Ben Werdmuller

Author: Ben Werdmuller

  • User control on the open web

    Data portability and the open data movement (“the open web” for simplicity’s sake) revolve around the idea that you should be able to take your data from one service to another without restriction, as well as control who gets to see it and how. Very simply, it’s your data, so you should have the ability…

  • Implementing open standards is too hard

    [..] the plain truth is this: it’s empirically way too painful still for first-time OAuth developers to get their code working, and despite the fact that OAuth is a standard, the empirical “it-just-works-rate” is way too low. Joseph Smarr: Implementing OAuth is still too hard… but it doesn’t have to be. This isn’t just true…

  • Social technology reinforces existing networks

    Why do we create and maintain social networks? Most people can immediately think of a few natural reasons — we get something from the interaction, or the person is nearby and is close to us in proximity, age or gender. But researching such theories on a large scale has never before been possible — until…

  • Buy from marginalized communities with Elevyn

    Elevyn is a kind of Etsy for marginalized communities: a way to buy directly from artisans in poorer parts of the world. You get a unique piece of clothing, jewelry or other art; they get to lift themselves out of poverty through their own work. This is something that would be far less possible before…