@robin@mastodon.social
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robin

@robin@mastodon.social

Governance & Standards at @protocollabs β€” Former NYT, W3C TAG, science.ai β€” Privacy, Web, Science, Politics, Philosophy. (he/him/Ishmael)

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mauve, to random
@mauve@mastodon.mauve.moe avatar

I am a living parser generator. :P

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@mauve I even miss XSLT :)

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice @mauve Ha, that would be hilarious.

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

The fact that anyone is still using Google Search at all is a demonstration of the power of defaults and switching friction. In a competitive market, this joke of a product would just be dead already.
https://www.platformer.news/google-ai-overviews-eat-rocks-glue-pizza/

luis_in_brief, to random
@luis_in_brief@social.coop avatar

I have seen a lot of fun+hopeful theorizing about indie/small web stuff lately, but what's the best writing on a plausible theory of how we get from πŸ‘‡πŸ½ (Google black hole of content) to ... something more human(e). I admit I don't see what the virtuous spiral is that counteracts this ☹️
https://mastodon.social/@caseynewton/112521585565531048

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@luis_in_brief @molly0xfff @aral @mariafarrell The web is huge (or, at least, a healthy web is huge) and therefore we shouldn't expect a silver bullet solution that just works across the board in an instant. A core component of my plan is https://darobin.github.io/wise/ but it's still very much in development and that document doesn't have all of the moving parts yet.

ntnsndr, to random
@ntnsndr@social.coop avatar

If you wanted to build a database/website on Notion but then instead wanted to do it in a portable, FLOSS-y way, how would you do it?

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@ntnsndr Accessible by others, but you're the one editing? I haven't tried it, but there's a hosted service that goes with Obsidian.

ntnsndr, to random
@ntnsndr@social.coop avatar

Is the Apple backlash finally coming? Time fop The Year of the Linux Smartphone?

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@ntnsndr Don't jinx it, man!

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

You wanted to read Rewilding but prefer it in Portuguese?

Right there for you! https://outraspalavras.net/tecnologiaemdisputa/internet-a-alternativa-refloresta/

ben, to random
@ben@werd.social avatar

The newsroom I work for just won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service journalism. Neat! https://werd.io/2024/my-employer-won-a-pulitzer

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@ben Congrats Ben, this is super deserved.

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

Hey look, we're in The Guardian with @mariafarrell!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/04/the-internet-is-in-decline-it-needs-rewilding

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

Check out the updated tracks list for IPFS Camp! So much good stuff coming to Brussels this summer…
https://blog.ipfs.tech/ipfs-camp-2024-track-list/

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

As closing arguments of the Google Search trial proceed, there are two things I would like to flag.

First, the way in which search works on the web is stuck in the 90s. We need not stay there and can imagine alternatives (that aren't crappy AI): https://berjon.com/fixing-search/.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

And second, the default slot and royalties deals have a dreadful effect on competition, the web, and society, but some of the money levied that way is deployed usefully and we should preserve that.

We can do so by formalizing how that levy works (WIP): https://darobin.github.io/wise/.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@jszym Glad you enjoyed it and it's of course perfectly fine to disagree, my goal is to hopefully trigger some thinking!

Note that:

  1. Bing having an API has helped some alternatives emerge.
  2. It's impossible for anyone to make any kind of dent so long as Google is allowed to just buy the market. Everything in that post assumes that that has to change first (by legal intervention most likely).
  3. APIs are useful as part of a bigger solution, notably that there is no other browser default.
robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@jszym 4) I don't think the APIs would disappear if that's the primary way in which a search engine can make money. Keep in mind that browser defaults matter a lot.
5) The new UX that APIs enable (and that browsers are largely not allowed to do under the current system) could IMHO be a game changer, and can't happen without them. It would be worth prototyping to show it.

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

I'm delighted to share the German translation of the Rewilding essay from @mariafarrell and I! Deep thanks to Netzpolitik.

https://netzpolitik.org/2024/essay-wir-muessen-zurueck-zum-wilden-internet/

JustinH, to fediverse
@JustinH@twit.social avatar

"We Need To Rewild The Internet"
An absolutely excellent read (and great analogy) by @mariafarrell and @robin Probably the best piece I've read all year.

I often struggle to think of a term for "appearing messy from a distance is often, on a human scale, healthy actually." Comparing the social web to an ecosystem is exactly it.

https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

@fediverse

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@JustinH @mariafarrell @fediverse Thank you! Yes β€” "this chaotic-seeming thing is good, actually" is a tough message :)

fabrice, to random
@fabrice@fosstodon.org avatar

Interesting search engine project with customizable ranking and API access: https://github.com/StractOrg/stract / cc @robin

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice Huh, the results I get are pretty dated (I suspect it's very strongly derating third-party trackers) but this is interesting thanks!

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice I really like that it's built around results customisability. I think that's a killer feature, assuming the indexing isn't the issue here.

I wonder if it can store its index on IPFS :)

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice Yeah: "A tantivy index is a collection of smaller independent immutable segments." This is promising, but the file names don't seem to be content addressable (though I'm not sure, maybe they can be!).

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice I think that Mark is doing something like that (really).

That said, I'm not sure you need the Fuse indirection: Tantivy has a pluggable directory abstraction that could go straight to WNFS.

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice Hahaha, keep me posted, I'm really curious to hear if that could be a thing. It would make for a great IPFS Camp topic too. (Hint hint)

matthiasott, to random
@matthiasott@mastodon.social avatar

Issue 14 of is out. πŸ₯³

Webmentions.

With links to posts and tools by @maggie, @GIFmodel, @sia, @mariafarrell, @robin, @fonts, @mxbck, @nhoizey, @aaronpk, @pfefferle, @mauricerenck, @sebastiangreger, @belldotbz, @Aaron, @rem and many more! πŸŽ‰

✨Personal site of the (every other) week by @Robb ✨

https://buttondown.email/ownyourweb/archive/issue-14/

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@matthiasott Thanks a lot for including us!

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

If you haven't read it yet, this weekend would be a great time to find out why this article from @mariafarrell and I in Noema Magazine made it to The Syllabus's "Best of Journalism" this week! (See https://www.the-syllabus.com/cabinet/syllabus/3KabNgk-0K?__s=xxxxxxx&__s=xxxxxxx)

It's here: https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@fabrice @mariafarrell Glad you read it :)

I don't think that the solutions are purely state-based, though it would take more space to add details to that.

Enabling industrial policy would certainly help. I think we have the means to make that happen, but it requires some creative thinking to make it effective.

koalie, (edited ) to random
@koalie@mastodon.social avatar

Highlights: β€œWe need to rewild the Internet”

Today I read We Need To Rewild The Internet by Maria Farrell and @robin (Robin Berjon) (April 16, 2024), and I selected personal annotated highlights from it.

https://blog.koalie.net/2024/04/23/highlights-we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

robin,
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

@koalie Thank you ❀️‍πŸ”₯

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