Was an interesting read I don’t mind being out in the cold so much, but the combination of cold & wet we get here especially with added wind can be more unpleasant.
Tag: doug belshaw
TL;DR: Going forward, Thought Shrapnel will be a bit more random.
Hi Doug,
Like Adam, I welcome the random and change is always good. Been enjoying the Open Thinkering of late too.
Aaron is wondering about Jetpack after reading Doug’s post about privacy. The post is fascinating and a useful reminder. On the Jetpack front I’ve got Jetpack installed but the “Publicize connections” & “Sharing buttons” turned off. I don’t see any traffic going to Facebook using two of the tool’s that Doug suggests. Perhaps Jetpack is OK? Or I don’t really know how to use the tools.
A decade since I left teaching and it seems to have gone from free sharing of openly-licensed resources to edu-influencers getting people to like and retweet for resources
A lot to unpack in this. I was naively optimistic about open sharing (& about knowledge of copyright & licenses spreading).
Firefox extensions
Doug: Would be interested in you sharing yours, too John
Hi Doug,
My Firefox use is pretty light, so this is not too exciting. I mostly use Safari.
- 1 Password
- Facebook Container, not sure how that got there, auto installed?
- Fraidycat, there is always room for another RSS reader in my life and Kicks Condor has some amazing stuff online
- Greasemonkey, I think I installed but it was to hard for me to figure out
- OneNote Clipper, from when I was testing OneNote
- RSSPreview, newly installed
- Save Tiddlers
- Want My RSS
- Firebug – disabled (I found it too much for my needs)
- User-Agent Switcher (disabled)
The only ones I am particularly interested in at the moment are the RSS ones, Fraidycat and Save Tiddlers.
Although I’ve got my main TiddlyWiki experiment running on a Raspberry pi using node (look at me!) and usually use Waterfox as the editor I am interested in other ways of using it.
Interestingly I have even fewer extensions in Safari. This is partially due to the way apple controls the extensions you can use and partially due to my preference for klunky homemade things, either JavaScript bookmarklets or AppleScripts. This makes it hard for me to abandon Safari. For a while Chrome was my secondary, now Firefox & Waterfox, I think I might go back to vanilla FF as my number 2 now the RSS works:-) Especially as containers might be useful…
In this microcast, I go through my Firefox extensions and the reasons I have them installed.
Hi Doug,
That was interesting, thanks.
I’d moved to Waterfox for my secondary browser when Firefox lost the display of RSS,
I’ve now added the RSSPreview add-on. Glad to get a reminder about Fraidycat too.
Reply to: Microcast #081 – Anarchy, Federation, and the IndieWeb
Hi Doug,
Thanks very much for taking the time to give your take on the IndieWeb. It was both interesting and valuable. There are a few rabbit holes to dive down. I’ve not read much Anarchism since Kropotkin and that a long time ago.
After leaving this reply for a fair time and a couple of listens my response is still a disconnected series of ramblings. Not arguing against anything you said but bouncing off some corners.
My own interest in the IndieWeb came from being a blogger who was saddened by the lack of commenting on sites after twitter. The comments that used to live on in a blog were now scattered to twitter.
Rather than read up on the principals or figure out how things worked I just loaded up a few plugins and clicked things. As you say the IndieWeb is not made for folk who do not enjoy digging into the tech a wee bit. I am testament to the fact that some of the technology can be used in a fairly careless fashion.
Micro.blog excursions
This toe dipping bumbled along for a few years until Micro.Blog appeared. Using micro.blog cost nothing for someone like me with a blog to join in. It took me a while to get my head round Micro.Blog. Partially it is an RSS reader that you can use to interact with your own and other folks sites.
Manton, who is behind micro.blog has explained that he doesn’t want the service to scale to twitter size, but more sees it as a model for how communities of independent bloggers can work. That is the way I see it, I would love to see an educational ‘micro.blog’ a place where I could follow other bloggers and what would ease some of the friction, but not too much, of blogging and responding.
The other thing that micro.blog solves is the ‘like’ and ‘follower count’ problem.
If I like something on micro.blog it is more like a private bookmark, the liked person doesn’t know I’ve liked them. I need to write a reply. Now I am quite shallow, I like getting likes, that is why I still manually posse my photos to instagram. I can however see and feel the benefits. In fact I find myself, 1. spending less time on instagram and 2. when I am there writing comments. The community conversations on micro.blog are slower and richer than on twitter in my experience.
Just as I don’t know who reads my blog I don’t know who follows me on micro.blog. This is interesting. Quite a few big name bloggers signed up for micro.blog I don’t seem many of them being very active or even posting. I suspect lack of follower numbers and knowledge of who is following you make it hard to use micro.blog for more commercial bloggers. I’ve not got anything against commercial bloggers but I want to be in a community that the conversations are two way.
Back to the IndieWeb
You used in your micro.cast to the idea of the complexity of IndieWeb as turtles all the way down (I am paraphrasing). This idea is much in my mind about technology in general. Even my best attempts to ‘own my data and technology’ relies on so many layers of thing I cannot fix. I can host a website on my Raspberry Pi, but that depends on hardware and software. Even it if that was all open source is far beyond my understanding. So to the complexity of the IndieWeb. I am not sure if mastodon has any less turtles than the IndieWeb. Micro.blog certainly show the way to simplicity.
I’ve found the IndieWeb to be tricky, bits don’t work for me, or need twiddling, or more time and knowledge than I have. I see it as an add on from the activity of blogging, which I’ll do anyway. It is not in opposition to mastodon or federation, but for me is just a few more cogs and pipes. If the IndieWeb breaks or goes away my blog will still be there. If twitter explodes the replies to my blog posts will still be in my database.
So I an a blogger first and see other things as an add-on to my blog. I understand the need for a less commercial and algorithmic network with a low technical entry barrier.
Mastodon has not yet clicked for me, I did for a short time have my posts syndicating there, but I’ve broken that somehow;-) It might yet. Other things might come along, I continue to keep half an eye on Moodle net.
Cheers
John
This week’s microcast answers a question from John Johnston about federation and the IndieWeb.
This is a really interesting listen, Doug takes a philosophical view of the IndieWeb and compares it to federation. I’m going to listen through again before I posts some thoughts.
It was of note I discovered the podcast via a webmention on the post where I asked the question.
Greg McVerry responded in kind Politics of Plumbing: IndieWeb and Federation and Arron’s response to that make interesting listening and reading too.
Doug’s time in answering my question is very much appreciated.
A microcast about my experiences at two events last weekend.
Microcast #080 – Redecentralize and MozFest | Doug Belshaw’s Thought Shrapnel
An interesting and wide ranging podcast Doug.
I liked the concept of seams rather than seamless technology. Likewise I’ve found a bit of friction useful. Slows things down and gives you time to think.
The decentralised session sounds like an interesting way to run a session, it is, it might be too easy for experienced confident speakers to take over such a session, so perhaps needs a fairly egoless leader. Sounds so like yours went very well.
I think you asked for microcast suggestions? I’d be interested on your take on the IndieWeb as compared to federation.
This microcast covers ethics in decision-making for technology companies and (related!) some recent purchases I’ve made.
Delighted to see Doug’s microcast in his RSS feed. I also love Doug’s wrestling with his technology stack. Over the years it has gone back and forwards and is always fascinating to read Doug’s thoughts on the whys and wherefores.