commit b1194bac0ba10621a14498e5889799b74954caa0
parent c0c7894e7ac0c8a1d803cbdbe42063de1fc5360a
Author: rra <rscmbbn@riseup.net>
Date: Fri Jan 31 10:43:41 +0100
intro, thesis 4,6 drafts
Diffstat:1 file changed, 59 insertions(+), 38 deletions(-)
diff --git a/transmediale-2020-7-theses/index.html b/transmediale-2020-7-theses/index.html
@@ -53,6 +53,29 @@ class: bottom, middle
class: inverted
# Introduction
+???
+
+---
+
+## "What if we were to accept that the goal of theory is not to extend knowledge by confi rming what we already know, that the world is a place of domination and oppression? What if we asked theory instead to help us see openings, to provide a space of freedom and possibility?"
+
+J.K Gison-Graham after Eve Sedgewick in *Diverse Economies: performative practices for 'other worlds'*
+
+???
+
+This is talk is not yet another one about the crisis of social media. We find that there is a lot social media critique, perhaps even a surplus, but very little attention on what people are doing concretely when they take such critiques to heart.
+
+Instead this talk will focus on the fediverse, a grassroots network of interoperating social media sites that concretely try to build one such alternative approach. With all of the flaws, surprises, complexities and lessons that such an undertaking requires.
+
+This presentation is not one of easy narratives or ready answers but a way to give some pointers of where something interesting is happening. The beginning of an investigation into a very concrete alternative model.
+
+---
+
+## Fediverse <-> F/LOSS Culture
+
+???
+
+As the fediverse is arguably part of a larger free and open source culture, this talk will do focus on exploring the mutually productive relationship between these alternative social media and free/libre open source culture.
Crisis of social media being discussed but not enough disucssion on what other people are doing concretly, massive gap
@@ -66,6 +89,14 @@ lots of talk about decolonization, queering this or that
So this presentation/research should not be seen as yet another critique of social media but a way to give pointers, it's a beginning of an investigation on a very concrete model.
+
+---
+
+class:inverted
+# Fedi-what?
+
+???
+
- what is alternative social media
- what is online federation
- what are the kind of services avail (microblog, blog, video, events)
@@ -76,15 +107,6 @@ So this presentation/research should not be seen as yet another critique of soci
Consequence: you do not join Mastodon, you join the Fediverse
-
-
----
-
-class:inverted
-# Fedi-what?
-
-blablabla
-
---
class:inverted
@@ -305,7 +327,7 @@ Sounds great on paper, now try to make sense of how collective identity, ideolog
We need some help.
-And some help can potentially be found in the political theory of aganism, and more particularly how agonism can be a useful tool to navigate through this giant mess.
+And some help can potentially be found in the political theory of agonism, and more particularly how agonism can be a useful tool to navigate through this giant mess.
And the type of agonism that we're particularly interested in here, is the one articulated by Chantal Mouffe.
@@ -336,17 +358,22 @@ Regardless of how this will be evolving, if the Fediverse is telling us anything
---
-
<!--roel-->
# THESIS 4
## Fediverse as a shift from a technical to a social understanding of privacy?
-Historically these efforts have always been around liberating code
+---
+
+.faded[# THESIS 4
+## Fediverse as a shift from a technical to a social understanding of privacy?]
-hard tools around encryption, limited the scope of it
-also required considerable knowledge from users
+So one of the effects of the above could be that we see a shift from merely technical understanding of privacy in the field of foss to a more social understanding.
-Traditionally tech scene has favoured P2P model of decentralisation where you need to trust the code and be responsible for your peer connection, on the fedi however there is an emphasis on responsibility around the instance, the community you belong to.
+Historically debates around the risks of social media have been focused on privacy and surveillance. Especially after snowden in 2013. This gave rise to many predominantly technical solutions such as the preliferation of specialised apps for encrypted chat and mail.
+
+Many of these specialised tools tried ot address issues of surveillance at the network level, either by governments or large corporations. Consequently these tools have favoured a P2P model, e2e encryption where the trust is always in the code and never in people. These approaches consequently require considerable technical knowledge from users. Essentially these approaches picture individuals in full command of their communicatoins.
