Hamish Campbell an #openweb organic intellectual and technologist
There’s an old rot in the heart of European tech policy – and it’s not just from the corporate lobbies. It’s also sprouting from the well-funded, #NGO-flavoured corners of what should have been grassroots. A contradiction that tells us everything we need to know about how broken the current #EU #mainstreaming crew and paths are. … Continue reading Composting the EU Tech Mess: From #NLnet to #Eurostack
With the hard shift to the right in US tech, Europe can no longer afford to sit idly by in tech development. The myth of neutrality has always been a convenient lie—if we don’t actively counterbalance this shift, we risk watching the #FOSS and #openweb movements collapse, taking with them a core pillar of our … Continue reading #NLnet #EU #NGI #NGIzero – Will we get it right this time?
User-Operated Internet Fund “Software is eating the world. Maybe the world ought to consider biting back” let’s talk about the #geekproblem by looking at https://nlnet.nl/useroperated/ With the focus on “Individual autonomy” it gets off to a bad start as the WWW/internet is a group project, made up of meany different groups of people. The is … Continue reading The problem we face with funding – nlnet
In this #openweb reboot, do you ever stop and wonder, really wonder, why most of the codebases outside #Mastodon are languishing? It’s not a technical issue. It’s not “a lack of funding” (though that’s what they love to talk about). It’s not even about network effects, not really. It’s because they’re all following Mastodon’s lead, … Continue reading Why Most Fediverse Codebases Are Languishing
Funding the #openweb is a political act, yet most funding decisions today are framed in technical terms only, dominated by what we call the #geekproblem – a worldview where infrastructure is king, user needs are secondary, and social context is largely ignored. Let’s unpack this with real-world examples and look at how we keep falling … Continue reading Talking About the #geekproblem in Funding
Almost all of our #geekproblem software fails because it’s built with a mindset of control. Control over users.Control over systems.Control over outcomes. But all good societies, and all durable communities, are based on trust. When we ignore this, we don’t just write bad code, we produce #techshit that nobody uses, that burns out developers, and … Continue reading Why most #geekproblem software fails: Trust vs. control
Let’s talk about the tension at the heart of the modern #openweb, and why so many grassroots builders and radical technologists find themselves on the outside looking in. Scene: A typical “open internet” conference in Europe. Excited NGO-funded attendee toots: Me (a social tech outsider): PS. It’s a metaphor. But not an empty one. Two … Continue reading A conversation about money and the #openweb
Let’s be honest: we have a real and ongoing #geekproblem in how funding is allocated in the alt-tech and #openweb space, and it’s holding us back. The current push for infrastructure is important, but it’s not enough. Yes, backend infrastructure is vital. You can’t build sustainable alternatives to #dotcons without solid plumbing. Funding projects like … Continue reading Talking about the #geekproblem in #openweb funding
The big question need to be highlighted: where will pressure for meaningful regulation of #dotcons algorithmic monopolies actually come from? Right now, it’s hard to see. Lawmakers generally have a poor grasp of the real problems, decades behind on both the tech and its corrosive social consequences. Most legislation we get is either pre-packaged by … Continue reading Where’s the Resistance to Algorithmic Monopolies?
It’s good to see events like #NGIFORUM2025 as it’s trying to be on the path of the #Fediverse and the wider #openweb reboot which are real forces for social good, messy, hopeful, and grounded in decades of grassroots digital culture, which we do need to support. BUT we also need to speak honestly, as these … Continue reading NGIFORUM2025 is timidly touching sense
In the sprouting landscape of #openweb infrastructure, it’s not just code that gets ignored, it’s the possibility of change itself. Projects like #makeinghistory, part of the wider Open Media Network (#OMN), aren’t asking for much. They’re not flashy. They’re not political in the #mainstreaming sense. They just quietly build the back-end tools that allow people … Continue reading The wall of funding silence
Dear Michiel, At this point, it’s hard not to notice a pattern. You’ve received clear, thoughtful proposals aligned with your calls – yet no real engagement, year after year. I’ve said this gently before: your call-out text needs to be composted. If you’re not funding alternative, open, activist infrastructure – just say that. Don’t lead … Continue reading Composting the reboot funding