Talking to people about #twittermigration

Thinking of stepping away from the #dotcons to the #openweb a conversation with an activist signing up on a big general instance – they kinda all do this.

A. You might be better off on an activism focused instance, https://activism.openworlds.info, but you will be fine on the one anyone, as they all talk to each other. The instance you join is your “home community” so good to join one that matches your interests and mission.

Q. Thank you so much – I am entirely lost here as just arrived and the whole ‘find your server’ bit flumoxxed me! Excuse what’s likely a silly question – but ‘where is my main profile?’ ie: where whatever bit of Mastodon I’m on… I would
be the same me?

A. you have joined a big general instance’s https://mastodon.online/ it’s a fine place to be. You can have more than one account on different instances, I have 3 mastodon accounts on 3 different instances, run 2 of these as a part of the #OMN

Ps. hashtags are your friend, use them in posts and click on them to find interesting people

Q. so if I boost a post on one account – I would need to also boost on other ‘me’ accounts in other arenas/spaces? Thanks so much for your help x

A. you can do that, but you don’t need to. All the instances are kinda one big space. The import bit is that each instance has a community and focus, so it helps yourself and the #openweb if you put our self into a subject instance.

For example, if someone complains about your posts it’s the mods and admins of the instance you join get to decide if it stays up or your account gets closed… so best to have a relationship with the instance admin and mods… This is much easer on a smaller, friendly focused instance than a bigger, more inpersional general one.

It’s much more #DIY and human relationship than #twitter.

An activist history of the web

The “better” #closedweb (ISP intranets) was “surprisingly” destroyed by the “inferer” #openweb, which then exploded in use to spread everywhere. The #mainstreaming thinking then tried and failed to recapture this #4opens project for ten years as it takes up global space, and was a real challenge change, that the “common sense” said should not exist. This working alternative was finally sold out by our own #fahernistas, who bribed with money and statues members of the “unthinking” #geekproblem to build the #dotcons that rapidly took over the #openweb space.

Our wider activist #fashernistas created “liberal stories” about how embracing the #dotcons was a good path. The wider #fahernistas flocked to these #closedweb spaces to grasp at the real early power they provided, after society had finished this shift, the bate and switch took this power away, and we were left with “servalence capitalism” and no social power, as was obvuse at the time it was a con.

Our #fashernistats then pissed tech change/challenge agenst the wall for ten years. While the #openweb user facing technology withered, ignored and irrelevant to #mainstreaming. A few years ago we had an “accidental” #openweb reboot with #activitypub and soon after pushing of the next generation of #closedweb projects with #web03 leaving us in the current messy times.

Yes now the #dotcons are roting, but the #openweb is only a small change challenge due to our #fahernistas and #geekproblem actively #BLOCKING the change challenge inherent to the project.

Where are we now and what can we learn from this? Liberalism in tech are often active prats, co-opting, bait and switch and taking the easy #NGO funded path when the choice comes. They are #friendlyenemies, even when they deny this with all their “common sense”. Ideas to mediate this, please?

Do you except that “new” is often #deathcult (neo-liberalism) and #postmodernism because this is “common sense” what is your plan/idea to get around these problems?

I have had 20 years of “new” and am very underwhelmed, actually it’s almost all #blocking or adding to the #techshit to be composed. This is obviously a problem that needs to be mediated, what is your plan/process to have a better outcome?

Remember that the only thing that has worked in the last 10 years has been copying #dotcons with #activertypub every themselves has failed, what can we learn from this?

This is an important question that the #OMN project mediates.

Dig, plant, grow. Compost the #techshit, repeat.

Q. We need to be honest about this

A. I joined here only recently to experiment with the Fediverse, and that’s my first impression too. The two hottest kinds of topic I found were meta discussions such as “Twitter users will come here now”, and “the system is fucking with us using vaccines”.

