@paulbusch @ZebKing Definitely support that! But this brings up a slight failing of Mastodon that I have been asking about.
If Mastodon is to replace the corporate social media stuff there has to be a way to better focus on the local, even down to family level.
How can I set up an instance for Vancouver Island? For the Central Island? For a residential group in Qualicum Beach?
And, needing a dedicated server is out of reach for a senior with fixed income.
Discussion
Loading...
@paulbusch @ZebKing please include me. I am very involved in ActivityPub standards, I work at the Social Web Foundation and I think I can help.
@paulbusch @ZebKing also, @coop should be involved. And @meadmin and @paige .
Maybe the following (non-exhaustive) list of governments who are active in the #fediverse with their own Mastodon servers is also useful:
CH 🇨🇭: https://social.admin.ch
DE 🇩🇪:
- https://social.bund.de
- https://social.schleswig-holstein.de
FR 🇫🇷: https://social.numerique.gouv.fr
NL 🇳🇱:
- https://social.overheid.nl
- https://social.amsterdam.nl
EU 🇪🇺:
- https://ec.social-network.europa.eu
- https://curia.social-network.europa.eu
- https://social.edps.europa.eu
PS The Dutch NREN SURF (probably comparable to CANARIE) also set up a Mastodon instance for the Dutch research and education sector: https://social.edu.nl. For background info: https://www.surf.nl/en/mastodon-pilot-for-research-and-education
PPS The Q&A on https://social.overheid.nl/about and the info on https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/overzicht-van-alle-onderwerpen/mastodon-overheid/ (although in Dutch) might also be useful.
@bartknubben @paulbusch @ZebKing
We provide Mastodon as a national (digital) cooperative organization.
💚 Set it up properly once and maintain it well.
💚 Let users focus on using it.
💚 Let organizations mainly see what it is and how it works.
💚 By using single sign-on instead of a username/password, you can use existing organizational accounts to log in with a low barrier to entry! (180 institutions and 1 million students, researchers and employee’s can make use of it)
https://www.eua.eu/our-work/expert-voices/the-digitally-sovereign-university-and-social-media.html
@paulbusch @ZebKing Definitely support that! But this brings up a slight failing of Mastodon that I have been asking about.
If Mastodon is to replace the corporate social media stuff there has to be a way to better focus on the local, even down to family level.
How can I set up an instance for Vancouver Island? For the Central Island? For a residential group in Qualicum Beach?
And, needing a dedicated server is out of reach for a senior with fixed income.
@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing
There are many ways to approach these issues.
One approach is to use groups to allow people to easily reach each other no matter what instance they are on (more about groups at https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-groups-on-the-fediverse/ ).
These kinds of groups are like "super hashtags", they repeat posts that mention them but use a push method to reach other servers that is a lot more effective than hashtags.
However, they are not forums the way Facebook Groups are.
1/2
@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing
Another approach is to use things like NodeBB ( https://nodebb.org ) which are part of the Fediverse but based around discussion forums. This is a lot closer to Facebook Groups, but it's also fairly new in its Fediverse connections. Best people to ask would be @nodebb and @julian
You can follow and interact with NodeBB accounts from Mastodon etc.
A third approach might be the various Reddit-style Fediverse platforms like https://join.piefed.social etc.
2/2
@opalideas @paulbusch @ZebKing
p.s. One thing to add though, the cost of an instance is not as much as people think and not as difficult either. The managed hosting company masto.host has a typical selection of pricing: https://masto.host/pricing
Managed hosting means they do all the techy stuff as well as hosting it. You just run the thing, it's a similar experience to running an online forum.
I'm not saying everyone should do this, I'm just saying a lot more could do this than realise it.
Great initiative, wishing you good luck!
Not sure if this is helpful, but I put together a short blog post that I've shared with city/state agencies here in the US, for a similar purpose.
https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/fediverse-an-overview-for-government-agencies/
(Sadly, in my case, there was no interest at the time.)
@paulbusch You're very welcome!