Notices by Robert W. Gehl (rwg@aoir.social)

Just got done listening to @alexmonea give a book talk about The Digital Closet. It's a deep critique of the underlying technologies of content moderation used by #Google and #Meta. Such important work!

the book is free to read, too!

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545952/the-digital-closet/

Dr. @CaribenxMarciaX with a short history of #fediblock, one of the most important hashtags on the fediverse:

https://subscriptions.boricua.style/fediblock-a-tiny-history-2/

"someone makes something, and it takes a life of its own, and there are new ways of using this tool. I get that. But I still made that tag, I still endured something in order to bear the fruit which became the tag. Grim as it is, a lot of people have to endure harm in order for tools for protection to be created."

Latest FOSS Academic post:

Hey, Journalists: X is now Truth Social. Start treating it that way.

https://fossacademic.tech/2024/11/08/ASMandTFG.html

In which I argue that, if they cannot leave X, journalists need to treat it like Truth Social. Dip in, copy what you gotta copy, and get out.

[replies to this post will appear as comments on my blog]

#journalism #FOSSacademic

People often ask why I support the #fedipact.

https://www.404media.co/zuckerberg-the-ai-slop-will-continue-until-morale-improves/

“I think we’re going to add a whole new category of content, which is AI generated or AI summarized content or kind of existing content pulled together by AI in some way,” [Zuckerberg] said. “And I think that that’s going to be just very exciting for the—for Facebook and Instagram and maybe Threads or other kind of Feed experiences over time.”

Hey, fediverse: weird IPTV streams... give them to me

Probably a silly day to post to FOSS Academic, but I wanted to share a blogified version of a presentation I gave to York alumni about the fediverse in Canada:

https://fossacademic.tech/2024/11/05/yorkcirclelecture.html

I touch on #Canadian #alternativeSocialMedia, #criticalReverseEngineering and more!

[replies to this post will appear as comments on my blog, unless you set privacy to followers-only or DM. CWs will work]

#FOSSAcademic

I'd like to follow more academics from Central and South America. I can read Spanish (and I really ought to practice writing in it), and I also want to learn more from academics in that area. If that's you, please follow me and I will follow back!

(boosts appreciated)

It's a long road to write a book, but I got word that, assuming the production goes as planned, Move Slowly and Build Bridges, my book about Mastodon and the ActivityPub-based fediverse, will be out from Oxford UP around August of next year!

Still a lot of work to do behind the scenes: editing, proofing, indexing. But I'm already giving book talks and would be happy to do so if you want me to visit your class/university to talk about the fediverse!

@bookstodon #Mastodon #Fediverse #books

Haven't been able to #monsterdon in a while. Turns out the time isn't good for me (classes on Monday will do that!). Next semester I'll jump back in, I swear!

@darnell @Mastodon

Can you import lists, or do you have to add them one by one?

Yesterday, @af3marti and I interviewed @Paulatics about her shift from Twitter to Mastodon, and whether or not Canadian journalists and politicians should also make the switch. It was a fascinating conversation! I'm writing up my transcript now.

It's happening! My book about Mastodon and the fediverse is now entering the production phase!

My editor at Oxford is asking what sort of cover image I would like. Any suggestions? Boosts appreciated!

More about the book here:

https://fossacademic.tech/2024/02/11/Move-Slowy-Preview.html

#fediverse #mastodon #bookstodon

@kissane and @darius have published a major new report about governance on the fediverse:

https://fediverse-governance.github.io/

I had the pleasure of seeing an early draft -- the final result is even stronger! It's going to be a key document for fedi admins and moderators.

#governance #fediverse

Gee, what changed in two weeks, I wonder

@ntnsndr sure, but we're not talking about systems in which people get their heads chopped off... I hope

The limit to the feudalism metaphor is that these things aren't states, and there are no armies or police...

@ntnsndr I've seen two of your talks, and there's always a bunch of 'what abouts', which is understandable.

But what I haven't heard is, "ok, I think we can do it in this space -- here's what we might try".

It won't surprise you when I say I filter what you say through the example of the fediverse. The fedi does have the 'implicit feudalism' baggage but the problem is not insurmountable.

I said it before, I'll say it again and again: I don't consent to this. I get nothing, absolutely nothing for it, while corporations make bank on my work and the work of my colleagues.

I will never ever use whatever dumbass tool Microsoft or #TaylorandFrancis will make. I won't learn anything from their tools, which will only ever be derivative garbage, and now my work is fuelling the climate crisis all the more so my kid will suffer, too.

(to say I'm angry about this is an understatement.)

After 15+ years of hustling to publish #academic journal articles and books, a significant proportion of my work is now being sold off to #Microsoft to train #LLMs. I never consented to this, and of course when I started my career, I never predicted this.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/academic-authors-shocked-after-taylor--francis-sells-access-to-their-research-to-microsoft-ai

That whoosh you're hearing is me rushing to sign on to whatever class action lawsuit is in the offing.

I've said this before, but I think #ContentWarnings are largely dead on #Mastodon.

I find it hard to recommend members of my instance use them when no one else does. I don't know if it's a post-Twitter thing, or if it's pushback against CWs being used to silence marginalized people, but I just don't see them used all that often.

I myself don't really want folks to use CWs for things like calling out racism/*phobia, but I do think we ought to use them for capital-P Politics news.

not only will we get highly educated people to write for us and review articles for free, the authors will actually pay *us* to publish their work!