SmaranNov 5, 2022

There seems to be a sentiment circulating that the move from Twitter to Mastodon will make it harder for scholars in the Global South to access academic resources and networks.

Wouldn’t an open source and decentralized service like Mastodon actually increase access? Why should our global public sphere be controlled by one capitalist in the global North? Unless the implication is that GS scholars lack tech literacy, which is patronizing at best.

#ethics #access #Mastodon #twittermigration

Show threadTorsten KathkeNov 6, 2022

@smaran I was wondering about that as well. I feel like a lot of this is the fear that there will be a disruption of communities who formed and function on Twitter. People also seem to be afraid Mastodon will be more hierarchical because smaller circles?

Maybe there's something to all that, or maybe these are simply fears and people can’t cope because all of this happened so fast?

Show threadSusanne GrussNov 6, 2022
@torstenkathke @smaran I was wondering about that as well. I can't really say anything about the position of academics from the global South, but it ties in with people complaining that M. is too complicated, I think. Which I found equally confusing, but then I only joined T. 3 yrs ago & remember vividly how complicated & confusing I found everythg.
Show threadTorsten KathkeNov 6, 2022
@susannegruss @smaran I had some insomniac thoughts about all of this last night and I don’t think it would be entirely wrong to consider it part of a grieving process? There’s certainly real issues here that need to be fixed, but maybe some of it is people resisting change because change is always hard, emotionally.
Show threadSusanne GrussNov 6, 2022
@torstenkathke @smaran Definitely! I found a real community on Twitter (and a number of tweeps kept me sane during lockdown w/ kids), and I don't want to lose any of them.
Show threadSmaran
@torstenkathke @susannegruss I think there might be a danger to Mastodon becoming too cliquey if we don’t figure out how discoverability could work more smoothly. Hashtags and these lists have been a really good start. And in a way, they’re more than I ever had as a graduate student joining Twitter. All we had back then was seeing the most popular and outrageous Academic Twitter posts that would get promoted by the algorithm. I sense this is fairer, but not sure!
Nov 6, 2022 at 6:21pmWeb
Show threadTorsten KathkeNov 6, 2022
@smaran @susannegruss I‘m heartened by the upcoming ability to follow hashtags. But we need more ideas to keep this open and accessible and interesting instead of repeats from your fifty-five best friends who have the same job 🤔
Show threadThanasis KiniasNov 6, 2022
@torstenkathke @smaran @susannegruss
Have you used the “advanced” multicolumn view in the Web interface? I’m just keeping a panel for the #histodons and #twitterstorians hashtags open all the time. (You can do boolean AND/OR/NOT on hashtags then.)
Show threadTorsten KathkeNov 7, 2022
@tkinias @smaran @susannegruss Sorry, that may have been confusing: I meant what else can we do to get outside of the bubble? What works well here is specifically looking for a few hashtags and searching for your friends, but there’s a certain serendipity that should come on top of that. I love the #histodons but I don’t want a feed that’s only them!