For Tech’s Sake

This week Kelly and Elaine are sharing their love for Wikipedia – its endless interesting links, dedication to niche topics, and, of course, the ‘Personal Life’ section. Amy O’Riordan, bhainisteoir pobail le Pobal Éireann Wikimedia (AKA the community manager of Wikimedia Community Ireland) joins us for this chat about the famous online encyclopaedia’s challenges with AI, vandalism, content gaps and reliable sources, as well as the sheer passion of the volunteers that keep this great collaboration going.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Wikipedia, of course
>> Wikimedia.ie for more on the Irish Wiki community
>> Wiki Loves Earth photography competition
>> Depths of Wikipedia by Annie Rauwerda
>> No Mow May 🌼
>> Birdfeeding advice from Niall Hatch at BirdWatch Ireland 🐦

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
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This episode features an appearance from Elaine’s mam, who helped her review the new AI Ready platform from the Irish government (AIReady.ie) – and it did not go down well! We were so disappointed with this fumbled effort at AI literacy, but luckily we had Laura Grehan to speak to about getting it right. Laura leads education, engagement and societal impact for the Adapt research centre, and her award-winning team has reached about 85,000 people with their #DiscussAI initiative and other programmes.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> #DiscussAI’s AI literacy resources
>> Age-Friendly AI, a national AI literacy initiative for older adults
>> Our chat on AI literacy with Prof Aphra Kerr
>> The Verge report on switching unsupported Windows devices to Linux
>> Lemoncello’s new album, Perfect Place

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pretty soon your private messages on Instagram will no longer be end-to-end encrypted. But you may not have even known they could be encrypted to begin with, as Instagram kind of buried that feature. Kelly and Elaine discuss what this means for messaging apps more broadly, while also lifting the veil on how private these apps really are (as well as having a rant about all the things they don’t like about Instagram).

*** Good things YOU recommend ***
>> Amy recommends the film Desk Set
>> Katie and Vanessa recommend the show WeCrashed
>> El recommends the documentary Ghost in the Machine
>> Dean recommends the book Braver New World, by John Kampfner

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate our 100th episode, we invited our listeners to watch us in action live, with the return of special guest Dr Abeba Birhane, founder of the pioneering AI Accountability Lab. We had fun with a game of Good Tech, Bad Tech (trademark pending) followed by a meaty discussion with Abeba about the morality of AI, the challenge of being a critic of AI, and how she met the Pope and Shaggy (no, really).

We are so grateful to everyone who came out for this live recording, and also to The Digital Hub, and Dee and Oisin from the Beár Bia podcast for making it all possible.

All proceeds from this event went to Medical Aid for Palestinians. Donate at MAP.org.uk.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> AI Accountability Lab
>> Biology as Ideology by Richard Lewontin
>> Abeba’s reflections on the censorship of her keynote at the AI for Good Summit 2025
>> Kabakoo Academies, blending high-tech and indigenous knowledge in Mali
>> Duck Duck Go, a Google alternative

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Elaine tries to turn Kelly into a subsea cables stan with the help of Jane Ruffino, a PhD candidate who recently visited a ship in the midst of (literally) winding up TAT-8, the world’s first transatlantic fibre-optic cable. Jane enthusiastically shares what we can learn from the subsea cable industry’s ‘minimum necessary technology’ mindset, and why it’s important that the infrastructure and labour that keeps us connected is made visible.

Find Jane on LinkedIn and at CharacterWorks.co.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Jane’s superb article in Wired
>> Our podcast episode, The internet under the sea
>> The Undersea Network, a book by Nicole Starosielski
>> Atlantic-Cable.com
>> Derek Cassidy, communication archaeologist
>> Irish artist Fiona Marron
>> Ye Olde Hurdy-Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio in Howth, Co. Dublin

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.