Hamishcampbell

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to fediverse

In #ActivityPub "governance" at the moment people are mostly #dogmatic #NGO crew, some are #mainstreaming careerism, others are doing #geekproblem #grassroots careerism.

Neither of these are real friends of any alternatives, they are friendly enemies ;)

ZekuZelalem, 7 months ago to random

🧵 Hey all! This is a new account, I'm still Zecharias Zelalem, freelance journalist and aspiring OSINTer providing news and analysis on the Horn of Africa for a variety of international media outlets. For the past year or so, I posted via @zekuzelalem, but I've transitioned away from that instance. I'll be posting from this account from now on. After recent changes on the journa dot host instance, I had no choice but to set up elsewhere. Hope to continue exchanges and friendships here.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

Why do all alt grassroots events have the same speakers

I start to understand why all alt/grassroots events have the same speakers. Looking about, you send out invites to everyone who has done it before. To reach out to new people would be taking a risk, would be hard work to hand hold them though the process. The lack of time and resources leaves little focus than to just repeat the past. This is a hard realization and incite into poverty.

Am starting to feel slightly ashamed of not knowing this before. Ideas please, we do need to fix this.

Not a #conspiracey, rather a #fuckup we are only human.

“To be honest, you should be commended for putting it all together in the first place. No one else is doing it and it’s essential. Every form of direct action is worthy and amazing given the world we live in.”

“1 a bit of mentoring goes a long way
2 offer expenses and look for some funding – either grant funding or crowdfunded
3 offer speaker training events”

Your idea would work if we had the time and the funding, time is relative, but funding for alt/left is tiny and hard to get. Almost all left’ish funding is dispelled in #NGO and #fashernista pointlessness. Ideas for diverting some of this waste might be a start? Actually it is a good time to try this, who is up for it?

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

Take a moment to think about basics

Take a moment to think about basics: activism/campaigning is about building resistance to the mainstream to change its flow in progressive directions. Were #mainstreaming is about shifting activism to reduce these resistances to the mainstream flow. Thus, it’s good to understand that #mainstreming is a #NGO agender to build the jobs of the people involved and is in turn funded to this end. Good not to get the shit mixed up.

Lifestyle is a way of forming a tribe inside this mainstream flow. The problem for activism is that this old school tribalism is obviously a BLOCK on social change, as looking and talking right are MORE important than being right. Being right would be “resistance” and lifestyle is about going with the counter flow.

On the other hand, the are advantages to “modern” tribal and lifestyle activism – it functions as social glue to hold campaigns together and provides a “uniform” flag to rally round. You notice I do not use words like anarchist, socialist, liberalism here as these have a different role in social change thinking – they are the ideas – the clothing is what I am taking about #fashernista is the hashtag.

#Revolution is about blowing up the flow of the mainstream so it floods into a different path, with much “calcollateral” damage in the process as we live inside a highly urban complex society. Both paths can be useful, both have costs.

Good not to mix this shit up

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

Let think about where the #BLOCKS are on grassroots media.

#stupidindividualism and the #deathcult that breeds this

1. One of the main ones is co-option by #NGO agender, both, by organizations who push for “common sense” #dotcons paths and individuals who strive to build their careers by trampling over the grassroots horizontality.

2. Second, I know a lot of people who would fuck over the future for petty personal grudges and narrow self subsistence. It’s a problem with rolling out positive grassroots projects like #indymediaback that we need to actively mediate for a good outcome. It’s interesting to think about this at a small personal scale and the wider social issue of #stupidindividualism and the #deathcult that breeds this.

3. Third, let me say something unfashionable, am a fan of liberals, they created meany of the good social things in the world. BUT Intolerant and dogmatic liberals are a constant drain, pushing of “common sense” agender over every issue they touch. This shit smeared problem needs constant mediation.

4. Fourth, the #geekproblem which is looked at in other posts on my blog – click on the hashtag to find them.

5. There are more, please comment so i can add them.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

The #OMN is built from the experience of 30 years of working at the coal face of grassroots media and tech.

Just about all tech and political projects are pointless “A river that needs crossing political and tech – On the political side, there is arrogance and ignorance, on the geek side there is naivety and over complexity”

A solution to this churning is “nothing new” as most of the issues we face have already been solved or at least mediated. #nothingnew and #4opens is a way of stepping away from the current tech mess. Politics is a bit more complex.

