L'argomento è lo scambio di informazioni e conoscenza su argomenti (per esempio politica, ambiente, tecnologia) e l'utilizzo (frequenza, quantità di post) da parte degli utenti
Cosa ne viene fuori? Che Mastodon non è un posto di geek, che si parla di molte cose, che è un mondo ben frequentato
After thinking through some responses to my posts and some thoughts of my own, I have concluded that this study probably has a low content and criteria validity and the study is unintentionally biased. Why theses conclusions I cover that under two overlapping headings:
open questions about the data used
Biases
1 Open Questons
How is untagged data dealt with? This is a significant question, since it affects biases and validity. Many things are untagged on Mastodon type instances. (More on that later) The study mention Mastodon and Misskey. However, a large bulk of Misskey data is not tagged. Tagging is much more common on Mastodon type instances. This means populations that user Misskey will be underrepresented. It also may affect representation of female acculturated individual who studies have been shown to be less aggressive, self promoting, or call attention to themselves.
How are PixelFed and Lenny and other platforms handled? Given that some of my PixelFed posts are boosted my guess is that some PixelFed data is included. Again tagging is less prevalent on PixelFed than on Mastodon based instances. This affects individuals who are visually inclined rather than text inclined. I am not familiar enough with Lenny and its ilk to know how that might affect things.
How are silent posts handled? I don’t have data but one use I make of silent posts is for things I do not want to draw attention to. These often relate to subjects which have drawn critical harassment or negative judgements in the past. This is an experience most marginalized individuals have experienced. Not everyone feels totally safe in the Fedi and may not wish their discussions to reach beyond their circle of trust.
Biases. I have already touched on this. I suspect that non-western, vulnerable and marginalized groups are underrepresented.
First, the sex positive community, a highly marginalized group, is explicitly excluded from the study. NSFW material is not counted. Regardless of one’s opinion of this community and its products, posts, and comments, excluding it skews the data.
None Western users are underrepresented. I have shown how the platforms (Misskey/Pawoo) and habits of Japanese and other Asian groups are underrepresented by the dependance on hastags, attention-seeking behaviors, and Asian dominated platforms. These groups are much less likely to call attention to them self than the self aggrandizing west.
It is likely that female acculturated individual are underrepresented due less attention drawing behavior and language. This has been demonstrated to be the case in many studied elsewhere and I propose it is true here.
While I have no data to back this up, I would theorize the same is happening with POC populations.
Reliance on hashtags certainly biases the study against less technical individuals. While a place like the Fedi draws heavily from a more heavily technical population, there are other users.
Reliance text dominated platforms minimizes the visibility of individual who are graphically oriented, such as the photographic community. At least a portion of this population uses PixelFed. It is unclear the extent PixelFed is included in this study.
I question many of the conclusions in the study. That a small minority of individual contribute and drive discussion on the Fedi is hardly surprising. The break down of interests, however, seems have questionable validity since it excludes non-western, minority and less technically savvy individuals. Incomplete inclusion of all Fedi platforms also reduces the visibility of those who engage in non-text information sharing.
I may be incorrect in my assessment since these questions: hash tag dependance; inclusion or exclusion of none-mastodon instance; and measure to insure inclusion are not clearly stated.
At the very least, I hope that any future study will discuss how they are dealing with these kinds of biases and validity issue.
> So, the Fediverse has a loyal, committed group of steady knowledge-sharing posters, who together account for over 80% of posts into these Communities.
In statistics, a power law is a functional relationship between two quantities, where a relative change in one quantity results in a relative change in the other quantity proportional to a power of the change, independent of the initial size of those quantities: one quantity varies as a power of another. For instance, considering the area of a square in terms of the length of its side, if the length is doubled, the area is multiplied by a factor of four.[1] The rate of change exhibited in these relationships is said to be multiplicative.
After reading that twice, I would agree. Certainly the graph would look very similar.
Perado rule has also been mentioned and seems to hold..
It's SO strange to me how people are so adament that they don't want their data being sold/abused.
