dotcons – Page 4 – Hamishcampbell

A look at how technology shapes progressive/radical media- looking forward – looking back

3 events at newspeak house this winter:
Session 1) Looking back – how technology shaped the production and distribution of radical/progressive media like #Undercurrents, #Indymedia etc.

Session 2) The current day – failure of radical media technology. The rise of the #dotcons and the new alt-media projects.

Session 3) Looking forward – The #activetypub meetup. This is an update on the state of current #openweb projects. A continuation of the very successful #Mastodon meetups that I setup last year, opening up to the wider projects like #Peertube, #Pleroma, #Pixalfeed etc.

What kind of format do you imagine?

First two would be presentation, with long Q&A sessions and feedback from other participants that arrive on the day. Following the successful meetups last year, the last session is a user group go round with a few lightening talks and Q&A.

Session 1) I’m planning to invite one of the founders of both Undercurrents and IMC to speak. I was also involved in both so we would have 3 perspective’s. I would have to cover the expenses of these speakers.

Session 2) I’m currently looking for speakers. I can talk/guide on this subject to shape the agenda to the subject.

Session 3) We have a list of people to invite from our meetup group from last year, so it will be a continuity user group meetup with fresh outreach.

And who do you imagine as your target audience?

Session 1) People who were involved (a lot) on the production and distribution of radical/progressive media. Historians (a few), and people interested in the 3 workshops and the subject of tech and politics in general.

Session 2) The same people from the first session will come to the second one, plus next generation who built good things inside the #doctons (for example UK uncut, student protests, current radical media projects and their ordinances).

Session 3) The same people from the first two sessions, plus the people running the Mastodon instances. Both developers and users, as well as the new alt media producers to connect with the developers/sysadmins

For outreach there will be two bites of the cherry, the publicity for the event and the publicity for each of the sessions.

Helping the stepaway from the #dotcons

https://campaign.openworlds.info

https://activism.openworlds.info

https://visionon.tv

https://openworlds.info

http://omn.openworlds.info

I have 5 working/funded/stable #openweb projects to push this winter to wider ordences.

Covering News, Social Media, Video and Search.

Be the change you wont to see #stepaway from the #dotcons back to the openweb. #4opens are key for projects to work dont drink to deeply from the #encryptionist stream 😉

Should the state run #failbook

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-facebook-state-owned-social-media-bbc-iplayer-privacy-labour-public-ownership-a8504151.html

A. Is this a good idea?

Q. It is certainly a better idea. Whether or not it is the best possible is another question …

A. We already have a healthy alt to the #dotcons growing. Do we need a state run one. This is a new look at a old debate between anarchist and socialists maybe. Https://campaign.openworlds.info

Q. The thing is that any alternative needs a certain critical mass of people to adopt it before it will work. I just can’t see how the breakthrough can be made by any completely independent alternative. Anything that can take over from FB needs massive publicity.

A. The “fedvers/activertypub” network has over 2 million users and growing. What we need now is a push and keep pushing of this. The Labour party should be doing this… it will likely not due to #fashernista agendas… but am not inside to make a real judgement in this? Any one in the loop?

A. What would a state lead social network look like? A big centralized #failbook or a local run federated network?

Building alt/grassroots media networks to challenge and widen the traditional media

Our current groups doing alt/grassroots media are too limited in there idea of what media could/should be in this the is either a naivety or a dishonesty . The most successful act and think they can be “big media” with out controlling the distribution of there content in any meaningful way. This is of course not unusual, the mainstream media is continually making this same mistake. All of them rely on the the #dotcons which nowadays is largely the Facebook algorithm for the there content distribution.

Our current grassroots/alt media have web sites so already have one foot in the openweb, but non of their sites prominently link in any meaningful way to each other. They do podcasts so anther foot in the open web, but all their effort for outreach is inside the #silos such as Apple itunes etc. it’s hard to directly blame them, though we should and will, for this sorry state.

So why are we here? On the one hand we have the #fashernista embrace of the #dotcons which almost all the current crew built there careers inside. A capitalist main-streaming.

On the other we have the suicidal embrace of #encryptionists complexity and parallel “standardisation” into a pointless/shrinking to nothingness alt-tech ghetto were our alt-geeks are and desire to stay. A liberal/libertarian main-streaming.

With these issues in mind I have been outreaching to these groups for the last year, and building real working openweb linking tech as part of the #OMN project. This currently is not been getting past the crews naivety/self interest/career focused thinking. Fair anufe if that is as far as there imagination/aspiration goes, but this is a clear problem for working alt/progressive/left media that urgently needs to be addressed.

So our current alt/grassroots media are irrelevant to rebooting a healthy society from a technical/social point of view. The is some good content but no realistic path for this media to be seen or spread in a way that can be affective for social change.

One simple and practical path to change this is a basic. To move on with alt/grassroots media producers linking to each other on the #openweb Currently they pointlessly do not do this, even though they have repeatedly stated they do over the last few years.

What action have I been taking over the last 10 years:

1) Keep private messaging them on steps they can take, this works to an extent, as last year I asked them to add more tags to their posts and they “broke” the User Interface on the #OMN software we are using by adding lots more – which is a good problem to have. A small step.

