Information

Pubblicato da Stefano Castelvetri il 01/12/2023

This website (let’s call it a blog) was created out of a desire to share texts and other digital creations outside the major free platforms (WordPress or Medium, in my case), so as not to have to accept their tracking policies and the display of advertisements.

If you don’t see any banners or pop-ups asking you to accept profiling cookies, it’s because there are no such cookies at all.

In fact, I’m trying to create the cleanest and most accessible experience for readers by avoiding any ‘bad practices’ or ‘dark patterns’ that are making the web an increasingly irritating place.

I’d like to avoid pop-ups, adverts, paywalls, or content areas that are getting smaller and smaller. But if, despite my best efforts, you notice anything that makes this site difficult to use, I’ll try to sort it out.

How to access

In addition to the web page you are currently reading, you can access the article feed, which is implemented in accordance with the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) standard.

By clicking on this link, you can subscribe to the feed using any feed reader so that you receive the articles as they are published. Too difficult? Most readers should still be ‘smart’ enough to recognise the feed if you enter the address http://bluebabbler.it directly.

To search for content, you’ll find a menu at the top of the page that will take you to the various sections. If you’d like a more comprehensive overview, there’s the mega-archive containing all the material.

Generative AI and Large Language Models

I’ve been using these fascinating tools for quite some time now – to ‘play around’, find inspiration, or share insights on how to use them. However (and I’m not making this a moral issue), I feel more comfortable when I create the images myself (time permitting) and, above all, when I write the text myself. The compromise, given that I’m not an extremist, is to let you know whenever I’ve used a ChatGPT, a Midjourney or the like.

Contributions and donations

Creating things can come at a cost that goes beyond the time spent each day. You need hardware, you need licences, you need MARKERS. If you like what I do, and would like to see more of it, you can support a project by contributing a small “tip”. For now, I’m trying out ko-fi. Let’s see how it goes.

Software and libraries

This space and its content are made possible through the use of a range of tools that are often completely free and open-source (you’re saints, you really are). Below is a list of the most significant ones.

• I don’t think the graphic design software Krita needs any introduction. Impressive in terms of quality and flexibility, and with a very active community of artists and extension developers.
• Whilst Krita is the best for ‘painting’ in my view, Inkscape is the tool par excellence for creating diagrams, icons, covers and vector images.
• The Parsedown library allows you to convert Markdown into readable HTML. It makes no difference to you and you won’t notice a thing, but it’s one of the first libraries I added to the site. It actually allows me to write the page content much more easily, without worrying too much about formatting.