Q. we build at Alt but will people come, some will. Moving away from the #dotcons it’s a tiny step we need to do more, MUCH more #OMN

A. people use the mainstream media because there they can find the information they want, their friends, and have a pleasant experience with highly usable tools. Only a very small group of people would use a privacy-oriented social media with complexities such as a federated network just because “fuck the system”. Even a nerd with the obsession for cybersecurity and privacy like me has an hard time finding interesting stuff here. And, believe me, I’m trying.

Q. this is an excellent question to ansear.

There are two points:

Firstly, we had exalent outreach alt media around for 20 years, #indymediaback is an example project that we need coders to help reboot.

Secondly, to think that we/you have any chance of grassroots progressive social change challenge without working alt media is a fatal fantasy. We can clearly see this in the mess of the last ten years.

We have the codeing tools #activitypub, and we have the historical social models that we know used to work, but had scaling issues.

The #OMN plan is simple, bring the new working technical scaling to the old working social models/process #4opens

As you say the fedivers made up of copies of #dotcons is too small a step.. We have to take the next step if we have any seruse ideas about change/challenge of the current #mainstreaming #deathcult

We have to change, challenge our social ideas and social process in what is left of the #openweb

This is less fundermentalist than it sounds as open-source (free softer) development already works mostly #4opens so the change being pushed by the #OMN is #nothingnew

This should be easy, but #BLOCKING has obviously to be overcome, dig, plant, grow. Compost the #techshit, repeat. One good first step is to be honest about our own funding.

A. being “alternative” is not a strong selling point because you define yourself relatively to something else instead of having your own identity. This dooms you to be always in the shadow of “the mainstream” as a sort of second choice.

Q. Being alternative USED to have a strong identity as did #openweb and yes you are right they DO NOT have this any more, this is a problem we should change challenge not except as “common sense”.

Think before replying as this conversation is more about agreeing then division, focus is good.

Doing the same thing in the same context and expecting different results is one of the clinical definitions of insanity

Q. Doing the same thing in the same context and expecting different results is one of the clinical definitions of insanity. 😀

A. That is EXACTLY the #mainstreaming problem the #hashtages are about, well said. If it’s not different, it’s not working #nothingnew

WE have solved this problem in the past but have not had a way to scale these solutions, now we have a technological way of scaling but have lost the “working activist culture” to social use with the technological scaling.

This is the story and the path, let’s get biblical.

#OMN

Talking about storys and #stupidindividualism

Q. One difficulty that I personally have with your communication methods is your use of hashtags that convey meaning to the people that already know and use them, but are opaque to someone who doesn’t know what they mean.

You end up being only able to communicate with people within your own filter bubble.

What are the ranges of different patterns of communication that you have tried?

Which ones worked more effectively with which audiences?

A. As we talked about before, the #hashtags are a collective social story, but what is obvious is that if there is no collective there is no story… So if you want the story, build the collective to tell the story.

Bit of a chicken and egg issue, ay.

It’s #4opens non #mainstreaming change challenge… If nothing changes there is no challenge, thus it’s completely up to “us” not “me” am doing my “modernist” story, as you say if we all do different story’s the is no outcome.

Someone at some point has to add to the story, retell it, shape it and use it for change challenge.

I repeat, I have done my bit, been at the front line of this social story for 40 years and am now sailing off on my lifeboat.

What are “we” doing with this story, that has passed through “my” hands

Anyone can pick up the power of the story or let it fall as sand as we currently do.

Remember you would have to be completely #stupidindividualism to only see this as “my” story, it’s obviously not 🙂

#nothingnew

People BLOCKING the needed process, or more normally simply ignore it.

If you keep doing the same thing, there will be the same outcome. Different world views have different process and sometimes different outcomes.

All the #OMN projects are based on a different world view that we know can work to build “society” with scaling limitations and combining this with using #openweb tech that we know can scale.

The problem we face is communicating this to people who have NO knolage of either of these things or ONLY knolage of one of these things.

