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   Matthew Fennell (matthew@social.fennell.dev)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 03:17:38 JST Matthew Fennell

   I really enjoy learning about #federated and #decentralised networks. Especially their history, analysis of their structure/design, and how this diffuses power, encourages or discourages centralisation and other properties.

   Does anyone know of reading material like this? Below are some of my favourites that I already know about.

   #Decentralisation #Decentralization #Federation #Fediverse #OpenNetworks
   #OpenStandards

   • Embed this notice
     Matthew Fennell (matthew@social.fennell.dev)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 03:17:56 JST Matthew Fennell

     in reply to

     https://dustycloud.org/blog

     I find all the posts interesting, but especially those with the "federation" and "decentralisation" tags.

     I love the analysis of the design and structure of different networks, and how this leads to different outcomes in practice.

     I also really like the precision of terminology - for instance, the distinction between federation and decentralisation. I feel we need more of a shared language around decentralised networks as we otherwise end up talking past each other.

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     Matthew Fennell (matthew@social.fennell.dev)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 03:20:15 JST Matthew Fennell

     in reply to

     https://www.igalia.com/chats/

     I find the #WebEcosystemHealth episodes interesting. The discussions are very nuanced and cover many different aspects of centralisation. There are many topics:

     How important is diversity of rendering engines vs just of UIs? Are chromium-based browsers real competition to chrome?

     Does having one or two dominant browser engines mean a failure of the network, or will competitors spring up when the time comes?

     What is possible if there is more diversity in web funding?

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     Matthew Fennell (matthew@social.fennell.dev)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 03:20:30 JST Matthew Fennell

     in reply to

     https://stratechery.com/

     The #AggregationTheory articles are very useful for understanding why - all else being equal - centralisation seems to be the natural state for online services.

   • Embed this notice
     Matthew Fennell (matthew@social.fennell.dev)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 03:20:42 JST Matthew Fennell

     in reply to

     https://www.benkler.org/

     While the main focus is on #PeerProduction, #FreeSoftware etc, there are some sections discussing power and control in networks, and how it affects autonomy.

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     Matthew Fennell (matthew@social.fennell.dev)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 06:49:00 JST Matthew Fennell

     in reply to

     • Fifi Lamoura

     @fifilamoura thank you! I've read a little and it is very interesting so far 🙂

   • Embed this notice
     Fifi Lamoura (fifilamoura@eldritch.cafe)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 06:49:02 JST Fifi Lamoura

     in reply to

     @matthew A lot of my understanding of this comes from the art world and discussions about rhizomatic networks back in the 1990s. You may find this interesting (or not). https://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/rhizomatic.html