2) Publicly talk to them as a alt/grassroots media group in blog post and their social media – this currently has little affect.

3) Talk to them in public as producer groups – this has had a limited affect with some of the groups, will try this more.

4) Public talk to them as individual’s, this will generally get a private response and little/no action just words so far.

5) Name and shame them as groups who do not link/share with other groups in public, this might be needed for some of the groups, but this is a negative.

6) Name them as individuals within the producer groups and push for linking directly to them in public, name and point to the individual that this is a clear negative #fail a last stage.

Its a shame that this escalation is needed/not working – linking is a clear path to success on the web – the right-wing blogs/producers do this, its a simple #fail that the left/progressive do not now and generally never have link to each other.

“Make the world you wont to see” LINKING is the bases of the #openweb and a strong path to #rebooting the grassroots internet itself. Looking for helpful/happy people to crowed source the active conversation to make this happen, maybe we need a “new” alt-media content #reboot to pull the current ones onto a sustainable path, lead by example.

For this to be relevant we need working open media tech, the best example of this is mastodon/activertypub. The #OMN project uses this and is simple #4opens based on linking, its a “first step”.

Summing up of the #webroots meetings at #nwsk

I came away feeling like an alien with the chasm that divides my #openweb view from the Facebook generation that made up the panel and ordnance.

Some thoughts:

As the guy from demo’s said the are better #openweb projects in most areas. Though these options were only said in a few words in passing.

It’s interesting that the has not been a mention of the WWW just the internet. This might be because a company like Facebook is not on the web do a search and you come to a login page, not content you can link to.

As said on the panel legislating for the #dotcons is dangerous for a wider www/internet view. On this positive note they knew they were incompetent for the roles they were playing. That’s a step.

A look at were alt grassroots media is at

Published Date 9/17/17 10:02 AM

A look at some of the current alt/radical media projects in the UK

Novra media

These guys are some of the most intelligent “idiots” I know. They produce good content and they produce a lot of it.

* FANTASTIC CONTENT

* HARD WORKING

* OLD, BROKEN AND DANGURUES NEW/OLD MEDIA ASPIRATIONS

You can see them trying to build themselves into the new Guardian/Buzzfeed/***media. The root problem am hoping is the limited understanding/interest of the open web due to them having built there careers inside the #dotcons of Twitter and Facebook etc. In this the is hope for these guys.

Realmedia

The now “old” upstarts who keep getting it wrong by building something that might have been the thing to do if they had done it 10 years ago and most importantly as a open network rather than a closed portal.

* REFUSE TO LISTEN

* FUNDING DRAIN

Hard to say if the is hope for them.

The Canary

The tabloid of left alt-media, my thought is that am glad some one is doing these and its not me 🙂

* GOOD CLICK BAITING

* EXCELLENT OUTREACH

* HAVE HAD A TENDENCY TO BE ON THE EDGE OF FAKENEWS

* STILL MAINSTREAM MEDIA FACING

Now these guys would be valuable as part of a Open Media Network (OMN) partnering up to work as outreach for the more content soled groups. Its a nobrainer and not to far away from the funding model as a bigger alt means a bigger them, more revenue – everyone wins.

The fact that they are now linking after each story gives hope.

Built by the social media generation so little real understanding of the open web and limited interest in being part of the open world. Is this an unsolvable problem?

RealNews

The granddaddy of the current alt/grassroots media, they are a niche publisher of trade union grassroots news. Good content that all the other groups should LINKING to and share BUT CURRENTLY DO NOT, this sums up the issue with current “alt” media.

With a bit of investment they should be at the centre of a OMN

* HARD-WORKING AND GOOD CONTENT

* TECHNOLOGY BACKWARD

* GETTING A BIT LONG IN THE TOOTH

Am going to take a little time to try and help them out if they need/except help.

Radical film network

Has been taken over by a bunch of career building academics. There events have been so pointless that I have never been to one of them, and, I was around at the setup. I have been one of the most prolific radical/alt/grassroots film-makers of the last 20 years its odd that isn’t it, that am alienated from something calling it self “the radical film network”.

* THEY LINK

* POINTLESS

* LIBERAL FUNDING DRAIN

Outcome – CHANGE THE NAME to #fashernista film makers / academic career building network

The Media Fund

Grew out of realmedia and share many of its NGO facing. Good and needed project if it can refocus on real media outcomes The 4#opens and the linking of alt-media.

OMN

A open “trust” peer to peer standereds based network thats needed.

* THEY LINK

* #4OPENS PROJECT

visionOntv

Still worthwile as a video part of a network but pointless with out this wider linking project.

* THEY LINK

* “KINDA” #4opens project

Building alt grassroots media networks to challenge the traditional media

Published Date 7/16/17 7:30 PM

Our current groups doing alt/grassroots media are to limited in there idea of what media could/should be. The is either a naivety or a dishonesty to all the current grassroots/alt media. They act and think they can be “big media” with out controlling the distribution of there content in any real way. This is in no way unusual the mainstream media is continually making this very same mistake. All of them rely on the the #dotcons which nowadays is largely the Facebook algorithm for the there content distribution.

