Helen CzerskiUniversity College London shoutout! UCL is unwilling to set up a Mastodon account now, but they say that if there's lots of UCL presence here already it will nudge them in this direction. If you're at UCL or know someone who is, and you're on here, please reply to this to let us know! Current chief plotters: @sellathechemist , me and maybe more)
Sergio Graziosi - has moved@helenczerski @sellathechemist
I'm here! Just one, but I am still here, and would love to see a UCL Mastodon instance. I guess an official UCL Mastodon account would be a start...
But an instance that anyone associated with UCL (Students, Staff, Alummni) could use would be transformative to both the making and communication of scienctific/academic works.
All unis should have their own, TBH, the size of UCL means it can set the example for the UK.
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
Also: I see many ppl here don't agree with me about an UCL instance, so I'll try to find the time to explain why I wish it will happen...
Also: I see many ppl here don't agree with me about an UCL instance, so I'll try to find the time to explain why I wish it will happen...
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
Why do I think that UCL should have its own Mastodon instance, open to anyone connected to UCL (students, staff, alumni)?
Stems from my 10+ years on the Birdsite. I soon stopped counting the number of positive interactions I had, which collectively expanded my interests, allowed me to keep in touch with academic topics I would have otherwise neglected; I found tons of potential collaborators, and so on.
In short, it has been academically extremely useful.
1/7
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
When SpaceKaren bought the Birdsite, all of that quickly dried up (along with lots of other good things I got through it).
What I've learned is that:
1. For academics, young and old, aspiring and established, what they could get from the Birdsite was priceless.
2. It's not possible to trust ANY privately owned / for profit corporation to sustainably provide the value of 1.
2/7
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
I moved to Mastodon, and found that the BIGGEST reason for people not to do the same is the complications due to the need to finding/choosing an instance, get an account there, and only to discover afterwards the consequences of the choice made.
I can also see that the federation idea could mean we might get the value mentioned above in a reliable (within limits) way. Simply because no single entity could have the power to obliterate it in a few months.
3/7
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
In all seriousness, we could get ALL* of the academic value that the Birdsite used to deliver, and it's not difficult to see how.
All it takes is for Universities to provide access to their own Mastodon instance to students, staff, alumni. As normal - the same way we all get email addresses.
Would it be perfect? Of course not, nothing is. Unis will need to do some moderation, which is tricky and bad mistakes WILL be made.
4/7
*yes, in here, we do get some of it
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
But would it be better than now?
I believe it would be. All academic chit chat could automatically happen on the fediverse because the core people would automatically have access to ti (cfr. the "biggest" problem I found) and would be easily discoverable, and in a very concrete manner "verified". Opening the channel towards media people and public engagement.
TBH, I think it would be significantly better than how it was on the Birdsite.
5/7
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
How do we reach this "ideal outcome"? It's not difficult - critical mass needs to be built. And critical mass CAN be built by a big University.
Should UCL instantiate their own instance and make it very obvious for students, staff (and alumni?) to start using it - ta-dah - a considerable proportion of the critical mass will materialise.
Get just a handful of similarly sized unis to do the same, and very soon, all others will need to follow.
6/7
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
And that's that. Universities will be getting a whole lot of value in terms of the academic growth of their students, staff, alumni.
They would also have a discoverable and trustworthy channel for media comms - and unlike ALL OTHER social media channels that unis engage with (for the same reasons) they will know this channel is sustainable in the long term - because they would control it.
Should be a no-brainer, or at least it appears so to me.
(End)
7/7
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
PS However, yeah. I know it won't happen, because moderation. Universities don't want to touch that particular hot potato. They could, but don't want to - it's both understandable and hopelessly short-sighted, in my opinion.
8/7(!?)
@GraziosiSergio @sellathechemist I don't think they need to run their own instance, except for "official" accounts. The whole point of academia is that we're the only people paid to speak our minds without any outside influence, and the vision of a university whose employees can only speak through a corporate vehicle isn't a good one. I just want them to have accounts here, and to support people in finding them and each other.
@helenczerski @sellathechemist
"I just want them to have accounts here, and to support people in finding them and each other."
Strong agree, would be good.
"the vision of a university whose employees can only speak through a corporate vehicle isn't a good one"
Agreed. But why having an account available means one can only speak through it?
Never mind, it doesn't matter, as it will not happen - there are zero chances that what I've described will be implemented.
Apologies for the diversion!
SellaTheChemist@GraziosiSergio @helenczerski The moderation point is interesting and it is exactly the reason why a very senior person slapped me down about using Mastodon originally.
But we've recently sent our gatekeepers the report from the @BBCRD about their cautious Mastodon experiment in which they report that they have had far fewer problems with misbehaviour than on other platforms, esp in relation to size. https://mastodon.social/deck/@BBC_News[email protected]
But we've recently sent our gatekeepers the report from the @BBCRD about their cautious Mastodon experiment in which they report that they have had far fewer problems with misbehaviour than on other platforms, esp in relation to size. https://mastodon.social/deck/@BBC_News[email protected]