The Council Convenes
Why the Council exists and what it will cover.
The Council is now in session.
The Council’s first order of business is to explain its existence:
Driven by eclectic imagery of Ankh-Morpork, the famous old myth and a wonderfully bizarre race of Mowlings from Star Control, I wanted to create something that would represent me without truly limiting myself and with a backdrop of society. Thus, the Council was born. Partially as me noticing dark patterns and poor engineering ethics. Partially as my own portfolio, linking to GitHub and LinkedIn. And partially — because I like to create things. Usually it’s music, but recently I have been on ventures into different forms of art. And I want to share those pieces of myself with the void of the Internet.
Why now?
I have been hugely inspired by Steve Burke (Gamers Nexus) whose exceptional journalism and incredible integrity as a human uncovered many dark patterns and possible instances of corruption, and by Louis Rossman (Rossman Repair Group) whose fight for making the world a better place did not stop at just repair business. The right-to-repair movement is an absolute necessity in an increasingly consumerist world and the FULU Foundation actively fighting dark patterns is also inspiring. Their incredible consistency and unwavering spirits have earned them both Medal of Lemmini Council. (Well, if we ever have those) A particularly eye opening piece was from Gamers Nexus — piece about Spy TVs, which is entered into the record as Exhibit A.
What to expect from the Council?
The Council will share thoughts whenever the muse strikes and session is called.
- Personal engineering dilemmas
- Dark patterns all around us
- Ownership, or the lack of thereof, in the modern world
That said, the Council is not without its own shortcomings and if not for token of immunity, we might be accused of some less than stellar behaviors, such as disregard for the Council’s own security. Order! Order! No dark patterns introduced!
Next on the agenda.
The Council has been pondering security in professional work recently, but that session is still in the drafting phase. Please, have patience. The Council is not working too hard.
Members of the Council are welcome to follow along by RSS. This session is adjourned.
Signed
Overseer Mateusz