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8 posts total
Robert W. Gehl

It's happening! My book about Mastodon and the fediverse is now entering the production phase!

My editor at Oxford is asking what sort of cover image I would like. Any suggestions? Boosts appreciated!

More about the book here:

fossacademic.tech/2024/02/11/M

#fediverse #mastodon #bookstodon

Robert W. Gehl

@rra and I have a new, #OpenAccess article out: "Shifting your research from X to Mastodon? Here's what you need to know"

cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2

This article is an opinion piece in which we argue that social scientists cannot simply port their work from X to #Mastodon or the rest of the #fediverse. There are key differences in culture, expectations of privacy, and of course topology to consider.

@commodon @academicchatter

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soaproot

@rwg @rra @commodon @academicchatter Oh oh, this is about people who study social networks, not merely those who use social networks to do/publicize research on other topics. Interesting stuff and definitely makes me think that the moment when Twitter was especially easy to study was an unusual time, without super close analogues before or since.

Leigh Silvester

@rwg @rra @commodon @academicchatter

Presumably this is it in webpage format....
cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S26

Very thorough and insightful. A lot of #journalists could do with reading this.

The lack of privacy is not an issue because almost no information is retained. No phone number, date of birth, address etc which you do mention.

Worth noting that researchers might find communities that they are unlikely to come across elsewhere. Gaining trust with them might be a challenge.

@rwg @rra @commodon @academicchatter

Presumably this is it in webpage format....
cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S26

Very thorough and insightful. A lot of #journalists could do with reading this.

The lack of privacy is not an issue because almost no information is retained. No phone number, date of birth, address etc which you do mention.

Robert W. Gehl

Here's a totally wonky, ultranerdy piece of evidence for folks who want to argue that #Meta doesn't operate in good faith. It's based on a chapter of my book about the Dark Web (mitpress.mit.edu/9780262038263).

A thread... 🧵

Robert W. Gehl

So, back in 2015, there were multiple groups creating encrypted, anonymizing networks (many of which are still in operation today): #I2P, #Tor, #GNU, #Namecoin.

They went to the #IETF to standardize how browsers would handle their special top-level domains.

(I warned you this was nerdy).

The idea here was that if a user typed domain.i2p or domain.onion into a browser, the browser would leak that request to search engines or DNS servers.

2/🧵

Robert W. Gehl

Latest #FOSSAcademic blog post: on #ActivityPub, the Non-Standard Standard.

fossacademic.tech/2023/10/15/A

This is based on a presentation I'll be giving at #AoIR2023. It discusses 4 key ways ActivityPub is not a standard standard.

Comments welcome! You can comment on it by (publicly) responding to this Mastodon post.

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Karl Auerbach

@rwg Have you seen RFC 1055? It is expressly a "nonstandard".

A NONSTANDARD FOR TRANSMISSION OF IP DATAGRAMS OVER SERIAL LINES: SLIP

datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/

Jamie Clark

This is a useful and important critique of the #standards process, as applied to #ActivityPub and its precursors. A bit overly bleak, and a bit one-off, as if there are no similar stories like this within established standards. Personally, I take it as a beacon of light that there are successes that •don't• require intervention from large corporate sponsors or celebrity consortium figureheads.
For professional standards moderators like me, this is good discussion and feedback. Expect more.
I'm going to read the whole paper, and think a bit more, before commenting further. HT @rwg @evan

This is a useful and important critique of the #standards process, as applied to #ActivityPub and its precursors. A bit overly bleak, and a bit one-off, as if there are no similar stories like this within established standards. Personally, I take it as a beacon of light that there are successes that •don't• require intervention from large corporate sponsors or celebrity consortium figureheads.
For professional standards moderators like me, this is good discussion and feedback. Expect more.
I'm going...

volkris

@rwg this is really interesting, and I hope you’re taking an objective, historical approach to the work.

You know, this is what happened, and it’s an interesting tale of human dynamics, conflicting interests, maybe some game theory, and it can teach lessons for other projects.

I wouldn’t want the work to veer into assuming the outcome was better or worse than counterfactuals. There are serious criticisms of AP, and the link touched on some issues with outcomes.

So rather than praising or criticizing, it strikes me that this is important for the lessons it can teach regardless of how it worked out.

@rwg this is really interesting, and I hope you’re taking an objective, historical approach to the work.

You know, this is what happened, and it’s an interesting tale of human dynamics, conflicting interests, maybe some game theory, and it can teach lessons for other projects.

I wouldn’t want the work to veer into assuming the outcome was better or worse than counterfactuals. There are serious criticisms of AP, and the link touched on some issues with outcomes.

Robert W. Gehl

I just got done talking to @darius for my book project. We talked about the past, present, and future of the fediverse. I think it's fair to say Darius came to the fediverse for the fun, stayed for the enjoyment, and is looking forward to the weirdness!

Robert W. Gehl

On #FOSSAcademic: an #AlternativeSocialMedia update about content moderation and @Are0h's Fediverse Safety Enhancement Project:

fossacademic.tech/2023/08/12/A

Plus, a quick note to say the #AoIR2023 preconference focusing on alternative social media is a GO!

[Replies to this post will appear as comments on my blog unless you set privacy to followers-only or DM. Content warnings will work.]

Robert W. Gehl

I just contributed to an important GoFundMe: to support the work of @Are0h.

He's involved in new content moderation services, such as the Bad Space and The Federation Safety Enhancement Project (nivenly.org/docs/papers/fsep/).

I can say, as a fedi admin, these projects are making the fediverse a better place.

His GoFundMe is here: gofundme.com/f/a-new-way-to-so

Robert W. Gehl

Heck, The Star should, too.

The @TexasObserver has shown news orgs the power of running their own instances.

Robert W. Gehl

This builds on an argument @fenwick and I made here:

theconversation.com/canadas-pu

But is a bit more modest. While Fen and I argue the CBC could run a social media service for all Canadians, my Toronto Star op-ed merely argues the CBC could run an instance for its own reporters.

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