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Björn Brembs

YES!
This is precisely what every university (and scholarly society!!) should be doing: have their own instance and drop X like a hot potato:

"an instance has been created [... ] on university servers, which is open to the university's organizational units. The active use of X will be significantly reduced."

uibk.ac.at/en/newsroom/2023/un

We detail all the arguments about precisely why that must happen here:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi

21 Nov 2023 at 13:31 | Open on mastodon.social
48 comments
fragglesock

@brembs If Mastodon wasn't so painful to use, it would have already won.

21 Nov 2023 at 14:12 | Open on mastodon.social
Björn Brembs

@fragglesock

Don't know what you're talking about. For me it's almost identical to when I used Twitter pre-.Musk, just better because I can edit my posts and follow hashtags. I probably use it differently. What specifically are you missing?

21 Nov 2023 at 14:20 | Open on mastodon.social
caos

@brembs @fragglesock You are not locked up on #Mastodon. If you don't like it, there are many alternatives in the #Fediverse that you may use instead.

21 Nov 2023 at 15:56 | Open on metalhead.club
fragglesock
Phil Rees

@brembs It even has troll accounts with default profile pics, zero follows and zero followers, just like classic Twitter.

21 Nov 2023 at 16:53 | Open on mastodon.social
FinchHaven

@fragglesock

Joined: Nov 08, 2023

3 Posts 0 Following 0 Followers

Oh!

Look!

The brand new "Mastodon is tooo harddd!!!" troll has joined the chat

cc @brembs

21 Nov 2023 at 16:06 | Open on sfba.social
fragglesock

Attention, twat:
I've been using and creating social sites since 1994.
Mastodon is not hard, it's annoying.
Much like yourself.

@FinchHaven @brembs

21 Nov 2023 at 16:43 | Open on mastodon.social
FinchHaven

@fragglesock

Hey, dude!

Thanks for breaking cover

You're gone

Byes!!!

21 Nov 2023 at 16:45 | Open on sfba.social
Bowreality
GEM is truly truly outrageous

@fragglesock @brembs maybe you should kill the capitalist in your head

not everything has to be about "winning"

21 Nov 2023 at 21:12 | Open on oldbytes.space
Sbectol :twt:

@brembs on this: I have long said that researchers need to think very hard about the implications of using their employer's mastodon (or other fediverse) instance/server for social media.

It obv depends how one is using it; however there are serious data issues about individuals giving it voluntarily to employers. Ideally ppl should talk it through with their labour union first.

21 Nov 2023 at 15:04 | Open on toot.wales
Florian Weber

@Sbectol @brembs What’s the issue you’re hinting at? Analogous to how you’re holding presentations and giving seminars in the physical space of your employer (on campus), it would make sense to also communicate and present via your employers digital infrastructure (their ActivityPub servers), no?

21 Nov 2023 at 15:45 | Open on chaos.social
Björn Brembs

@fnwbr @Sbectol
Was wondering the same thing? What should we pay attention to if we, e.g., use university email?

21 Nov 2023 at 15:52 | Open on mastodon.social
Sbectol :twt:

@brembs @fnwbr I think we need to think about *how* one is using social media.

On mastodon, everything including direct messages are available to the admin of the instance, there is no privacy. Which may mean one uses it differently to the way one might have used twitter, especially if the instance is owned by an employer.

21 Nov 2023 at 15:59 | Open on toot.wales
Björn Brembs

@Sbectol @fnwbr

Fair enough. Technically, this is not all too different from Email.

I always tell my daughter (13) that anything she would not be comfortable shouting on a town square, she should not be posting. 😇

21 Nov 2023 at 16:03 | Open on mastodon.social
Sbectol :twt:

@brembs @fnwbr personally I would only use university/employers mastodon instances for “broadcasting” science

There is too much risk, in my opinion, associated with using it for any personal interaction.

Of course, one of the good things about the Fediverse is the ability to have multiple accounts for different purposes.

21 Nov 2023 at 16:09 | Open on toot.wales
Sbectol :twt:

@brembs @fnwbr there are also important differences to university email servers in the way the service works.

For one thing there’s the whole technical issue of *how* and *who* your employers instance federates with. It’s an open system, which email isn’t.

Then there’s the whole issue of *how* your instance is moderated and how it deals with for example bullying within your uni and with external people.

21 Nov 2023 at 16:05 | Open on toot.wales
Björn Brembs

@Sbectol @fnwbr

Ah, yes, interesting aspect I hadn't thought of. This may be very different between universities, depending on how much faculty would be involved in such decisions.

I see interesting "Mastodon comittee" meetings coming up 😆

21 Nov 2023 at 16:09 | Open on mastodon.social
Sbectol :twt:

@brembs @fnwbr in essence the fediverse means taking on the admin responsibilities we once we happy for twitter to do (for example with respect of security and safety). A question researchers need to think about is whether the university is really capable of doing that.

For me that’s several levels higher than for email. Hence one needs to think it through carefully, ideally with the labour union.

