Catchafire matches professionals who work online and want to donate their time with non-profits who are in need of their skills. From copywriting and video editing to illustrating and coding, there are thousands of volunteer opportunities that people from any corner of the globe can participate in.

An iPhone app that gives bookworms a way to set reading goals, track progress, journal their experience and build collections for organising their book shelf.

For those who want to offer a live chat on their website, Papercups provides an open-source, privacy-friendly alternative to the likes of Intercom or Drift. The self-hosted version is entirely free, while the hosted one comes with a generous free tier. Premium plans enable you to hook it up to Slack or Mattermost so you can answer requests straight from there.

This intriguing new data visualisation project by The Pudding explores how your geographical location determines what sort of music you’re most likely exposed to and how pop music usually spreads in specific patterns across regions, countries and continents.

What White People Can Do Next →

Continuing the fight for racial justice

After a year that’s been described as a ‘racial awakening’ for many, Emma Dabiri provides practical, accessible advice on how to keep the momentum going. “In this robust and nuanced examination of race, class and capitalism, Emma Dabiri draws on years of academic study and lived experience, as well as personal reflections on a year like no other. With intellectual rigour, wit and clarity, Dabiri articulates a powerful vision for meaningful and lasting change.”

The New Breed →

How to think about robots

The depiction of robots in mainstream media is often heavily influenced by science fiction blockbusters. But how will the interaction and relationship between humans and robots (which are already among us) really evolve over the coming decades? “Here Kate Darling, a world-renowned expert in robot ethics, shows that in order to understand the new robot world, we must first move beyond the idea that this technology will be something like us. Instead, she argues, we should look to our relationship with animals.”

A lovely reminder to not take expertise or success at face value. There is always struggle behind the façade of a perfect story. “When someone is viewed as more extraordinary than they are, you’re more likely to overvalue their opinion on things they have no special talent in. Like a successful hedge fund manager’s political views, or a politician’s investment advice. Only when you get to know someone well do you realize the best you can do in life is to become an expert at some things while remaining inept at others – and that’s if you’re good.”

One of those longer essays that become more rewarding as you keep reading. A fantastic summation of what drives our belief in and hope for technology as humanity’s ultimate problem-solver. “Faced with serious challenges that our politics seem incapable of addressing, and which technological change have so far been able to miraculously solve, techno-optimism keeps the focus centered on the idea of an eventual technological solution. And most importantly this is a change that will mean that we do not need to do much, we do not need to act, we do not need to be willing to change, we just need to wait and eventually the technology will come along that will do it all for us.”

It’s controversial to put a monetary value on ‘nature’, but such an approach can help with reining in pollution and the mindless consumption of precious resources if our economic model of growth were to continue. This is a really interesting, well-presented and easy-to-understand lecture on “how the nature of financial investment is changing to better reflect the ecosystem of the planet we live on, and how investing in nature can underpin sustainable and inclusive economic growth”.