StrypeyJul 12, 2018

More disturbingly bad pop psychology misdiagnosis of the "social media" problem ...

> "The mainstream social internet is so big; everyone is connected to everyone, over a billion on Facebook alone. The consequences of connection — fake news, radicalization, massive targeted harassment campaigns, algorithmically-generated psychological torment, inane bullshit — were not part of what we were sold."
https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/28/16795090/internet-community-2017-post-mortem-tumblr-amino-drip-tinyletter

The year we wanted the internet to be smaller

Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017

Show threadStrypeyJul 12, 2018
I agree all these things are bad, but they're not new, and they're definitely not "consequences of connection", but the consequences of corporate-owned media, ad-based revenue model, and political bitterness caused by rising inequality. We migrated to the net in the 90s because the same perfect storm had hopelessly warped TV, and we naively thought the net might be different.
Show threadStrypeyJul 12, 2018
All the pearl-clutching and hand-wringing over weird YT kids videos makes we wonder if any of these people ever saw kids TV? I well remember the terrifyingly weird psy-op tactics advertisers used to prime kids to use "pester power", both in the "programs" themselves (remember Transformers and Masters of the Universe toys and their "TV shows") as well as in the ad breaks between them.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJul 12, 2018

@strypey this was certainly a big thing in the Anglosphere from 1970s onwards (especially for toy adverts and junk food), though regulators in some Northern European countries were a bit stricter about this.

UK clamped down on junk food ads about 12 years ago, causing commercial ITV to stop making kids TV altogether as they'd become dependent on the ad funding, leaving the state broadcaster BBC the main commissioner of this and the sweets companies shifting to online..

Show threadStrypeyJul 12, 2018
@vfrmedia ae, and thus all those advertisers moved where the eyeballs moved, just as they did from newspapers to TV, and now they're putting their creepy propaganda on YT. The solution isn't to demonize the net and go back to TV (the conservative solution), but to have cooperatives of parents setting up narrowly-federated #PeerTube instances, so they can collectively control content and explore alternative forms of funding it.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJul 12, 2018
@strypey I don't think going back to TV is even feasible as European public service broadcasters are struggling to fund production these days for kids and youth TV, but using Peertubewould be much better than the current situation of streaming (I don't even think sweets are that bad if kids are able to play outdoors, ride bikes and get other exercise, I'm more concerned over teen/young adult youtube "stars" being sponsored to encourage consumerism amongst pre-teens and teenagers..)
Show threadFalkreon 🏳️‍🌈Jul 13, 2018
@vfrmedia @strypey
Strypey, I think you've invented Public Broadcasting. And that sounds right. While we can debate the technical merits and limitations of Peertube... that we need some kind of public broadcasting network for streaming sounds absolutely right.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJul 13, 2018

@falkreon @strypey

possibly a minor difference in terminology but maybe public access broadcasting is a better comparison?

In European countries, public (service) broadcasting often means incumbent state broadcasters like the BBC, ARD/ZDF (DE), NPO (NL), SVT (SE) etc, all of which have heavily invested in their own (walled garden) streaming networks, and/or also smaller channels such as those run by faith groups.

What is being proposed here appears to be something more independent than this?

Show threadStrypeyJul 14, 2018
@vfrmedia @falkreon I've done some work in my home country on getting public service broadcasting to use #FreeCode software and #CommonStandards, and getting publicly funded content shared under #CC licenses. Success here requires the decision-makers to hear it asked by people other than #FreeCulture geeks, so educating people who support public broadcasting about these issues, and why the commons paradigm makes sense here, is crucial.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@strypey @falkreon I've seen similar things crop up from time to time via the EBU (they still send me their tech magazine due to my work with a community radio station in recent years), and a trend amongst for least some content of North European public broadcasters to be shared more widely

(even the BBC is doing this more often in recent times, such as the release of a load of 1980s tech related content to the public domain)

Jul 14, 2018 at 6:08pmWeb