21 Nov 2023 at 16:15 | Open on toot.wales
Björn Brembs

@Sbectol @fnwbr

It seems to me you have a point there. More reasons to have a "Mastodon committee". Tying in @leonido here who may enlighten us how his university is handling these issues?

21 Nov 2023 at 16:18 | Open on mastodon.social
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@brembs @Sbectol @fnwbr @leonido

if the instance is also open to use by undergraduate students, at least in UK a portion of them could well be minors (its not that uncommon for an intelligent pupil to move up a school year and thus complete their A-levels and go up to University at age 17) - which would also create further safeguarding requirements..

21 Nov 2023 at 16:45 | Open on social.tchncs.de
Sbectol :twt:

@vfrmedia there are lots of resources available about running a mastodon/fediverse instance. There’s not a lot I’ve seen specifically about the issues with a large (or fairly large) one run by a university.

@brembs @fnwbr @leonido

21 Nov 2023 at 16:53 | Open on toot.wales
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@Sbectol

I've seen a few uni instances on Mastodon since 2017, mostly from Northern European countries; but many seem to be mostly only used by academics and/or as a PR/marketing vehicle for the University (not that its a bad thing, they often toot some interesting stuff)

@brembs @fnwbr @leonido

21 Nov 2023 at 16:58 | Open on social.tchncs.de
Sbectol :twt: replied to Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@vfrmedia for sure I’ve no issues with that either.

I think the issues are more concentrated when researchers are encouraged to join and use the instance (so it becomes much wider than the uni marketing itself)

@brembs @fnwbr @leonido

21 Nov 2023 at 16:59 | Open on toot.wales
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK replied to Sbectol

@Sbectol @brembs @fnwbr @leonido

The Netherlands already has a Mastodon instance for Universities to use (including students), the way this is run seems to be a good way to start..

social.edu.nl/about

21 Nov 2023 at 17:02 | Open on social.tchncs.de
Knut Morå

@Sbectol @brembs @fnwbr To emphasize this, my experience is that universities are racing to offload the responsibility to host their own email servers also, I would be very happy to see this trend reversed

21 Nov 2023 at 18:47 | Open on snabelen.no
Simon Hobeck

@brembs totally agree. I'd love for my local universities to have their own instances, even if it started just as a handful using it for marketing (like many do with Twitter).

21 Nov 2023 at 15:34 | Open on indieweb.social
Easelbitch™️ :verified: 🕉️
Björn Brembs

The person I should've tagged in this post is, of course, @leonido !

My bad!

21 Nov 2023 at 16:12 | Open on mastodon.social
Leonido

@brembs thanks! (Actually, I am very proud of my university for getting their own instance up and running, with special thanks to @melaniebartos!)

21 Nov 2023 at 16:15 | Open on chaos.social
Björn Brembs

@leonido @melaniebartos

I want to get the same for my university! How did you do that? I ask as someone at a university where the director of the computing center doesn't see the need for pull-mirroring between their GitLab instance and GitHub 🤦‍♂️

21 Nov 2023 at 16:16 | Open on mastodon.social
melaniebartos

@brembs I'm always happy to share what we've learned here and open to any suggestions. Please feel free to reach out anytime!

21 Nov 2023 at 20:02 | Open on chaos.social
Jeremy Forest
murks

@brembs I wondered whether my uni even has a Twitter account.
Turns out it has, there is a link on the homepage.
Looks a bit hacked though^^

21 Nov 2023 at 16:29 | Open on social.tchncs.de
Maikel 🇪🇺

@brembs govs should be using it too.

Not only using it but promoting it

21 Nov 2023 at 17:18 | Open on vmst.io
OddOpinions5

@brembs

still amazed at how many "public intellectuals" the sort you see in @delong 's feed have not only not left, but haven't even articulated a defense for staying

People: why are you still there ???
@benioff @jayrosen_nyu @BerkeleyHaas
@umalmend
@binarybits

21 Nov 2023 at 17:27 | Open on mas.to
Chad Geidel

@brembs I also wish other large companies would do this as well! Why bother with verification nonsense if the instance is company-only?!

21 Nov 2023 at 18:33 | Open on mastodon.cloud
TheDinolass 🦖

@brembs Never thought I'd see my alma mater do something like this but I am pleasantly surprised! :D

21 Nov 2023 at 19:49 | Open on mastodon.social
Domino Joyce

@brembs I just tweeted this at our VC 🫣

21 Nov 2023 at 19:59 | Open on ecoevo.social
F4GRX Sébastien

@brembs OMG, first time I see "organizational unit" written outside a LDAP tutorial!

21 Nov 2023 at 21:09 | Open on chaos.social
jfml ✨ Jonas Laugs
MylesRyden

@brembs
Every organization that values its reputation should be doing this.

The people who need the information from the organization will follow to wherever that information is.

21 Nov 2023 at 23:57 | Open on social.vivaldi.net
TCatLikesReality

@brembs
Yes! And media companies too

Why the NYTimes, WaPo and a few other companies don't launch a shared news server amazes me. What better way to control their content and prevent imposters.

22 Nov 2023 at 0:22 | Open on mastodon.social
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