What is not pointless is an interesting challenge for tech and politics. To start this conversation, you HAVE to use the #4opens to remove 99.9% of the #dotcons #NGO and #fashernista fluff.

The is NO conversation before you do this. When this is done you need to look at the #geekproblem which is both a curse and a delight.

The #OMN is built from the experience of 30 years of working at the coal face of grassroots media and tech.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

The mess we need to step away from

#NGO crew are wannabe hierarchical who hide in plain site inside every grassroots movement, they push “common-sense” agenda to “tidy” the mess that is essential to horizontal organisation. If/when the NGO crew take “power” they slowly kill the organisations they “care” for. This has happened to just about every alt org I have been involved in for more than 30 years.

Now this is not black and white as you likely jump to understand, the horizontal people let them do this each time, so the better outcome is to balance this issue, not fight for one to the other in till all is sterile dust. The horizontal crew will stand by, being feed the #stupidindividualism of #mainstreaming culture, in meany cases their tribalism means that small alt groups flower and die without laying seeds in the ground. I have seen this meany times.

Link to type article ****

Conclusion.

• NEVER let the #NGO crew take the hiricical power that they strongly desire, don’t except their “common sense” be mad and bad on this one. I mean, be really mad and bad to stop this crap.

• Keep the tribalism of the horizontal crew open to fresh flows, the #4opens helps with this, making people uncomfortable is needed at times.

• DO useful stuff, if people are only talking and not doing they have less voice, repeatedly give people a chance to DO in the end you might have to be quite rood to them about this, this is a normal outcome.

Q. who are the YOU, who are the people doing, who should be mad and bad, how to make people “uncomfortable” in a useful way, how can being rood be constructive?

Why is communication so bad in our media.

• The post-truth people are full of nastiness, as this is their only reaction to challenge/change.

• Our liberals are defensive as their ideas are pushing us to extinction, they tend to join the post-truth crew in reaction to challenge/change.

• The #fashernistas go with the flow of the above, if they even see the change/challenge they react in the same way.

We live in messy times.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

The problem with institutions funding the social side of #openweb tech

Almost all our #geekproblem software fails because they are building “control”, where all good societies are built on “trust”. We keep making piles of #techshit because we can’t communicate about this simple understanding #techchurn one way to address this is to fund the social side of tech.

The problem which we need to solve is the institutions funding of the social side of #openweb tech, if we do this now most of this funding will feed parasite #NGO’s rather than anything useful. This is also a problem of the existing funding for coding, it pushes the #geekproblem when it funds anything outside the basics.

We have a mess because our world is messy, current funding plays little role in composting this mess.

That’s the job of people with shovels – who funds them.

Most of our software fails because it is built with a focus on “control”, rather than “trust”, which is the foundation of a good society. This leads to an endless cycle of creating useless technology that we can’t communicate about. To address this problem, we need to invest in the social side of technology.

The challenge lies in funding the social aspect of #openweb technology. Currently, most funding goes to non-governmental organizations (#NGOs) that are not always effective. Additionally, the existing funding for coding primarily focuses on the basics, which perpetuates the problem of the #geekproblem.

Our world is messy, and the current funding plays little role in cleaning up this mess. People with shovels – those who do the work – need funding to make a difference.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to google

What is the #openweb

While the commercial web is dominated by large corporations, the #dotcons are what most people are familiar with, there is another side to the internet – the #openweb. In this article, we will explore what the #openweb is and why it matters.

The #openweb refers to the part of the internet that is not owned by corporations. Unlike the commercial web, where large tech companies like #Google, #Facebook, and #Amazon dominate the landscape, the #openweb is a decentralized space where people can create, share, and access content without restrictions.

The openweb is built on #4opens standards and protocols, which means that everyone can develop software or services that work seamlessly with existing tools and platforms. One of the primary benefits of the openweb is that it fosters humane creativity. Because we can all contribute to the open web, it encourages a diverse, liberal, range of voices and perspectives. Openweb technologies like blogs, wikis, and federated social networks have enabled people to connect and collaborate, leading to the emergence of new norms and social movements.

Another important aspect of the openweb is its commitment to transparency, it is a critical tool for promoting #freespeech and #democracy. Because it is not owned by any single entity or government, the openweb is a place where people can express themselves without fear of censorship or repression.

