Mastodawn

The problem is not that the current #dotcons systems are broken, the problem is that they are working exactly as designed. Growing the #openweb – Notes for Burning Down the #dotcons (and building an #OMN) https://hamishcampbell.com/growing-the-openweb-notes-for-burning-down-the-dotcons-and-building-an-omn/

Growing the #openweb – Notes for Burning Down the #dotcons (and building an #OMN) – #OMN (Open Media Network)

#OMN (Open Media Network)5d ago

Growing the #openweb – Notes for Composting the #dotcons (and growing an #OMN)

Today there are a lot of dishonest people - it’s become the default. Finding someone who is actually truthful is rare. So with this in mind, let’s stop being polite about this, what we’re living inside online right now isn’t “social media.” It’s a managed enclosure - a system designed to extract value, shape behaviour, and concentrate power. It's what I have been saying for the last 20 years. Call it what it is - digital #feudalism - The Lords, the Serfs, and the Server. When […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/growing-the-openweb-notes-for-burning-down-the-dotcons-and-building-an-omn/

witchescauldron 5d ago

#NOAW @FediVariety think a good #KISS path out of this mess is to move social communications to the Fediverse. But I’m going to say something that sounds controversial, but isn’t: they should not primarily use any of the current codebases, as they are kind of kludges.

The proposal is that they fund the production of three new codebases based on commons publishing. Why three? Because funding this would cost cents on the euro compared to what they currently spend. Why three? Because likely two of them will mess up, so we need diversity.

Why not use existing codebases? Simply because they are copies of #dotcons or #NGOs. But what they have achieved is the standardisation of code, protocols, and culture, and for this, we should thank them.

As this is a federated network, people can still access and interact with it from these existing tools. So widening the native #openweb adds to their value as well.

https://hamishcampbell.com/thinking-of-workshops-to-run-at-nodes-on-a-web-noaw-unconference/

#OMN (Open Media Network)5d ago

A Note on “Security” for the #FOSS Crew

We need to have a clearer, more grounded conversation about “security” and what it actually means in the context of the #openweb. There is a long history of thinking in #FOSS spaces that security is something we can solve purely technically: better encryption, better protocols, better architectures. But in everyday life and practice, people need to work from a much simpler starting point - We do not trust client–server security. We only meaningfully trust what can be verified through […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/a-note-on-security-to-the-foss-crew/

#OMN (Open Media Network)6d ago

The Tech “Empiricism” Problem

(This post is being modified)

https://hamishcampbell.com/the-tech-empiricism-problem/

The Tech “Empiricism” Problem – #OMN (Open Media Network)

#OMN (Open Media Network)6d ago

Thinking of workshops to run at “Nodes On A Web” #NOAW unconference

Hamish Campbell is a long-time #openweb activist and technologist working on grassroots media and digital commons. He was involved in the early development of #Indymedia and continues this work through projects like the Open Media Network (#OMN), which works on how federated tools and community publishing supports public-interest media infrastructure. His focus is balancing building native platforms and on growing the social culture that makes the #openweb work: transparency, […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/thinking-of-workshops-to-run-at-nodes-on-a-web-noaw-unconference/

#OMN (Open Media Network)Mar 15

Individual fears

Individual fear scales into collective outcomes, when people act mainly from fear, they tend to choose control, isolation, and short-term protection, and those choices accumulate into worse social paths. It's useful to frame this as the dynamic between fear/control and trust/open in #openweb thinking. So the practical question becomes - how do we reduce fear enough that people act more cooperatively? We can try some grounded ways to make this to work. Build Real Social Support Fear grows […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/individual-fears/

#OMN (Open Media Network)Mar 15

A Note to #FOSS Maintainers and Funders: The Problem With #Mainstreaming

There is a point that often gets misunderstood in conversations about the future of the #openweb and #FOSS that #mainstreaming itself is not inherently good or bad. What matters is who is influencing whom. We can think of it in two very different directions. Good #mainstreaming is when the values of the #openweb move outward into the wider world: Transparency, decentralization, cooperation, shared infrastructure and community governance. In this case, mainstream society learns from the […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/a-note-to-foss-maintainers-and-funders-the-problem-with-mainstreaming/

#OMN (Open Media Network)Mar 14

Why It’s Difficult to Build the #OMN – and What We Can Do About It

One of the biggest barriers to building projects like the #OMN (Open Media Network) is not technical - it is structural - how resources are distributed in our society. Under capitalism, the driving force behind what gets built and what counts as “innovation” is profit. Investment flows toward projects that promise financial returns. Venture capital, grants, and corporate funding all operate under this logic: if a project can generate profit, scale, or market dominance, it is considered […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/why-its-difficult-to-build-the-omn-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/

#OMN (Open Media Network)Mar 13

A bit of #OMN history and where the current paths come from

For a long time the focus has been on solving two linked problems - both of which are actually #nothingnew. The first is grassroots publishing and organising. The second is network coordination between communities. Neither of these problems started with the internet, and they certainly didn’t start with Silicon Valley. Projects like #Indymedia and community organising networks solved these problems culturally long before modern platforms existed. They worked through shared practice, trust […]

https://hamishcampbell.com/a-bit-of-omn-history-and-where-the-current-paths-come-from/