OK, this is significant, I think. Humanities Commons now has a Mastodon instance, at https://hcommons.social/about

There are lots of groups of scholars creating their own instances. Could it be one of the first steps towards public/non-profit institutions taking back control of another part of the scholarly communications chain? I hope so.

( Paging @mpe )

For #commodon (communication and media studies researchers) getting started here on Mastodon, I made a partial list of scholars I've found on here. Feel free to suggest additions!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vFWP_eBXrjeDqDkmT6PEbxnsZ_QFC4OgEgUHTrJWhhQ/edit?usp=sharing

#smallstories

Tonight I returned for a visit to the area I grew up, after my longest ever absence. It's a place I always missed if I'd been gone even a few days, aching for the landscape and trees. Tonight, I noticed small things that had changed - a new section of kerb and gutter, a blooming housing development, repainted road markings.

Tonight, it felt different. I no longer live here, and I don't feel the connection I've always felt. Now it doesn't feel like home.

Picked up a Norwegian hitchhiker, she came home with us for a shower and to charge her phone before travelling on.

She sat on the deck with us and ate breakfast. Neither of my daughters recognised the hand gesture for hitchhiking, it was like she was teaching them Esperanto.

As I drove her to her next corner she told me her story and I told her mine.

We all miss the grace of hitchhiking in our culture.

#smallstories