In recent years, the openweb has come under threat from the rise of the dominating #dotcons of the commercial web and the growing power of big tech companies. The commercial web is dominated by a few large corporations that control vast amounts of user data and use it to extract profit. This has led to concerns about, social control, and the concentration of power in the hands of a few tech giants and their agenders.

Despite these challenges, there are many organizations and individuals working to preserve the #openweb. From #grassroots groups such as #OMN to #NGO’s like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) an international community that develops open standards for the web, while #mainstreaming organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Google funded #Mozilla Foundation are dedicated to promoting a liberal #mainstreaming open and accessible internet.

In conclusion, the openweb is a critical part of the internet that promotes, creativity and free society. It is a space where anyone can contribute and participate without restrictions, and it has played a vital role in social movements and democracy. While the openweb faces many challenges in the face of the commercial web and big tech, it is essential to work together to ensure that the internet remains an open and accessible space.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

Looking at the paths out of the current mess

We need an effective way of communicating that all value on the #fedivers is cultural, the tech itself is a product of this #openweb culture. The #activertypub speck is an accident of this culture not being swamped become the #mainstreaming was not interested at the time

We have an increasing number of funders pouring money down the drain in #fedivers tech, when the source of the value #openweb culture that created this new “commons” is swamped by the #mainstreaming agenda.

This #fediforum thing is going to be a hardcore invisible clash of cultures, all the #fashernitas who stood back from the #ActivertyPub push for the last 5 years are now flooding in, as are refugees from the encryptions mess. The language might be #fedvers BUT most of the people will not be. Let’s try and create focus, small steps.

#Mozfest Is on if you want to see posers, #fashernitas and general #NGO pointless. I did sign up but when the time came to log in I could not be bothered. I do use the browser, though.

We do need to express contempt for what a lot of the assumptions and agenda (often unspoken) our #NGO and #fashernitas crew push. Yes, it’s crap and pointless, so please say this, in most cases the “emperor’s” are not wearing any clothes. Express yourself, it’s needed.

The is going to be an increasing mix of #mainstreming people moving back to the #openweb we need much better tools and process to deal with the mess they bring with them as well as our own mess we have here. The is going to be a lot of prat’ish behaviour from both inside our #openweb movement and outside from the #dotcons we need a way to mediate this… as it’s obviously damage dressed up in #NGO clothing.

The problem with this negative circle is that it is self reinforcing, the prats, don’t like being pointed at as prats, and in reaction they dig deeper into prat’ish behaver. This damage is not helpful, we need fresh thinking, what do we do when “our” people act as prats. Ideas please?

The is a solution to this, the #OGB which mediates prat’ish behaver by democracy https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/openwebgovernancebody​

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to Bulgaria

The #geekproblem mess we make of #openweb funding

#NGIzero #NGI #EU It’s important to remember in #openweb tech that most funding is poured directly down the drain, all value comes from #DIY culture which is always underfunded. Would be a good idea to try to rebalance this mess. And yes, we are not talking about the #dotcons mess, that’s another subject 😉

The value we are all talking about, the #openweb #fediverse based on #activertypub is a very good example of this issue. The group that pushed through the speck only goes through the formal consensuses process because the #dotcons were not interested in owning the outcome as it had no “value” to them. The speck was done as unpaid, unfunded #DIY labour, this is where almost all value actually comes from when you lift the lid on the current mess.

The importance of #DIY culture and the underfunding of #openweb technologies. It is true that much of the value in openweb technologies comes from the grassroots efforts of individuals and communities who are passionate about creating and maintaining these tools. This can be seen in the case of the #fediverse, which was developed by a group of volunteers who were committed to creating a decentralized and open social networking platform.

At the same time, it is also important to recognize the role that funding can play in supporting the development of openweb technologies. While it is true that much of the value comes from DIY culture, funding can help to support and sustain this culture, providing resources and support to help communities. One initiative that is working to address this issue is #NGIZero, which is a program funded by the European Commission to support the development of #openweb technologies. Through this program, funding is provided to support projects that are focused on creating often #NGO focused decentralized and #geekproblem projects.

