Tom DeeNov 8, 2022

I just asked my communications and IT colleagues at #Stanford to consider hosting a #Mastodon server for our University community (as MIT has already done: mastodon.mit.edu).

Such institutional sponsorships (e.g., higher ed, academic associations, etc.) seem like a compelling & sustainable equilibrium for the #TwitterMigration. I also think organizations that do so would benefit in several ways without meaningful new risks.
#OpenSource #fediverse #Twitter #EconTwitter #Economics

Show threadDaphne

@tdee I love the idea of schools serving as sites. I would be curious (not skeptical, just curious) as to how you would state the case that there are no meaningful new risks.

What type of federation would you expect with the larger universe of ActivityPub instances? Who moderates the school's instance and makes the federation decisions?

Nov 8, 2022 at 3:45pmWeb
Show threadokanogen VerminEnemyFromWithinNov 8, 2022
@daphne @tdee
I imagine they would set it up similarly to college radio or newspaper.
Show threadDaphneNov 8, 2022

@Okanogen @tdee But in neither of those cases would the school be storing and/or serving content and metadata from people in alternate legal regimes with the potential to include illegal or otherwise objectionable (subject to taste) content...

One can make the case that making a real and effective effort at moderation and defederation when needed should be a sufficient shield, but IANAL. It certainly doesn't seem as straightforward as a college radio station to me, though.

Show threadAndy McGuire 🐕Nov 9, 2022
@daphne @Okanogen @tdee
Set to unlisted -
Can you update this thread with the outcome, I would be quite interested to know what happens. I do think organisations around the world have sat up and taken notice of what has happened in the last few weeks. And obviously recognised the benefit that being present on a decentralised platform has over a commercial platform where someone can change the rules on a whim.
Show threadTom DeeNov 9, 2022

@asjmcguire @daphne @Okanogen Thanks for asking. I learned the University was already monitoring these developments very closely (both here and on the bird site). I don't think any move is imminent but they clearly want to support the visibility of the faculty & the University and are waiting to see where we "land."

This is credible & sensible to me; I'm consistently impressed by the staff & support here. They will move quickly & well if #twittermigration develops as I hope it does.

Show threadAndy McGuire 🐕Nov 9, 2022
@tdee @daphne @Okanogen I personally feel that the damage has been done now. Even if he quit the bird site tomorrow - everyone is now painfully aware that the platforms we took for granted for so long, could simply get bought tomorrow.
Show threadDaphneNov 9, 2022
@asjmcguire @tdee @Okanogen to It would be a leadership move to get involved on principle. If unis be inclined to be followers now, and wait for critical masses, then ok, but it's a bit ahistorical. Who was hosting the early internet? They didn't do that because it had really caught on/gained traction with the general public. They did it because it solved current problems. This is progress and a can be a solution to current problems, too. It's open source, so room to really contribute. My 2c.
Show threadTom DeeNov 8, 2022
@daphne Those are reasonable questions. My general optimism on institutional risk centers on the fact that we already navigate issues around free speech on a regular basis (in classrooms, Slack channels, publications of all sorts) as well as around how community members are prominently engaged in the world.
Show threadDaphneNov 8, 2022
@tdee OK. Thanks for your response! I see the difference with a federated server in that the server would host and serve data from the other federated servers. I suppose one could make the case that students browsing the web are also bringing external content into school systems, though the manner in which a portion of federated (external) content is displayed under the home domain seems like a potentially relevant distinction.