Welcome back and happy new year! Lots of stuff so lets get right to it. (Admin notes and announcements, if any, will now be found at the end.) The ‘Future Book’ Is Here, but It’s Not What We Expected Craig Mod looking at what “we” thought would be the future of the book and where […]
I try to not do this too often but a quick reminder that you can support Sentiers by becoming a Patron. Pitching in over the next couple of weeks would be super appreciated and useful to round out this first quarter of “patronizing.” Also very useful and appreciated is if you can forward to a […]
I would like to have more interactions with readers and amongst readers, get some form of collective intelligence going, something perhaps akin to a salon but virtual. Ideally without using a chat or messaging app. Interest? Ideas? Also, looking at early 2019, I’ve got some availability, hit reply if you want to work together! At […]
In case you haven’t subscribed to Sentiers at Work but find it interesting, I added a holiday pricing for 3 months so you can try it out or gift it to someone. Check it out. The Digital Maginot Line Lots to think about in this piece by Renee DiResta making a parallel between the French […]
The first issue of Sentiers at Work was sent to members on Friday morning, be sure to check your filters if you haven’t seen it yet. Lots of stuff this week, lets get to it! ⁓ We Are All Bewildered Machines “Bewilderment is the antidote to scientific reductionism.” The author, Nautilus’ features editor Kevin Berger, […]
Packed, packed days this week, but good things happening. If you are subscribed to Sentiers at Work, the first real issue is coming in a few days. If not a member yet, have a look. And for everyone, as always, using the link at the upper right and sharing broadly is always very much appreciated. […]
Over the last week, for a quick client research project, I skimmed through all 55 previous issues of Sentiers. a) I’m going to have to organize all the bits and pieces in something more useful than just text files. b) I used to have more section-like titles, depending on the week’s content, like in No.33 […]
Thanks to everyone who’s signed up to be a Patron or to receive Sentiers at Work, it’s very much appreciated, as are the very very flattering comments I got from a number of subscribers following the launch. 🤗 — Last issue, the most clicked link was: Exploring the Future Beyond Cyberpunk’s Neon and Noir. Mariana […]
Big news this week. I finally completed the prototype phase and the new website, I’m officially launching Sentiers at Work 🎉! It builds on all the research and reading I do at large and for this newsletter. It provides briefings to feed your curiosity at and around work, organisations, and careers. Please have a look […]
And we’re back! I hope you used the skip week to either catch up on past issues or do something relaxing. I wasn’t writing the newsletter but I did keep reading so this is actually a super long issue. For your own good, and for certain annoying Gmail restrictions, I’ve cut No.53 in two parts, […]
Last week was skipped for a little rest but I ended reading just as much, so No.53 is almost a two for one. Here’s “the rest” of what I wanted to share. ⁓ Tech A New Kind of Economy—An Interview with Andrew Yang Placing this under “tech” even though it’s politics because it’s mostly interesting […]
This week we have: The Automation Charade. Tim Berners-Lee’s Inrup. The Chia cryptocurrency. Plain, trains, and automobiles. IP and data in Toronto. In praise of mediocrity. Hidden details of the NYPL, and much more. Fall is here 🍂, make sure to take long walks outdoors, enjoy the colours where you have them, and don’t watch […]
Finishing this up later than usual, I hope everything’s in order! Big Sentiers week with the launch of a new website where you can see the archive of all issues and refer people for signing up. Only a couple of things are surfaced right now but there are a few other ideas being built behind […]
So this is issue No.50. I’d hoped to produce something special for it, either some twist on the content or some artefact to “commemorate” but in the end, it’s “just” a newsletter and, more importantly, I’ve spent some time on finally finalizing Sentiers at Work, the prototype of which I’ll be sending to a few […]
Harari twofer, lots and lots of tech topics this week, including an important copyright vote in Europe which I couldn’t really bring myself to write about more but it’s in there, you should read up. Also a longer than usual Miscellany section, including a couple that might be classified elsewhere but there you go, if […]
We need to teach our children to read, and to enjoy reading.We need libraries.We need books.We need literate citizens. — Neil Gaiman (see Miscellany, which is the “books section” today) Resisting Reduction: A Manifesto The MIT Media Lab director, Joichi Ito, proposing an interesting vision for the future. Contrasting the “religion” of the Singularity with […]
Two things to celebrate this week. First, I found the problem with the lower open rates, it’s a “feature” of Gmail and I’ll make sure to stay below that limit in the future. Second, in two days is the one year anniversary of sending these things. Here’s the archive, if you’d like a look. No […]
This week features a good look at ethics for data, there’s some awesome mapping fun happening at Dynamicland, deeper thinking behind restrictive supply-side policies for fossil fuels, some Doctorow and some Morozov in tech, and two artsy pieces in miscellany. Quite a bit of an uptick on Mastodon this week, showing some actual promise but […]
Welcome to this new version of Sentiers, sorry it’s coming to you late. I’m introducing a new template (work in progress), and I’ve moved from Tinyletter to Mailchimp to have more visual flexibility and to centralize things for when I launch my new product in September. You’ll also notice a new index below which you […]
As broad as Sentiers is, it doesn’t cover every topic hitting my radar and is written from a specific perspective, for myself and for readers whom I see as “curious, engaged citizens.” This September, I’ll be launching a new project focused more tightly on a few topics, something that might be described as “relevant and strategic knowledge for people leading in organizations.”
Welcome new readers, thanks for joining! Quick reminder that if you’re in Montréal I also host a very informal coffee chat every couple of months, you can signup to be notified here, it’s called Les ponts (jusqu’à maintenant, plutôt en français mais “on parle bilingue”). ✕ Capitalism Killed Our Climate Momentum, Not “Human Nature” This at the […]
I’m very happy to say that starting in August I’ll be helming another newsletter, this one a collaboration with Atelier 10, who publish the excellent Nouveau Projet print magazine. It’s called Repères and you can subscribe here. It’s in French and will be sent monthly, threading much the same topic selection as Sentiers. Lastly, since finishing up an important contract a […]
For this issue, in the end, I kept a Cities section but I’m toying with the idea of streamlining things, having the usual few “featured” articles to start (any topic), then a Tech section (absorbing The Churn and AI), followed with something perhaps titled Shorts regrouping everything else. Oft included sections like Cities and Milieu would be folded in there. Thoughts? Yeas or nays? ✕ Elizabeth Denham: ‘Data […]
You might have noticed that I did end up skipping two weeks to properly enjoy my vacation. I hope you used the time to catchup on past issues and other newsletter because this one is gigantic. I’m not sure if I should say “sorry” or “enjoy”. ✕ Future Human Not a new section/category but rather […]
As you read this I am on vacation. As such, for once, I have enforced a hard deadline on myself and closed up shop before dinner/supper Friday. That has meant cutting reading and writing short a bit, making this issue more succinct than usual. Next Sunday is definitely off, then if I do manage to […]