Personal Knowledge Management System – Revised for 2023

03 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by in 21st Century Human, Tools

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

It has been a couple of years since I have updated my PKMS (Personal Knowledge Management System), so time to publish an updated system. Lots have changed over the past few years including a move to working from home more which has reduced my time in the car and catching up on podcasts, however it has allowed me more time to read. Some of the systems I was previously using I have removed from use and added in new ones.

I still believe strongly in separating my personal social and business social, although there is the occasional need for the two to cross.

Personal Life

Personal Journal

My go to notebook of choice for Journaling is still the Moleskine plain pocket book and I have just started journal number 35. Its quality and paper is good enough for my needs and archival quality. I still favour the Pilot ball ink pens (0.5 or 0.7) as they flow nicely on the page. See my blog post No batteries required for further details.

Social Media

In keeping my work life separate from my personal life, I use platforms such as Instagram and Facebook for friends and family with appropriate two factory and security settings in place. Even with those settings you still need to consider that once something is online, it could be public in the future.

Professional Life

Research

This is split into several areas and these are a few of the inputs that I use to grab information, feeds, data from:

  • Streaming Services
  • RSS Feeds
  • Podcasts
  • TED Talks
  • Web Searches
  • Blog Posts
  • Courses

This is a high level list of the types of content that I am consuming in my research and knowledge growth. It is important to have Growth Mindset by taking every opportunity to experiment, embrace failure, learn, change and seek challenges will enable yourself and business to realise potential and success. The term Growth Mindset comes from the study and theory of Dr Carol Dweck that intelligence can be developed. This can be applied to every person young and old to reach higher levels of achievement.

Streaming Services covers platforms such as YouTube. The availability of cameras and online streaming platforms, more content is being made available and recorded by people to pass on their knowledge.

RSS Feeds low my to pull updates from sites into Feedly where I can view them on my daily viewing of my feed.

Podcasts cover both Audio and Video casts that I watch/stream online or download to my Phone / Media Player (Audio and Videos) to listen to when I am on journeys in the car or other transportation methods or out walking the dog. I have spent a lot of time out walking as my family got a dog back in April 2022 and this has also improved my level of fitness as well as the ability to catch up on podcasts.

The amount of online learning available today is huge from free MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses) to paid for course such as Udemy. Lots of vendors now provide a good level of free training for their products and solutions. This category also covers courses that I can take through work.

Feedly

Feedly provides an aggregation tool which I use to collect the stories from blogs and web sites.  This provides a list of stories that can be scanned tin a few minutes on a single screen without going via multiple sites. Clicking on a story will bring up a snippet from the source site and provide the link to read the source article if required. Using a series of key strokes you can read the headlines, then move down the articles at a reasonable speed, stopping and opening when needed.

Sources can be categorised to allow an all view or just whats new in a category.

Thinking Time

Thinking Time covers the time that I spend absorbing the PKMS information coming in from the different sources and then also process and apply in different ways. It is also good to spend time reflecting on what I have learnt and think of different and new way to use the information and learnings.

Blogging and Being Social

Following my Thinking Time I gather my thoughts and research and write these down through my blogs and podcasts and publish these on Social Media, WordPress and GitHub.

My previous posts on my PKMS can be found below

Personal Knowledge Management System – Revised for 2020
A-Z of Digital – K is for Knowledge

A hidden cost of reading articles and visiting websites

02 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by in Security, Tools

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

Part of my morning routine is to have a skim over the stories showing up in my Feedly list and have a look at anything that seems of interest whilst munching on some cereal or toast and washing it down with a cup of coffee. A couple of articles peek my interest from sites that I have used before but now want more information from me as a payment to view the content.

These are not sites that have a pay wall as such where you subscribe to read content, but cookie and consent walls. Whilst cookie walls are not new, the uptake of them has increased with more and more sites wanting to get hold of your data in exchange for reading an article. Cookies days are numbered and there are ways to protect yourself, but to the majority of internet users being presented with an option to accept or reject cookies can present complexity to those who don’t understand what is actually happening. This is the hidden cost that you are paying to read that article or visit that site.

First off though I want to thank the websites and companies out there that have made the choice of accept or reject really simple with two buttons and clear options and information. There are a lot out there who do however add complexity with all the options and legal jargon that can catch people out.

Here is an example:

I have removed the name of the site from the picture above. There are many ways that these walls are presented to the user and you are not presented with the easy way to optout other than close the page and say no thanks. I wonder how many people press the “Consent” button without actually looking at what they are consenting to?

Clicking the “Manage options” the screen on this particular site presents 30 or so options to select from. Some sites have even more and there is no standard – everyone is asking for different things and information.