When they have no knolage of this subculture that all our civil rights are based on, they apply their all-knowing #mainstreaming “common sense” to BLOCK the needed process and codeing, or more normally simply ignore it.

Ideas?

A simple look at the #OMN project

The are few if any working humane alternatives to the current #deathcult worship, thus for meany stepping away from this mess is simply not an option. The #OMN is about proof of concepts to build off what we know works combined with the new technology of federation (activitypub) to scale these small scale to wider social projects. The #OGB #indymediaback #4opens are stepping stones to a different, sustainable world.

#BLOCKING this is stupid and irresponsible.

Keep your thinking #KISS

Interesting to think about why people put so much energy into #BLOCKING

All #OMN projects are based on grassroots organisation that we know works, the innovation is in using “technological federation” to scale these working social projects using #activitypub that the fedivers is based on, which we know works.

Mainstreaming people who spend energy #blocking the fedivers are the same people who would come into a protest camp and reject and try and force change on the working process.

All good progressive society are based on trust, which is about giving up this desire

#encryptionists is about the feeling of total control that encryption gives the #geekproblem this is key because all good progressive society are based on trust, which is about giving up this desire.

The problem in “geek” is the problem of socialization… a known geek issue 🙂 in itself is fine, am not judging. BUT this is embedded in code that shapes society, it becomes a “problem”.

Good to think a bit more on this one. With power comes responsibility.

The is a minority role for “encryption” the #encryptionst hashtag is for the group of people who push this minority use over to many things.

Social change/challenge to rebuild society based on “trust” is a social issue and social solution. The #geekproblem is seeing technical solutions and PUSHING this over the obviously hard social path. This is not only pointless, it’s damage.

Can you think of a way of explaining this to people who’s “common sense” add to this mess?

#mainstreaming is obviously a #deathcult we do need to keep saying this

#mainstreaming is obviously a #deathcult we do need to keep saying this. There are well document alt’s that I push with every use of the hashtags #OGB #OMN #4opens etc. The problem we way too often face is people wanking liberal “common sense” in the era of the #deathcult so need to make this point forcefully.For our liberals (of every type) this comes across as toxic positively if they can see the positive side at all. When they don’t I call this #BLOCKING and often get blocked for doing so.

Compost and shit comes to mind, shit is good compost, so this is NOT actually a negative statement, it’s part of the story, in radical grassroots direct action you need to go through trying meany people to build a affinity group that makes a difference. http://hamishcampbell.com/2022/09/19/

People who PUSH “solutions” while they are obviously bowed down eyes on the ground to the #deathcult are pushing problems, not solutions. This is not an obvious statement to our “liberals” thus they way to often PUSH “solutions” over real working alternatives. #BLOCKING and adding to the social mess and #techshit we need to compost.

No matter how “nice” they are as individuals, their, perhaps well intended, work is a problem adding to the mess. I should not need to talk about this, but lets as few people I know understand these obverse points:

* Liberals talk about individuals, they talk about personal actions and personal responsibility. This is how you tell you are talking to a liberal.

* socialists, anarchists and leftists talk about social groups, community actions, social change and challenge. This is how you tell you are talking to a radical progressive.

So try judging people you are talking about to get a better idea who is #BLOCKING and who has the possibility of doing anything useful.

#OGB #OMN #4opens are grassroots paths.

Focus on things we don’t actually know are going to fail

We need non #deathcult #mainstreaming there are meany ideas to make this happen but no agreement on which one to take 🙂

I am into grassroots as have long expirence of this working at local levels and federation gives us an option to try this for larger groups, that is worth trying #OGB

The problem we face is that most of these tech project paths we know do not work, as the same #geekproblem projects has been tried meany times over the last 20 years.

