Post · bonfire.cafe

@smallcircles @bengo @strypey @benpate @EUCommission @nlnet
So yes, the solutions to our wicked problems require coordinated action. It's a "coordination problem".

And it requires active listening.

How do we mobilise people at the same time in the same direction? So we overcome network effects.

Playfulness, a shared goal and vocabulary, a group of committed people / orgs, a commons sustainability model. And some initial funding and shared resources to get the ball rolling. Critical connections.

Can we get that off the ground together?

"We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it's never a question of 'critical mass.' It's always about critical connections."

- Grace Lee Bogs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Lee_Boggs — "We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it's never a question of 'critical mass.' It's always about critical connections." - Grace Lee Bogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Lee_Boggs

Ben Pate 🤘🏻

@benpate@mastodon.social · last week

@bengo

… that maybe showing “like” counts and other “engagement” stats isn’t a good thing.

It’s counterintuitive for software designers trained on surfacing as much data as possible, but it’s probably true.

🫧 socialcoding..

@smallcircles@social.coop · last week

@benpate @bengo

Interesting paper, thanks. I just made an analogy to how road networks evolve over time, and what that means for the #social environment. This against the backdrop of my long blog article about #ActivityPub fediverse #evolution.

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116429792361242801

Social experience design examines the #SocioCultural ecosystem that emerges by the #technology landscape and is determined by the shape of our #tech that it must grown on. Think like organic moss, that is able to take a foothold in the nooks and crannies of slick aluminium roofs. #SocialWeb is a forest.

An observation is that we generally severely underestimate the impact of "adding an extra online channel, so now we can be social remotely". This way of perceiving social totally misses how everything is different online, and at the same time that many things should / can be very similar to how we do offline #SocialNetworking for ages. Increasing social bandwidth on the wire.

https://coding.social/blog/reimagine-social/#personal-social-networking

#SX #SocialCoding

Social coding commons

How We Reimagine the Social Web

We find novel ways to collaborate and create value together.

🫧 socialcoding..

@smallcircles@social.coop · last week

@benpate @bengo

@strypey just mentions Conway's Law, and how it shapes and affects all that we do. The driving force is #Emergence, which over time also shaped modern global #society as it stands today.

Question for grassroots environments that are able to healthily evolve and naturally grow into long-term sustainable ecosystems - in case of the #fediverse able to support diverse and vibrant online culture, where people cocreate and participate in a value-based collaborative economy - is how #ActivityPub based enabling #technology can be designed to foster the right social dynamics that influence this emergence.

Or else we get US road network, emerged by the lobbying powers of Big Oil. Corporate capture in case of #fedi. Or traffic chaos and road jams, stifling #innovation.

My #SX blog addresses how @EUCommission #funding (via the great @nlnet ) encourages - in traffic terms - creation of infra building blocks. But not road vision, policies, enforcement. Lacks socio-cultural care.

🫧 socialcoding..

@smallcircles@social.coop · last week

@benpate @bengo @strypey @EUCommission @nlnet

When it comes to Conway's Law then, what do we have today in terms of alternative #SocialNetworking environment, here on #ActivityPub fediverse?

If I squint my eyes so the details become vague, I see more or less a copy/paste of existing #SocialMedia that we are all familiar with, and as #BigTech forces it through our throat. BUT! Decentralized.. a great achievement. We can now build our own roads, instead of being forced to take the highway.

The observation that we "copy/pasted" may or may not be an indicator of the risk that Conway's Law does its work. I leave that as part of my call-for-reflection. Same holds for the risk of corporate capture, who can quickly pave over with asphalt any 'desire path' that became popular, and perhaps make it a toll road.

More interesting it gets when it comes to #ethics: dealing with tech externalities. See: https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116316524763055082

And #sustainability: Go from #FOSS to Sustainable open social systems.

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