Apologia

Apparently websites are expected to have a lot of opinions these days. These often get sprung on site visitors as annoying pop-ups (cookie banner, anyone?) or hidden away in 8pt font somewhere in the footer. This page is an attempt to put all that stuff in one place for folks who care — and keep it out of the way of folks who don’t.

Accessibility Statement

This site has been designed and built from the ground up with accessibility in mind:

• Content is structured to communicate its meaning independent of page display, which makes expressing that meaning to assistive technology the same task as expressing it to a page template.
• Type sizes and color contrast were validated across intended surfaces before a single line of CSS was written.
• Pages are structured with semantic HTML elements that serve as landmarks for those using assistive technologies.
• Images are supplied with text equivalents that work to ensure that everyone can access site content in the way that meets them where they are.
• Interactive features using Javascript such as form interactions, display filtering, and masonry layouts are built as progressive enhancements on valid, usable HTML and CSS to ensure content accessibility to those choosing to access content without Javascript.

That said, there are certainly affordances I've missed and implementations that can be improved. If you encounter any content that is difficult for you to use, I welcome you to get in touch. I'm grateful for any insight or perspective you might share that could help me make this site more accessible.

Cookie Statement

Cookies are for children and muppets.

This site does not use them ...

... mostly: Embedded YouTube videos, alas, may load cookies when you click play. The alternative is not to embed videos, which strikes me as churlish and annoying, so here we are. One option for the privacy minded among you is to open YouTube videos in an incognito window. The cookie may still load, but it won't follow you across sessions.

I use Plausible to monitor site traffic and page views. Plausible doesn't process personal data or track individual users. It also doesn't add cookies, persistent identifiers, or cross-site or cross-device tracking.

I care about which pages and topics my site visitors find most engaging, not how you, personally, spend your time and direct your eyeballs. I'm also not interested in harvesting your attention to auction it off to add buyers. Gross.

“AI” Statement

I do use large language models (LLMs, conventionally referred to as "AI" (in the parlance of our times)), mostly Claude, to assist in the development and deployment of this site's front end. I like to be hands-on with how this site is built and served, but have a fraught relationship with Typescript and Nginx config files. LLM assistance has helped me extend what I'm able to do and understand in these areas.

Beyond allowing me to keep my seat at the front-end sausage-making table, the use of LLMs on this project has allowed my to expand what I'm able to build on the front end to the point that I can now integrate (for my own site!) the information architecture and content strategy approaches I bring to client projects in my professional practice. I remain circumspect of "vibe coding," which I take to mean "prompting and LLM to spin up code you don't understand," but am seeing first-hand the benefits of what I like to call "stretch coding," where the LLM allows me to stretch the skills I have to produce a more effective, more resilient end result.

I do not use LLMs to produce any of the writing you see on this site. This is in part because I find LLM generated prose mushy, prolix, and predictable (which I don't enjoy reading ... so why would I inflict that on you?), but mostly because I write to think. If I'm not the one doing the writing, then I'm not the one doing the thinking — which is, I presume, the reason you're here.

I do not use LLMs to generate images or illustrations. I'm not much of an illustrator, and most of the diagrams you'll see on this site are fairly simple (or attributed to their respective authors). Using giant math machines to generate photo-realistic images strikes me as perverse — if not insane — when there is so much thoughtful, creative-commons licensed photography available on the web. I (and hopefully, you) much prefer to be inspired by the work of a fellow, properly attributed, human than being further bludgeoned by the saccharine slop of AI generated imagery.