Deborah Barnard

Anyone missing Earps yet? 😬

Daniele Procida (not on here I think) has written an incredibly powerful post on AI and documentation: vurt.org/articles/my-...

Every other paragraph is worth quoting and examining.

Oh damn. Thanks for sharing this, you've just articulated a thought I've been struggling to form. Also, really really sorry you went through that.

Back in the day, Twitter used to be really good if I set up a thread to connect freelancers with clients. Let's see if Bluesky can do it.

Clients: if you're looking for freelancers/contractors, get in the comments

Freelancers/contractors: get in comments

Everyone else: boosts appreciated

Nice idea!

Your product needs words: deborahwrites.com

Software documentation consultancy and contracting services. Specialised in technical docs & contributor experience for startups.

The Secret Rules of the Terminal, by Julia Evans - The cover illustration depicts three people doing arcane terminal magic in a temple with a smoking censer in the background. Each of the three people has curly brown hair and light brown skin. They are all wearing dresses, billowing cloaks, and utility belts with keyboard symbols on them. The one on the left holds a palette of paints and a brush. The one on the right has a staff with a $ symbol on it and a starfish at the top. The one in the centre has a sword and is reading from a book whose cover says “>_” and “./”, which rests on a lectern with a smiling snake wrapped around it.

we've already sold 1000 copies of The Secret Rules of the Terminal since it came out on Tuesday!!

so to celebrate I'm giving away 1000 copies to anyone who can't afford to buy one. You can use code BUYONEGIVEONE to get a free PDF copy if $12 USD is a lot for you.

wizardzines.com/zines/terminal

I should have said "if I want to write and publish an essay" - don't need to worry about attribution if the essay just sits in my google docs forever.

2/ So if the company buys a book, they can use it to train. But they'd be iffy as heck using it in their output, especially without attribution.
Problem is: if I write an essay, I can fairly easily keep track of my research materials and append a bibliography. It's less clear how AI can do this.

1/ As I understand it: yes for training, no for output.
Imagine I buy a book. I can then read it, annotate it, type up quotes from it for my own studies, write fanfic inspired by it etc. BUT if I want to write an essay and quote from it, I would need to correctly cite it at that point.

I'd been wondering about taking the CherryLeaf one.

Yeah AI search seems generally good.

For review - the former. I wouldn't rely on AI review either for style/clarity or factual accuracy - that's where you need the human to check the AI.

Which courses did you find where best? I'm currently learning in a slightly ad hoc way (although I am attending AI the Docs today and tomorrow)

And as you say, as a starting point for getting info sometimes.

I'm not using it heavily day to day. Where I find it effective (so far):

- AI powered search for docs sites
- As a reviewer to get an extra point of view (caveats/risks here though)
- For some types of refactoring work (saves a little time, but needs a lot of human input and review)

2/ The fun thing about being on both LinkedIn and Bluesky is I get to read the LinkedIn posts from companies pushing AI usage hard, and the Bluesky posts from people who've decided anyone who even touches AI is signalling complete incompetence.

1/ Could we all solemnly swear not to be too judgemental of each other about AI? Because I've got a horrible feeling I know what the next impossible hiring trend is going to be: you'll need enough AI on your CV to get past the pro-AI people, but not so much that you deter the anti-AI people.

If you were too young in 2003 here is what Bush told the American people:

1) The Iraq War won’t cost a lot of money
3) We won’t need a lot of troops
4) We’ll bring peace and freedom to Iraq
5) We’ll find WMDs
6) We’ll be welcomed as liberators
7) It will be easy
8) It won’t take long

All lies.

Yup!

Perhaps also post-COVID derangement? I think everyone is still feeling the effects of the pandemic (while mostly acting like we're not), but it does seem to have been the point where a lot of people went weirder or more extreme.

Rise in ‘alert fatigue’ risks phone users disabling news notifications, study finds Publishers could see audiences uninstall apps, as some users receive up to 50 alerts a day, analysis shows

Wait, people have news alerts on??

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

Breaks are part of working, not a reward for working.

7/ Consistent backing for Ukraine. Another thing that has managed to cross political lines (except Farage - and it's one of the things that could trip him up if he talks about it too much)

6/ Most of the time, things mostly work. Post. Bins. Buses. Not everywhere all the time, but mostly we're functional.

5/ There are the things I'm glad we don't have, such as gun culture.

4/ The sense of humour really is a thing, and perhaps helps cross political borders in a way some countries just don't seem able to. I've yet to encounter anyone, even online, who doesn't laugh about the lettuce. And the fact Yes Minister is still funny and applicable to any government is something.

3/ Obligatory mention of the NHS.

2/ Tax advantaged saving and investing: pension and ISA allowances are pretty generous. And the workplace pension was a good move.

1/ A surprising amount of government admin. My last passport renewal was quick and easy. So is setting up as a sole trader. Tax returns are probably as painless as they realistically can be. And the fact most people don't even have to do tax returns is nice.

Have a good trip!

Well this is terrifying