Overall, it is important to recognize the importance of DIY culture and grassroots efforts in the development of openweb culture and technologies. At the same time, we should also work to support these efforts through funding and other forms of support, in order to help ensure that these grassroots cultures and the technologies they build continue to thrive and evolve in the years to come.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

People often destroy things they love, not from hate, more from possession

This is the #fahernista view of the 20-year-old #OMN project, it is full of teenage focus https://anagora.org/distributed-cooperative-organisation and might be interesting if it LINKED, but it does not, flight and scatter to the wind, more to compost.

http://disco.coop/manifesto/ This is the #fahernista view of an #encryptionist project of the 20-year-old #OMN project, it is full of teenage focus and might be interesting if it LINKED, but it does not, flight and scatter to the wind, more to compost.

https://two.compost.digital/ This is the #NGO #fahernista view of the 20-year-old #OMN project, it is full of teenage focus and might be interesting if it LINKED, but it does not, flight and scatter to the wind, more to compost.

#blocking

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

A path out of the funding mess

The is an unspoken negative effect of traditional foundation funding agendas on grassroots #openweb projects. These grassroots projects often have different priorities and goals than traditional organizations, and the formal processes used by existing #NGO projects, such as decidim.org and loomio.org, may not be well-suited for them.

#The #OMN team aims to address this issue by focusing on empowering communities through decentralized decision-making processes. Their experience and track record make them well-suited to carry out this mission.

If successful, the #OGB project could have a significant impact on the way communities make decisions in the future. By empowering grassroots movements and organizations, it could help to ensure that their voices are heard and that their needs are addressed.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to KISS

On the #openweb us and them is simple, we have to define things then collectively fight as hard as we can to keep that definition #4opens #KISS
#openweb spaces, a lot of social suicidal behaver – people strive to destroy the #openweb by pushing non “native” #NGO structures and paths. It’s a hard thing to pushback on, it’s #mainstreaming “common sense” bad behaver and a VERY bad outcome, please try not to be this problem.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

We need fresh thinking on this mess

There will be lots of VERY bad behaver from the every side in this #openweb reboot, let’s try and keep diversity of voices in place with #4opens process. Please don’t become a prat, as it’s easy to start, and it’s hard to stop, mess and more mess.

Prat ish behaver comes in waves, that matches the waves of #mainstreaming and the Alt reaction to them, this flotsam can make things messy so good to shovel and compost.

Our main #blocking in alts is from our blinded #postmodernists and the culture they have spread for the last ten years… this is very messy and will do damage. As this is a form of “common sense” it’s hard to compost.

We need fresh thinking on this mess.

witchescauldron, 7 months ago to random

Yes, well, we kinda fucked it up before #failbook came along. The #ossification of #indymedia network from my memory comes to mind. Technology as individualism over technology as social, the blogging revolution and years of pointless #encryptionists projects are good examples. Then the #dotcons puts shiny on their poison pill, and we all swallowed heaps of “social media” and here we are deep in the #deathcult with a vernier of the #openweb on the edge #OMN

rooftopaxx, 7 months ago to random

@msaunders @Hamishcampbell too late for the activism instance but this looks to be a sound proposal
https://social.openrightsgroup.org/@jim/111206862937871560

Hamishcampbell, 7 months ago to foss

Rule making is always the death path of any working Alt/grassroots structure https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/ this comes soon after the dictatorship of the invisible hierarchy, its mess making.

This is a scripted fail that is recurring for 20 years of the #geekproblem in tech and #FOSS "governance" we do need to do better #OGB

rooftopaxx, 7 months ago to random

Is "human animals" trending yet?

docpop, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to random

Sam Bankman Fried murdered web3. It’s the only truly altruistic thing he ever did.

hamishcampbell, 7 months ago to random

#stupidindividualism is a constant poison. People treat all social thinking as personal criticism.
This is a constant #blocking and spreads mess just about ever were.

Thus, the #dontbeaprat communication.

yogthos, 7 months ago to random

Hamishcampbell, 7 months ago to random

At Blackwell's book shop author event with #WilliamMacaskill of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism movement, no hard questions so far.

Oozenet, 7 months ago to random

Hey academic people. I am looking for collaborators for a project about governance on Wikipedia. Basically the project will involve examining the talk pages, administrator actions, arbitration committee decisions, and Wikipedia policies to see how well the policies are adhered to and how this is affecting editor retention and article accuracy on Wikipedia. If you think this sounds like fun please respond. Any resulting publications will be Open Access. Boosts appreciated.

#AcademicChatter