This is at least one of the better set of options and it does allow you to unselect or turn off all of the options. There are sites I have seen that you cannot select on and off and you have no choice if you want to read the site. One site I visited recently the UI was badly or cleverly made so that when you deselected all the options you don’t want to expose to a company that the save on continue button was behind a Chat to Us now button with a large on focus area that you could not go any further forward.

Visiting some sites you are presented with the option to either accept the cookies or leave. If its a site you want to visit or purchase something from you are left with only one choice to accept not knowing exactly what is going on behind the scenes.

How does legitimate interest work?

Sites asking for legitimate interests are using your personal data on the basis of their legitimate interest and are basically asking you for permission to process this data under GDPR. I have found that this differs between sites and not every site explains what they are actually looking at or wanting to use the data for. Some sites are being generic about this area and not been really clear as to what they are collecting, rather saying cookies that allow our website to function without error.

The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) have a good article on what are Legitimate Interests.

The Future

The future of cookies has been previously announced by Google with chrome browsers as in Jan 2020 it was announced that they would eliminate third-party cookies in the browser, but this is now delayed until the second half of 2024.

2023/24 will be the year for companies who rely on cookies to look at how they can make advertising relevant for a cookie less future. API’s and API’s with context will be available for companies to use which will protect users better and also provide context based relevant advertising.

How to protect yourself

In the first instance make sure you have Anti-Virus protection. Most packages do include an amount of protection to your devices around this topic, however you should check what is available through your chosen vendor.

To help users keep their privacy companies led by Google have introduced and initiative that is currently in development called Privacy Sandboxes which replace functionality of cross-site tracking and removing third-party cookies. The Privacy Sandboxes also help in mitigating the risk of device fingerprinting. The link to Googles Privacy Sandbox initiative site is below.

Privacy Sandbox

For now there options available that can block certain trackers through browser addons that can protect you and stop tracking cookies. As an example Privacy Badger is available for a number of browsers. Its good and protects you well and you do have the option to turn off and on cookies.

Privacy Badger

Even if you don’t use an add on you should consider blocking third party cookies which allow companies to sell your data onwards.

Remember to clear out your cache on a regular basis to remove any unwanted trackers from your device.

There are other methods and tweaks you can make that can help your online protection. Here are some links to further reading and advice.

FTC – How to protect your privacy online

Clear, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Device Security Guidance

Posting Security ID’s in Social Posts

01 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by in Security

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

With the changes in the world following the pandemic and the opening up of job roles, there has been a rise on the number of people changing roles and jobs which have been reflected on Social Media such as LinkedIn/Twitter and possibly other social channels. One of the biggest trends I have noticed is the posting of security passes and work ID’s to show that the person worked at their current employer and the dates/times that they have been at that company.

Whilst this may make the person feel good about their move, they have most probably breached a security policy within their existing/old employer by posting their full pass online. With modern technology its easy to replicate the pass and then try and gain access to a companies office.

A quick search for the word Security Pass on LinkedIn shows a huge amount of passes that can be easily replicated and used by others to breach a companies security boundaries

Best practice is not to post this type of document on social. The last contact from your old company might be through a lawyer!

Data Fellowship – Passed

13 Monday Jun 2022

Posted by in Data, Data Fellowship, Data Science

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

Back in February 2021 I wrote a short blog about a Data Fellowship apprenticeship that I was beginning. Today that journey came to an end when I received notification that I had passed the final parts of the course, exam, projects and interview. This means that I now hold a qualification and am awaiting my certificate as BCS Data Analyst (level 4).

It has been a long journey to completion, but each stage has been an adventure and one that I have enjoyed working through.

Data Fellowship

For this I have had to complete a set of courses and assessments through a training provider and BCS which included:

I am now planning my next learning adventure.

Sign Up and Forget Culture

01 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Security

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Have you ever visited a website that you have signed up to and created an account and then never used it again?

There have been a number of stories appearing recently that highlights a growing problem with the abundance of services and account sign ups on the internet. The story I will focus on is about a home owner who found a car parked on her property that she knew nothing about. The outcome was that the landlord had signed up for a carparking service a few years back and never cancelled it.

Mum’s fury as driver ‘parks car on her driveway for Birmingham Airport’

Mystery solved into holidaymaker parking car on furious mum’s drive for Birmingham Airport

Over the many years of the internet how many services and pages have you signed up to and have subsequently forgotten about as you have moved onto other services or simply not used it in a very long time?

GDPR is there to protect and ensure data is up to date and correct, but is it really being applied to accounts on systems. There does seem to be a lack of reminders or removal of accounts that have been dormant/not logged in for some time from systems.

