Like so many people, I’ve been trying to live less and less with algorithmically-fed information. This page is some notes on what I’ve learned so far.

Some general notes

It costs to keep the lights on in a server room. Anybody running a platform knows this, and anybody designing one has something in mind for keeping those lights on before their first line of code. What they have in mind will determine whether they’re likely to take their design in the direction of algorithmic feeds, ads, and the collection of data. Therefore, it’s worth paying attention to a platform’s design details, even early in its growth.

Memberships are a very good indication that a company is likely to — at the very least — give you the option to keep a little control over your data. If people are paying for a service and the folk running it are making extra money from their data on the side, those paying members are likely to become irate. The worst thing a fledgling platform can do is drive away its most evangelical ( i.e. paying ) members.

Some recommendations and my present setup

• glass is my photography platform of choice.