Hugh Wallace

"The problem with AI isn't that it can do your job. It can't. The problem with AI is that your MBA-brained boss's boss doesn't know how your job works and thinks AI can do your job at fractions of a penny on the dollar, and hears the siren song of 'maximize shareholder value'."

MBA-brain is real.

Kae Tempest | Official Site Kae Tempest is a recording artist, lyricist, performer, author, playwright, and poet. They have released four critically acclaimed studio albums.

New Kae Tempest album is unfeasibly good - urgent, angry, insightful, uplifting. Absolutely on top of their game. www.kaetempest.com

Knackered as I pull into Edinburgh at midnight, but elated after an amazing #CampDigital. Kudos to fellow presenters @jukes.ie @herahussain.bsky.social @sharonodea.com @blangry.bsky.social @acuity.design + the superb efforts of @catcutmore.bsky.social @shaungomm.bsky.social & all @nexerdigital.com

🙌

Thanks Rob! What a day - it looks a lot less intense on Mull 😄 Presentation went really well, and @jukes.ie was a solid 10/10

Thanks Elizabeth!

Thank you Amy!

How fun! I studied Vannevar at Uni decades ago, so it’s been quite nice dusting him down again.

I’ll try to assemble it into a (grumpy skeptical) blog post.

The exterior of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester

Fab to have made it to Manchester for #CampDigital tomorrow, here’s the venue looking windswept and interesting. Hope to catch some @bsky.app folk in there.

Look closely, it’s not a dot. It’s a soulless black hole where our hopes and dreams go to die.

Don't forget the arts when it comes to R&D spending The UK's creative economy is worth more than our life sciences, aerospace and automotive industries combined

‘R&D is a long-term source of prosperity, and an area of UK competitive advantage… but to maximise the impact on UK productivity, innovation policy needs to link more strongly with industrial strategy for a services based economy.’ Me in CityAM ahead of the SR
www.cityam.com/dont-forget-...

Appetite for disruption? Contrasting the seismic digital transformation of the publishing industry with the vague promise of AI. With some slop thrown in.

First thing I’ve written on AI in a while, drawing some clunky parallels with desktop publishing and leaning heavily on the fine work of @bcmerchant.bsky.social and @anildash.com

Challenging AI Hype and Tech Industry Power

Just got off the planning call for this *online* event with @karenhao.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social hosted by @datasociety.bsky.social and moderated by @tamigraph.bsky.social -- and SOO EXCITED! This one is going to be amazing.

datasociety.net/events/chall...

Hallway Track 012 The Thing About COBOL with Marianne Belloti, Mar Hicks, and Clive Thompson Monday 2 June 2025, 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern 25 spaces only. by very little gravitas

Register for Hallway Track 12 The Thing About COBOL today at 1pm ET!

Chat with Marianne Belloti, @histoftech.bsky.social, and @clivethompson.bsky.social in depth about the programming language people love to hate.

Free, Monday 2 June.

www.verylittlegravitas.com/hallwaytrack

Carelessness inc. Like a moth to a flame, I could barely contain myself in the rush to download the audio version of Sarah Wynn-Williams' Careless People when it was published, seemingly out of the blue, a fortnight ag...

Loved it, and felt motivated enough to write about it too. Character Limit also highly recommended if you fancy continuing down the sinister social media wormhole.

tumshie.ghost.io/carelessness...

Also on the trades description front: I’m not sure I would call it a glen, more of a very steep, knackering hill.

Loch Doine surrounded by mountains and clouds

Counting down to the Hidden Glen 10k in the blissful Scottish weather (aka it’s pretty much pissing down)

Headshot of Camp Digital speaker Hugh Wallace. Text reads: Hugh Wallace, CIO, Research Data Scotland. Sceptics United: finding your signal in a noisy world.

🌍 Drowning in digital noise?

In his #CampDigital talk, Research Data Scotland CIO @tumshie.me will share insights on how to cut through the hype, question trends and trust your instincts.

A must for digital decision-makers!

Book to join us at:

tinyurl.com/mw4bcyb9

#Digital #TechEvents

Congrats Brian!

Survey: Society for Hopeful Technologists — Careful Industries Are you a UK-based technologist interested in joining a body that acts in solidarity against the excesses of extractive platform capitalism? Complete this survey to help shape the Society for Hopef...

Are you a UK-based technologist interested in joining a body that acts in solidarity against the excesses of extractive platform capitalism? Fill out this survey, and help design the Society for Hopeful Technologists www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-...

🙌

Love it. Is this modern?

YouTube video by Pulp Pulp - Spike Island (Official Video)

Maybe Jarvis will make it all better youtu.be/-27a1ugJX8U

Exterior of Tarlair outdoor pool pavilion, beside Macduff in the NE of Scotland

View from the top of Tarlair outdoor pool pavilion

The shallow pool at Tarlair, with the pavilion in the background

The shallow pool at Tarlair, with pavilion in the background

After several failed attempts, made it to Tarlair, a restoration project in the NE of Scotland where they’re bringing this wonderful art deco pavilion and swimming pool back to life

friendsoftarlair.co.uk

Monthnote: March 2025 The organisation I work for is not long for this world. There are still things to do while the future takes shape though.

March was dominated by some Big News™ about DHSC and NHS England. Against this backdrop, the NHS App team got together for some old-fashioned in-person planning. Here's my latest monthnote: weeknot.es/monthnote-ma...

s19e09: Two Easy Pieces 0.0 Context Setting Friday, 4 April 2025 in Portland, Oregon where the sun is out. 0.1 Events: Hallway Track No Hallway Tracks on the slate at the moment....

Highly recommend @danhon.com’s latest missive, a two-parter on legacy systems and notifications.

Quotes of note:
“It is almost as if there is something difficult about maintaining a complicated system.”

“This is all stupid and exhausting.”

newsletter.danhon.com/archive/s19e... -

Who owns the Clyde? Society & Culture Podcast · Who owns the Clyde is a three-part citizen investigation into ownership of Glasgow’s iconic River, explored through a kaleidoscope of diverse voices, soundscapes, and poetr...

Incidentally, this is an excellent podcast on why the Clyde is the way it is, without the riverside vibrancy you get in other cities podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...

View of the river Clyde from the squinty bridge

Beautiful Glasgow day - crossed over the Clyde to present at an invigorating Data & AI event hosted by @sulsa.bsky.social and The Data Lab. Great crowd, great questions.

Hoping cat pic = shedloads of additional engagement