You will probably have key accounts that you maintain and use:

  • Daily – such as Social Networks, Shopping, Banking
  • Monthly – such as Utilities (Water, Gas, Electricity)
  • Yearly – such as HMRC/ Inland Revenue for a Tax Return

What else have you signed up to and then not used? Forgotten or unused accounts could pose a security threat to your identity. A good way to see if your details have been gathered by hackers and being sold is through the website Have I been Pwned. https://haveibeenpwned.com/

My Top 5 recommendations to consider when creating an account are:

  1. Think about the system/service you are signing up for. Is this a one off transaction or something you will use on a regular basis.
  2. Use a password management tool to help you track all the sites you use and have accounts on and review this once a month or every couple of months.
  3. Consider cancelling/deleting accounts that you no longer need.
  4. Use different passwords on different systems. A password management tool will help.
  5. Check your emails for changes to accounts/terms and conditions on systems you haven’t used in a while.

Data Fellowship – BCS Level 4 Certificate in Data Analysis Tools

28 Monday Mar 2022

Posted by in BCS, Data, Data Fellowship, Data Science

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

I know that I haven’t posted into my blog in a while. Mainly because I have been busy with my Data Fellowship and a few other things. Recently I have been studying for todays exam “BCS Level 4 Certificate in Data Analysis Tools” – QAN 603/0824/2.

The ability to still take exams at home (under exam conditions), is a bit more relaxing than having to take a journey to get to an exam centre, but still just as unnerving as you complete and press the end exam button awaiting the mark. The ability to take exams at home, still under the same conditions with cameras on and screen shared does open the ability to obtain qualifications up to more people and fit them in better around a normal working day.

The objectives of this part of the course/exam are:

  • Explain the purpose and outputs of data integration activities
  • Explain how data from multiple sources can be integrated to provide a unified view of the data
  • Describe how programming languages for statistical computing (SQL) can be applied to data integration activities, improving speed and data quality for analysis
  • Explain how to take account of data quality when preparing data for analysis, improving quality, accuracy and usefulness
  • Explain the nature and challenges of data volumes being processed through integration activities and how a programming approach can improve this
  • Understand testing requirements to ensure that unified data sets are correct, complete and up to date
  • Explain the capabilities (speed, cost, function) of statistical programming languages and software tools, when manipulating, processing and cleaning data and the tools required to solve analysis issues
  • Explain how statistical programming languages are used in preparing data for analysis and within analysis projects

Source: Syllabus

Exam passed and now on with the final submission of my Project Portfolio and Synopsis Project.

Using the best of the Q Continuum

22 Tuesday Feb 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Human, Mindset

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

,

Everyone should have heard of / used the term IQ in relation to Intellectual Quotient or EQ in relation to a person’s Emotional Quotient Which is measured using a standardised set of tests to measure human intelligence. A Quotient is the degree or amount of something.

If you were looking for something on the new series of Picard and Q sorry, however I am looking forward to watching it. The use of Q (Quotient) today can now be used to measure a range of things from Body to Managerial and there is a Q for most of the letters in the alphabet. Below are some of the key ones to be aware of

AQ – Adversity Quotient is used to show the ability of a person to deal with adversities in their life.

BQ – Body Quotient is used to show your whole-body health.

CQ – Cultural Quotient is used to show and improve effectiveness in culturally diverse situations.

CQ – Curiosity Quotient is used to show how powerfully motivated someone is to learn about a personally interesting subject.

DQ – Decency Quotient is used to show how a leader has the genuine desire to do the right thing and wants something positive for everyone. Ensuring everyone feels respected and valued.

EQ – Emotional Quotient is used to show the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions.

IQ – Intellectual Quotient is used to show a person’s intelligence using a standardised set of tests.

MQ – Moral Quotient is used to show understand right from wrong and to behave based on the value that is believed to be right.

PQ – Physical Quotient is used to show self-awareness and how well attuned you are to your physical wellbeing.

SQ – Spiritual Quotient is used to indicate spiritual parallels with IQ and EQ

There are many others, some not as mainstream within people’s knowledge. There are many articles around each of the Quotients and which make a rounded person. For me its all of them:

AQ + BQ + CQ + DQ + EQ + IQ + MQ + PQ + SQ = Well Rounded Person

Below are 5 Self Reflection questions to ask yourself

  • After reading the list above how many of these are you aware of?
  • Which of these do you use today?
  • Which will you use going forward?
  • Which is your strongest quotient?
  • How will you bring all your quotients up and be aware of them?

