For the longest time I have avoided using Meta’s Whatsapp.
Recently its become more difficult with more and more services using Whatsapp as there default way to communicate. Luckily my partner has become a bit of a human bridge to some Whatsapp groups.
To be really clear this is not good! I’m very aware of the mental load women shoulder in society and relationships. I struggle with it but we have talked about it and how I do a lot in our relationship too.
I am finding it almost inconceivable that WhatsApp has become (de-factor) something like public infrastructure. It was refreshing to see a ton of people using signal, the fediverse and heck email to swap details…
Which leads me the PublicSpaces conference, where people who strategise, build and encourage; a future which is democratic and fair for everyone. Unlike a lot of conferences I have been to, this had the actual builders alongside policymakers, all considering how this can actually practically work.
Usually PublicSpaces is 2 days of conference but this year there was a extended day of conference on Friday (added the open social awards) and also a series of unconferences, social events and workshops the day before and the day afterwards. We were fully immersed and perfectly created.
Robin Bjon’s opening keynote set the mood, I especially loved this quote from Audre Lorde…
But I do have hope. To face the realities of our lives is not a reason for despair—despair is a tool of your enemies. Facing the realities of our lives gives us motivation for action. For you are not powerless.
Then in the afternoon, during a panel which I was chairing came the European social stack. It was all live streamed so you will see the chaos which unfolded and myself trying to manage it (I felt I did a reasonable job)
Ultimately the European social stack is an attempt to standardise a stack of open social platforms and private messaging. Based around core principles of… Autonomy, diversity, decentralisation, democracy, open source and more.
But this isn’t some blind manifesto, this has aims which are defined. It’s also not about being in Europe but rather the values, and represents a 3rd way between the other super powers vision of the internet.
Later on the same day during the Social web awards, Rudy from Black Sky algorithms gave ActivityPub some props in his talk, similar to Robin from Eurosky. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was impressed the two break off skies (Eurosky & Blacksky) were positioning themselves in a very different space than the big mainstream Bluesky. Reminding me, I should just move off Bluesky…
His talk was framed as a talk with dangerous ideas and honestly there was a lot of excellent ideas. For example I was looking into Blacksky cash a while back and it’s something which takes an old traditional way of sharing wealth and puts it in the modern world; but relies on strong community and democracy.
It feels like the protocol wars are cooling between Activitypub and ATProto. But better still is the formulation of a social stack, which is logical and still gives plenty of room for creativity and experimentation without taking liberties with people’s data, attention and democracy.
Looking forward to open social becoming a reality for more people. I would also add this was one of the best publicspaces conferences I have been to and likely one of the best conferences in recent times.
Where to go next in 2017?
The Eurostack adopts the European social stack live at PublicSpaces 2027?!