My name is Kin Lane. I am a writer, storyteller, and forever recovering technologist. If you've heard of my name before, you probably know me as the API Evangelist, covering the technology, business, and politics of APIs. These days I'm building Naftiko, where I'm working to put more shape and clarity around the modern API life cycle and help teams be more successful on their API journey.
While my day job is technology focused, my passion is studying the impact of technology on the world around us, then writing and sharing stories about what I'm seeing. I've grown increasingly skeptical about the impact that Internet technology — and specifically the web — has on our lives, and it's something I feel compelled to write about and explore. It's no secret that I'm very critical of how technology gets used and the damage it leaves in its wake when fueled blindly by venture capital. I've also spent many years drinking the Kool-aid and have been very complicit in this game myself, which is something I work to reconcile in my storytelling.
While I thoroughly enjoy writing, I've had to work hard to find a new voice after being the API Evangelist for so long. I still enjoy capturing the world using my drones, and I keep evolving my Drone Recovery project. I also take photos with my many cameras and apply algorithmic filters to them using machine learning models, using the results in my storytelling across my blogs. Videos and photos tell us a lot about the world around us, but I feel that algorithmically distorted images speak volumes about the world we are experiencing today.
APIs are behind everything today. That's no exaggeration. They're behind the web and the mobile devices that have become ubiquitous in our lives. They're behind everyday devices and appliances in our homes as well as our automobiles. APIs are impacting politics and influencing our personal and professional lives on a daily basis. It's critical that we stay aware of how APIs are wielded by companies, organizations, institutions, and government agencies — otherwise we will never fully be able to keep up with the pace of technology. Without that awareness, we are left helpless when it comes to making the change we want to see in the world, and it gets much harder to ensure technology serves us rather than the other way around.