Importance of Regular Screen Breaks

10 Monday Jan 2022

Posted by in Health

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

I can remember sitting in class and hearing the teacher saying “Hemingway! Stop day dreaming and looking out of the window!”. Forward many 10’s of years to the weekend just gone and my optometrist saying, “Mr Hemingway, You need to look out of the window more!”

Sitting in front of a computer screen all day has caught up with me. Especially driven in recent times with video calls.

So why look out of the window more, Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) is when the eyelid glands don’t produce enough oil to stop the watery layer of the tears from drying out. You don’t blink as much when your looking at the screen for a long time. There are a lot of other factors that can play into or cause MGD, however screen time is the most likely for me.

I have a mild case which is treatable with a warm flannel or warmed Eye Bag and some gentle massaging eyelid to help release the tears as its been caught early enough. If left and nothing done could become more serious in time.

The exercise I was given is a 20:20:20 – look out of the window every 20 minutes at something more than 20 yards away and blinking 20 times.

Taking regular breaks is a must, even if to look out of the window regularly.

A timer on the desk now counts every 20 mins so I can get a reminder when head down in a screen concentrating.

Repairing Mobiles just got easier

23 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by in Mobiles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

How many people drop a mobile and crack the screen every day? In 2017 O2 reported that around 7.5 million people have a broken screen. Today I suspect that this is a lot higher today.

Screens are one of the most the in demand repairs that are carried out today. In some cases the phone can only be repaired by a manufacturer or authorised repairer. Cost is always a factor and some look for cheaper options or the ability to repair it themselves.

The ability to purchase spare parts for mobiles has been available for a long time from online places like eBay and manufacturers have found ways to stop the home repair and unauthorised repair markets such as by adding in device ID’s onto each hardware component and tying these to the main board so it stops working once you swap a part out.

Things are changing with Apple now announcing the ability to soon purchase spares from Apple Repair Shops with 200 parts available for the iPhone 12 and 13.

This is a great move towards the goals of sustainability as devices will be able to be repaired more easily and the broken parts can be returned to Apple as stated in their announcement – “Following the repair, customers who return their used part for recycling will receive credit toward their purchase.”

Online forums and videos have made repairing devices easier as you can follow a set of instructions or watch someone else doing it. An example of a repair video Apple Broke iPhone 13 Screen Repairs.

The better part is that the parts can come with a manual to help you repair, which will provide an official way to do this.

With the drive to be more sustainable and pressure mounting on recycling techniques and sending items to land fill companies are providing better ways at recycling. The Royal Mint is building a smart phone recycling centre to extract metals such as gold from phones.

It would be good to see other manufacturers allowing the ability to repair devices by providing spares.

So is it easier to repair a phone? It will be easier to obtain parts and instructions, however repairing a phone is still a challenge due to the many connectors and cables between the boards and components together. Care is needed if undertaking this as you may cause other damage during the process.

Further Reading

Looking at upcycling a mobile phone

Social Engineering on Social Media

10 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by in Security, Social Media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Opening my social feeds this morning for a quick browse over a cup of coffee and some toast, it doesn’t take long of scrolling down to find a post asking “What was the first car you owned? No Lying <laughing emoji>”. This post has 61k likes, 959k Comments and 8.4k shares and was only posted on 9th August. And people wonder why they get hacked.

Password systems for a long time have used a similar set of questions as they are usually easy to answer and remember, because they were life events. Questions such as:

  • What is your mother’s maiden name?
  • What is the name of your first pet?
  • What was your first car?
  • What elementary school did you attend?
  • What is the name of the town where you were born?

These types of social engineering data gathering posts are nothing new, but it would seem that people do not understand the greater risks around answering them.

With the large amount of data appearing on the dark web for usernames and a persons details (even if they don’t contain passwords) matching this data with the answers from social posts such as the one above gives a potential hacker more information about you. They now have the ability to reset your password using the answers you have provided to the security questions and take control of your accounts.

How many of you reading this post have answered the question similar to “What elementary school did you attend” or anything to do with education, but forgot that the same information is already lurking in your LinkedIn profile?

One way to check if your in any data on the dark web is to check using your email address at a service such as https://haveibeenpwned.com/

If you see a family member or friend post these types of questions on social media, it may be worth a conversation with them to advise of the dangers of such posts and the consequences of social engineering.

Tips to stay safe

Here are some tips for staying safe with your identity.

  • Don’t answer these types of posts on social media, even if its a friend who has posted it.
  • Check your not using an answer to a security question that is already in your social profile.
  • Use fictitious information instead of real information, but something you can remember.
  • Treat these answers like passwords and think about adding complexity to them.
  • Use two factor authentication where it is available on a system.

Further Reading