Been trying to move forward with adding pins to #Pinetta. @amthecoat has been great, getting #devOps set up as we transition over to postgres. Only trouble is my potato computer won't build a usable version of compose 😭 oh well, we'll get this eventually. I do have #postgres installed on its own on the box... shouldn't it be possible to set things up to use that instead of running it in a container? 🤔
There's been plenty of buzz lately surrounding #Meta connecting to the #Fediverse through #ActivityPub. As a #FOSS project that hasn't yet shipped software that federates, we don't have too much to say yet. However, it's worth saying a few things about how #Pinetta will federate, in general.
Briefly, Pinetta is a creative tool with social characteristics. Server admins will be able to operate in both "allow mode" and "deny mode"; they can choose to federate with everyone, a select few, or even no one. This means, for example, that you'll be able to use Pinetta as a fully functional Fediverse server open to large communities, or as a private server—for instance, in the context of a school where students might produce and share work with only the school's community of learners, staff, and selected guests. Even if you choose to federate with other servers, users will have fine-grained control over the reach and visibility of their posts, similar to the way #Hometown and #Calckey users do. Essentially, we're aiming to make community safety as configurable as possible to meet the widest possible set of needs—including those of the most vulnerable people and communities.
As a project, we don't plan on hosting a central instance for very large numbers of users to use; for the time being, our goal is to gradually refine the software to allow it to respond to the needs of communities, and to foster the development of united, diverse and healthy communities based on respect and trust. Our aspiration is to serve humanity, whether it's by making a nice app or by creating human connections that allow good people to do good things together. We will amplify the voices of those who share these values and aspirations, and will work actively with collaborators everywhere to prevent harm.
Still just a single-user app for the time being—and that's on purpose so that we can get federation and community safety right—but the basics are slowly coming together.
This week, the #Pinetta team has been busy on multiple fronts! Our #Codeberg repos have been popping, with one feature branch (user model) closed and a new one (user avatars) opened, and progress made on a number of issues. We've also gathered feedback from #askFedi to help us learn about people's experience with #Pinterest, which will help us set goals properly. Finally, our #Matrix channels have been busy as we collaborate both on the technical and community frameworks—and as we prepare to produce the first of several documents to express our collective vision and principles for the project.
There's lots of talk right now about how #Reddit alternatives such as #Lemmy, #kbin and #Lotide fit into the overall picture of the #Fediverse, with some calling these link-aggregation sites collectively the "Threadiverse". But how does #Pinetta fit into the mix?
Much like a link aggregator, Pinetta allows users to collect and comment on various things like links, text, images, video, and so on. In that sense, it will interact almost seamlessly with federated link aggregators. The main difference, of course, is in the user interface. Pinetta will have a number of modes that users can choose to display content:
As a "feed" chronologically or ranked based on most engaging posts (based on favourites and boosts);
As a "grid" similar to how #Pixelfed displays images in profiles;
As a "masonry" layout - much like how #Pinterest displays pins by default;
As a "mood board", which will allow users to arrange pins visually to their liking in a freeform 2D layout.
Like what you're reading? So do we. Give us a follow and star our repos on Codeberg to keep up with development!
Going through #Codeberg issues to clear up next steps for #Pinetta's technical framework. Much of the work on this side has been hashing out the database schema and setting up a #Django prototype with a custom user model. @amthecoat worked hard on this and we now have a codebase that runs a very basic site that implements new account creation, log in and log out.
Feel like checking it out? Pull the feature/user-model branch of the prototype repo and follow the steps in the README! (Make sure you have #Python 3.11 installed.)
One of our aims with #Pinetta is to build communities. To help us develop our #CommunityBuilding framework, our team is having regular conversations about some of the principles that make this possible.
Here's one example of the questions we're chewing on.
"To every generation... comes an opportunity to make a contribution to the fortunes of humanity, unique to their time of life."
What does it mean to you to make a contribution to the fortunes of humanity?
@pinetta@pinetta Maybe to create better tools to build a better future. Pinterest was always for me: „I am planning my future in style, design, home, decoration.“ But what if I don’t want just to buy more products but instead „pin out“ a better world. That’s where pinetta could come in and be a helpful tool. :)
@Sascha That's well said! One of the items on our roadmap is a "mood board" mode which will allow users to arrange pins in a 2D layout. The person who suggested it was thinking about helping designers do their work, but in fact, everyone needs to "design" things here and there, and having a visual tool to connect different pins/ideas spatially can help communicate thoughts and concepts in totally different ways.
It's also important, however, not to get carried away thinking that a purely technical solution is going to make the world better on its own, as that's rarely the case in reality. So many developers get hyped about a new idea for an app that will make money AND save the world and then the whole "saving the world" thing gets stuck in the mud when they realize that they have to put food on the table. Most often, what makes change in the world is change in communities, and that starts with relationships of mutual support and friendship between people like you and me. It's learning how to make the necessary changes in our own lives and changes in society at large at the same time that's the real challenge, and it's one that we're trying to carry forward even as we develop an app.
Hello #Fediverse! #Pinetta is a decentralized FOSS social pinboard in the style of Pinterest. After a month of planning, we've settled on a basic game plan and are opening up our @Codeberg repo for contributions from devs and designers!
We'll be working on a prototype that uses #Python and #Django to get the basic functionality working. We'll also be hosting weekly sharing sessions on #CommunityBuilding principles to develop our Code of Conduct and a larger framework for community wellness. 🥳
Are you a #WomanInTech with an interest in #FOSS? The #Pinetta project is looking for devs, designers, and community builders who are interested in contributing to a FOSS #ActivityPub project and shaping both community and technical frameworks. Give us a follow and a shout!