+
+on the fedi however there is an emphasis on responsibility around the instance, the community you belong to.
But also on fediverse shift of threat model, not NSA anymore but the threat is the context of social interaction,
@@ -393,44 +420,38 @@ So yeah, it's complicated, but at least notbody is pretending otherwise, and the
# THESIS 6
## Fediverse as the rise of a new kind of usership?
-Historically, the first software users, or let's say users of computational
-devices, were also their programmers, and the ones providing the tools and
-documentation for others to also contribute actively to the development and
-usage of these systems.
+One particular way to understand the Fediverse is as a collective name for a set of practices, expectations and demands of social media software where different efforts to produce alternatives converge into a shared network with roughly aligned goals.
+
+This is particularly tangible when one considers how usership gets negotiated and renegotiated in the fediverse.
+
+Historically, the first software users, or let's say users of computational devices, were also their programmers, and the ones providing the tools and
+documentation for others to also contribute actively to the development and usage of these systems.
This model has been eroded throughout the decades to the situation where usership has became limited to questions of customisation and feedback on product development.
And even further with the model of usership as a source of revenue for a third party.
On the other hand, on the fedi users do not only engage in bug reporting, or help with the creation of the products’ culture, but also become actively engaged in scrutinizing the code, debating its effects and sometimes contributing code back.
+Extending this they use this tools to set up their own instances, write their own Codes of Conduct and come up with Terms of Services
They also setup instance, write CoC, come with ToS
At the same time, there is a different approach in some Fediverse software project where a move has been made from a situation where the ideal user is able to change the program to suit their needs to a situation where there is a discussion between programmers and non-programmers to understand what usership means and what should be good defaults for everyone.
-To be sure, these developments are neither new or unique to the Fediverse. For
-instance, the way service facilitators are supported on the Fediverse is very
-analogous to the way content creators on streaming platforms in gaming
-communities are supported by their audience. Calls for and the development of
-better governance of software projects have also been happening more generally
-in FLOSS communities.
-
-Likewise, many of the moderation and community management practices seen in the
-Fediverse have been informed by experiences on other platforms. Users have
-drawn inspiration from the successes and failures of others tools and systems
-and brought them over to the Fediverse. What is noteworthy is how increasingly
-the synthesis and coordination of all these practices become visible in the
-Fediverse. In turn, issues and approaches articulated in the Fediverse set a
+To be sure, these developments are neither new or unique to the Fediverse. For instance, the way service facilitators are supported on the Fediverse is very
+analogous to the way content creators on streaming platforms in gaming communities are supported by their audience. Calls for and the development of
+better governance of software projects have also been happening more generally in FLOSS communities.
+
+Likewise, many of the moderation and community management practices seen in the Fediverse have been informed by experiences on other platforms. Users have
+drawn inspiration from the successes and failures of others tools and systems and brought them over to the Fediverse. What is noteworthy is how increasingly
+the synthesis and coordination of all these practices become visible in the Fediverse. In turn, issues and approaches articulated in the Fediverse set a
precedent for other FLOSS projects, encouraging transformations and discussions
that were until now limited and difficult to initiate.
It is obviously not the case that the entirety of the Fediverse operates along
-these lines, as the space is shared between servers with diverse models of
+these lines, as the space is shared between servers with widely distinct models of
usership. These range from venture capital backed alt-right platforms, to
-Japanese image-board like systems, anarcho-communist collectives, political
-factions, safe spaces for sex workers, live coding algoravers, gardening
-forums, personal blogs and data self-hosting cooperatives. The developments
-described above do, however, hint at the fact that there are many different
-models of usership yet to be discovered and tried and that the Fediverse is a
+Japanese image-board like systems, anarcho-communist collectives, safe spaces for sex workers, live coding algoravers, gardening forums, personal blogs and data self-hosting cooperatives. The developments
+described above do, however, hint at the fact that there are many different models of usership yet to be discovered and tried and that the Fediverse is a
productive environment for these to be tried.
---
