Mastodawn

kalindim Jul 13, 2023

The Dutch government is now running their own Mastodon server

In translation, it talks about "value-driven alternatives to social media"

The message I'd like to see governments adopt is a little different: "digital communications is a critical part of civil communication and the government should not be running on corporate platforms"

https://social.overheid.nl/@avhuffelen/110700825255524685

Alexandra van Huffelen (@[email protected])

Bijlagen: 1 afbeelding Vandaag lanceren wij onze overheidsserver op Mastodon. In de brief die ik aan de Kamer heb gestuurd over 'Digitale gemeenschapsgoederen' op 22 juni, heb ik aangegeven dat ik twee waardengedreven alternatieven voor social media ondersteun. Een van deze alternatieven is een 'eigen' Mastodon-server die door overheidsorganisaties gebruikt worden. Hiermee zetten we weer een stap in onze Werkagenda Waardengedreven Digitaliseren. Algemene informatie over ons ministerie: @minbzk

Mastodon

xs4me2 Jul 13, 2023

Indeed, it is so obvious. There is no reason or rationale why this should be governed by commercial enterprise.

Jeff Turner ⛵Jul 13, 2023

Wouldn't it be great if there was also a Mastodon instance for All Media / Journalists. A trusted source for news. #newsmedia

xs4me2 Jul 13, 2023

@jetsoft @boris

Yes indeed, it should be the default.

Boris Mann Jul 13, 2023

@jetsoft @xs4me2 not really needed in this federated model!

News orgs can verify their journalists by creating links on their web pages that point to their Mastodon profiles.

Also means the journalists aren’t tied only to a company account.

I’ve got some check marks in my profile for my personal site and for #CoSocialCa as examples

Jeff Turner ⛵Jul 15, 2023

@boris @xs4me2
See your point. I guess the question is how do we encourage these organisations to start using something new.

Is I was a journalist I would want to keep my personal and work profiles seperate.

But everyone is different and I suppose it depends a bit on who you work for.

Arthur Jul 13, 2023

@boris @siracusa after the first exodus from Twitter, concerns were shared by citizens to the Dutch House of Representatives about most government accounts still being on Twitter.

The Dutch government has a long-stand “open source first” policy, so it didn’t make sense they wouldn’t be on the Fediverse.

Onboarding by citizens is still a concern, but the access to information is now open and free.

donkey Jul 13, 2023

@boris @chartier Trying to get this to happen in NZ as well. Reminds me I need to rattle some cages.

Laurens 🐐Jul 13, 2023

@boris I work for a Dutch government agency and I have posted a message about the launch of 'our' Mastodon server on our intranet.

I mentioned something similar to what you've posted in that message. We shouldn't rely on corporate platforms to provide us with means of civil communication, however convenient to use they are. Their owners are too much of a liability.

Social media should always be secondary to official websites, although a Mastodon server lies somewhere in between.

Boris Mann Jul 13, 2023

@ElBeeToots yeah I think it’s best thought of as an official website.

The in between step is to verify a Mastodon profile with a rel=me link on the government website, without running a whole server.

Buffer and other social media management tools do support Mastodon posting so this wouldn’t be hard for the government communications staff to use.

Or automate posting from RSS etc

Duncan Lock Jul 13, 2023

Especially in light of this: https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/bc-government-hit-tweet-limit-amid-wildfire-evacuations-7268169

What can casocial do to help in BC?

B.C. government hit tweet limit amid wildfire evacuations

DriveBC's Twitter account maxed out sharing crucial road condition information during a weekend of wildfire evacuations. Experts say it spells the end of social media as a reliable platform during an emergency.

Vancouver Is Awesome

Boris Mann Jul 13, 2023

@duncanlock great question! We talked earlier this week at the core meeting about hosting a #CoSocialCa info session mostly for news orgs to start.

But! We should:

a) put a form on the website offering to consult / support with organizations like DriveBC

b) help gather resources for civil society on best practices for using open social protocols

@duncanlock so you have time / interest to help with this?

Duncan Lock Jul 14, 2023

@boris
I definitely have the interest, but sadly not the time, for the next three weeks - am in the middle of a big move 😔

Boris Mann Jul 14, 2023

@duncanlock all good. It’s a long game. I think we can assist here and you can jump in later when you’ve got some time.

Duncan Lock Jul 15, 2023

@boris
Came across this thread, which is relevant: https://ourempty.pub/@sikkdays/110713464787179973

Commodore Sixty Bore (@[email protected])

Are there case studies on any companies, unions, or organizations with their own #Mastodon instance? I really want to pitch this idea to a professional association. So I am looking for examples.

Our Empty Pub

Henk van der Schuur Jul 13, 2023

@boris Yes. But to be very precise, the translation would be ‘values-driven’ (so strictly speaking, theoretically, your different message could be one of these values)

Boris Mann Jul 13, 2023

@hwschuur nice! Thanks for the clarification.

Peter Atwood Jul 13, 2023

@boris I worked for a while doing comms for Canada’s dept. of foreign affairs, where we regularly had to adapt and adopt tools as SM companies tweeked and changed their policies and APIs. This was well before the current Twitter and Reddit API fiascos. It seemed absurd to be so beholden.

Boris Mann Jul 13, 2023

@patwood yep. Not a lot of thoughtfulness or strategy, just “everybody else is doing it”

It is good to understand where people are “congregating” — but that has to go alongside of coming back to verified data to normalize sources, rather than the ground morass of misinformation we find ourselves in

Digital comms strategy matters. Let’s demand our institutions get better at it.

Stefan Monnier Jul 14, 2023

@boris
While I feel similarly, we shouldn't "spit in the soup"!

Boris Mann Jul 14, 2023

@monnier yep! Shared in the spirit of using it when approaching other organizations!

De Civiele Autoriteiten Jul 15, 2023

@boris daar zijn de autoriteiten het geheel mee eens.

De DG heeft ons een missive gestuurd dat kranten nu verboden corporate platformen zijn.