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 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/

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/

The Tech “Empiricism” Problem

A recent essay on deadSimpleTech makes a point the #openweb community should hear: the biggest problem in technology is not only the tools, it’s also the culture behind them. For years the tech world has operated under a form of “tech empiricism”: the belief that if something produces results quickly, then it must be working well. In this mindset, success is measured by novelty, speed of production, and the ability to create something new. The heroes of this culture are disruptors and […]

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

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/

The #OMN represents a small but practical step to build something different, not a platform empire, or another startup. Why It’s Difficult – and What We Can Do About It https://hamishcampbell.com/why-its-difficult-to-build-the-omn-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/

The projects start from a social understanding: technology alone doesn’t create networks. Culture, trust, and shared practice do. A bit of #OMN history and where the current paths come from https://hamishcampbell.com/a-bit-of-omn-history-and-where-the-current-paths-come-from/

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/

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/

We can use a lot of the mess of the last 20 years to learn from, the composting metaphor. A bit of #OMN history and where the current paths come from https://hamishcampbell.com/a-bit-of-omn-history-and-where-the-current-paths-come-from/