowly!) taking shape. It’s currently around 270 pages, but that’s before I give it a severe haircut. Anyhow, here’s a short draft extract from work in progress … I’ll post more raw samples over coming weeks and months.…

  • The week in review

    The week in review

    Highlights of a few random articles that caught my eye this week … Apple and ID As expected, Apple’s letting users store their driving licences and state IDs in Apple Wallet. It’s a significant improvement over current paper and plastic documents, providing users with more choice and control over what information they release. For example,…

  • Integrating technology and policymaking

    Integrating technology and policymaking

    I’ve written before about the need to better integrate technology and policymaking — in 360-degree policy making, policy making in the digital age, and many earlier pieces going back over several decades, such as my 2006 co-authored paper The New World of Government Work. Governments have been keen to take advantage of digital, data and…

  • Good design and accessible design

    Good design and accessible design

    To central London today for a highly productive and informative discussion of the issues of good design and accessible design. Before the discussion took flight, I gave an introductory preamble, which broadly followed the text below. Accessible design is good design I’d like to start by looking at where security as a subject is today.…