So why are we here? On the one hand we have the #fashernista embrace of the #dotcons which most of the current crew built there careers inside. On the other we have the suicidal embrace of #encryptionists complexity and parallel “standardisation” into a pointless/shrinking in to nothingness alt-tech ghetto were our alt-geeks are.

With these issues in mind I have been outreaching to these groups for the last year, and building real working openweb linking tech as part of the #OMN project. This currently is not been getting far past their naivety/self interest/career focused thinking. Fair anufe if that is as far as there imagination/aspiration goes, but this is a clear problem for working alt/progressive/left media that urgently needs to be addressed. I will keep outreaching, if you wont to help with this outreach get in touch.

They link to meany alt-media crews at the end of each story which is nice, but no links on front page yet.

They have no links on the front page to alt media crews. They used to have a linking page inside there site, now I cannot find it? If anyone can find links can they send me a URL please. They are looking like going backwords to a more tredtional 20th centery view of what media is?

They have no links on the front page to other alt-media crews and I cannot find any links inside their site. They have source links in there story’s which is not much of a step. This is a clear a failer in alt/grassroots media turms.

History of the visionOntv project

The original project was offlinetv and was a online network to setup screenings to bring people together and cross fertilize different radical campaigning groups. I was pushing it as “open” rebooting of the failing undercurrents video activism project.

Before this I had been making a meager living doing screenings by fundraising vie the copyleft ruffcuts video CD project. With the transitioning from dialup to broadband internet speed the was a possibility to move the the distribution of screening quality video to the spreading peer2peer web.As you will continue to see thought my narration here my core thinking changes little.

The first dotcon (enclosures) boom had bust, the web was still a health open network through the “open” pioneers were being pushed out by more mainstream fahernisata people, these people were being snapped up by the next wave of dotcon funding so the clock was ticking on the next boom (and attempt as enclosing the web for control and profit).

Fashernisa´s were all over the open web, conferences, events, media. Geeks were developing open standards – each one unlinked/incompatible with the next it was a “fun” time for “open”. This flowering of geek culture had its fashernista side, the were 100 applications for zipping files or FTP and no easy to use open tools – the geek problem.

P from undercurrents got involved to do the funding side, a lot of “brainstorming” was done. During this time we see a “splitting” of the project. It was obvious that streaming video – that is a technology for watching video real time without having a local copy was going to grow to dominate the next dotcon boom and the fashionistas were buying into this big time. This is a client server technology – from one to many – its old (traditional) media distribution. At the same time the was a subculture flowering or peer2peer technology being used for “free content” this was a “native” open web technology.

The “splitting” was around a miscommunication/misunderstanding of what was going to happen in the next 5 years. And “funding” pushed this in a bad way, it was easy to talk to funders about “online video” it was fahernista mainstream. Few had any thought to the “cost” of jumping on the #dotconS fahernista wave. And in time the rise of the #dotcons from the second boom that was rising for all to see.

The “brainstorming” lead to the project being renamed visionOntv – just for the funding and outreach – much easier to get funding. Why would anyone be interested in offlinetv and peer2peer technologies all the value was about “owning” online space. That is enclosing the commons was unthinkingly embraced as a good thing – a touch on controlfreekery.

This simple change was the first step to the project losing direction and failing.

Power Politics of the undead left

Published Date 2/1/17 2:07 PM

I have found memories of fighting the Power Politics of the “undead left” during the London Social Forum many years ago – lots of knotted strings of organic garlic around the top “taking the power table” to highlight the uncomfortable “undead left´s” grasping for power.

Then the ad hock crew taking away the top table altogether during the lunch break and arranging all the chairs in a circle. Their faces were a delight, coming back after lunch and it kinda/might have worked… but the splits of “not thought of here” took over and the undead were permissioned to take back the space at the next meeting.

The ESF movement faded and now is a shadow – no alt was built.

The use of cultural myths and traditions will mediate and disempower “power politics” but it’s a chicken and an egg to get these embedded in groups that are already ensnared in “power politics”.

The rainbow gatherings used to work this way till they were “disrupted” by the digital shift and capture by the #dotcons now the gatherings themselves are broken due in part by being organized through #failbook

The #OMN could fail from the same issue. The myths and traditions are in place PGA and #4opens. But the project does not have deep roots to weather the inrush of success. And on the other hand will likely not last the slow growth needed for the roots to dig deep.

Starting/Doing the “Risistence Expo project is unsettling for the same resion.

Trust and Media Flows

Published Date 1/30/17 11:25 AM

Am thinking trust needs to be brought back into media. We have been trained like Pavlov dogs to push out stuff on the #dotcons as articles catch our fleeting interest.

The are so many agendas pushing news – who is pushing it becomes as important as whats in it. We need to hold back on click bait – find a source of news we/you “trust” and push that.

If we/your not part of the solution you/we are part of the problem, “click bait” pushing is the/a problem. Trusted (new) media sources a/the solution.