Yet, we have a literal data harvester in front of our own eyes with NewsMast out in the open using Fedi posts for their "news app" and nobody is blinking an eye...🤦♂️
Can Real-Time Journalism Make A Fediverse Comeback?
"The Newsmast social feed. You can access your regular Mastodon feed while still getting access to a variety of news outlets you might not have seen otherwise.
The result is a well-curated social media feed, operated from its own network of apps and web interfaces, built on top of an open ecosystem, that makes it easier to follow relevant news topics in a way that has since been lost on other platforms. Suddenly, you don’t feel like you’re losing much, even though the trending topics of Twitter are long gone. A good journalist or researcher knows how to build a feed like this. But the layperson might have trouble—and this curated approach helps improve the on-ramp."
Newsmast just might be the Mastodon app you've been looking for. They place common hashtags in easy to follow communities that you yourself follow, similar to Reddit or Facebook Groups. It places mastodon in familiar easier to understand boxes for you to unpack.
Create three lists: "CUR: All", "CUR: Flipboard", "CUR: Newsmast".
(CUR = CURated / CURation)
Search for "Flipboard" and "Newsmast" (Flipboard accounts share the same icon, Newsmast accounts share the same icon as well.)
Follow the accounts you're interested in. (It's by topic.)
Add each of those accounts to your "CUR: All" list. And to its respective platform list: "CUR: Flipboard" or "CUR: Newsmast".
Switch your "Home" view to "CUR: All", "CUR: Flipboard", or "CUR: Newsmast".
Another way of doing it is by topic:
CUR: Nature
CUR: Current Events
CUR: Programming
Or, by region:
CUR: Local
CUR: Asia-Pacific
CUR: Africa
Adjust it to your needs.
In the Mastodon family, you can set the list to not show up in your "Home" timeline. This way, you can still see the posts from other people you follow without it being filled with curated content boosts.
Benefits of following curation accounts:
You don't have to follow every single account.
> Usually, accounts share other topics which you probably are not interested in. Curated lists filter these topics for you.
You will discover content and people to follow.
> Both Flipboard and Newsmast boosts/reshares the original post. You see the original source/account and interact with them directly.
> You can then choose who you want to follow directly so you can see more of their content and interests, and build a friendly relationship with them.
It becomes possible to only follow 10 accounts ever, yet consume hundreds of content and information.
This way, you can avoid following hundreds of accounts which will only make your "Home" timeline confusing; and more likely, you'll miss what matters most for you because of so many posts from so many accounts.
I hope it helps you! Welcome to the Fediverse #SNS !
P.s. If you're using an awesome Fediverse software or platform besides Mastodon, the steps are similar, if not exactly the same.
I've been working with Newsmast, a free non-profit Fediverse app focused on news and knowledge, organised by communities of interest.
Now, you can sign-in with your Mastodon account and easily switch between your home server timeline and 60+ Communities. You can find me in the US Politics and Ukraine Invasion communities.
Read more about them and find the app on Android, iOS & web.
This LGBTQ+ history month, we’ve signed the @iftas pledge to add specific terms against misgendering and deadnaming to our Community Guidelines.
Supporting LGBTQ+ people, including members of the Newsmast team, has always been central to Newsmast.
Newsmast has always stood against hate speech or harassment of any kind, but by using the specific terms set out by IFTAS and GLAAD we hope that more gender non-conforming people will feel safe on Newsmast 🧡
At Newsmast our goal has always been to provide opportunities for people to share knowledge through connection.
That’s why we’ve made our hand-curated topical communities available to everyone in the Fediverse. Community Feeds can be followed and transferred to a list - keeping them handy for when you’re ready to catch up.
The small team here at Newsmast will be taking a well deserved break with food and laughter, so we might need some extra time to roll online and get back to you!
Don't hesitate to reach out over DM or email and we'll be in touch as soon as we can.
Whether you're celebrating or not, we hope you have a great festive period!
"Mankind should be our business" ~ A Christmas Carol
At Newsmast, we have communities dedicated to exposing, investigating, and solving global issues. Get involved or start learning about the issues across the globe here: https://newsmast.org/communities/global_issues