One thing we need to do is focus on stopping this utterly pointless #techchurn to focus on things we don’t actually know are going to fail… but yes, you would be right to point out we don’t know these ideas will work as we haven’t tried them yet…

This is a good problem to have #OGB

Let’s talk about the hashtag story

Hey, changemakers! Are you tired of shouting into the void on social media? Frustrated with the endless noise and the lack of impact? It’s time to harness the power of #hashtags to fuel a movement that can actually make a difference. And guess what? The #openweb is our playground for this revolution!

Check out The Hashtag Story https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=the+hashtag+story it’s more than just a guide; it’s a blueprint for building something big, something real. If you’re passionate about activism and ready to step up, this is your chance. This isn’t going to be an easy or comfortable path, but hey, who ever said change was easy?

The #OMN (Open Media Network) path is more than a simple concept—it’s a call to action. The hashtags story can be more than just noise; they can be seeds for a movement, a way to connect, organize, and grow. But this only works if we make the commitment to turn those hashtags into something more than just digital graffiti. We need to take that extra step, turn talk into action, and make the #openweb a place for real, meaningful activism.

The #hashtags cover technology and society from a progressive view and are very simple, on a surface level, but full of complex conversations when you lift the lid and talk in the context they grow.

#deathcult = neoliberalism

#fashernista = fashion in relation to social political relations

#openweb = the original ideals of the WWW and internet culture

#closedweb = is the pre internet computer networks and the post #openweb networks, the #dotcons grow.

#4opens = the workings of FSF and open-source development with the addition of transparent process.

#encryptionists = all solutions need more encryption, this is often unthinking technological fascism.

#dotcons = the transition to for profit internet, and the social con this embodies.

#geekproblem = an old discussion on freewill and determinism, also a cultural movement, think of “two cultures” as a path to start to understand this.

#techshit = is a part of the composting metaphor, shit as a core, important, part of the ecological waist (social) cycle.

#techchurn = the technological outcome of the #geekproblem

#nothingnew = a polemical way of slowing and reversing #techcurn in a non-dogmatic way.

#OMN = open media network

#indymediaback = rebooting the dead altmedia project that was in its time the size of the #traditionalmedia on the #openweb

#OGB = open governance body

#BLOCKING = refusing to look/everting eyes/eyes closed

——————————

They are also complex and interlocking, telling a wide story and world-view, and showing a path out of our current mess.

#deathcult is relevant because of #XR forcing us to look the truth of ecological and social decay in the eye, good to ground this in real historical experiences, think of the Irish Potato and Bengal famine.

#fahernista is about consumer capitalism, looked at as social illness.

#openweb is about building code for anachronism rather than capitalism

#dotcons are feeding social illness, we cannot keep building this sickness, the step away metaphor is a positive path away from this.

#closedweb is a form of technological slavery, we often choose.

#4opens is a tool that can be used to guide us on to the better humane path and, it gives us the power to JUDGE and thus decide, it is POWER.

#geekproblem is a group of people lost in darkness, blinded to humane light, they inbreed monsters in code #techcurn #techshit

The #geekproblem hashtag is not simply negative, it’s taking obvious “problem” out of “geek”.

The problem is obvious look at #failbook and Google both “geek” projects of domination/control, and yes you are right it’s geek culture shaped by capital in both cases.

What does #openweb geek culture look like? Looking back at early #couchsurfing and #indymedia you have healthy non “problem” examples. Look at both projects late in their decline we have strong examples of the “problem”.

#techcurn the world is full of meto projects, everyone has the same ideas, few if anyone links.

#nothingnew is a question, do we need this codeing project.

#techshit is when people do not ask this question and build it anyway agen and agen

#encryptionists are in the end way too often about artificial scarcity (web03), this is not actually needed. To be clear this is a minority need for this technology, but as a limited use case not as a dominant way of thinking, codeing. #encryptionists is about the feeling of total control that encryption gives the #geekproblem this is key because all good progressive society are based on trust, which is about giving up this desire. The problem in geek is the problem of socialization… a known geek issue 🙂 in itself is fine, am not judging. BUT this is embedded in code that shapes society, it becomes a “problem”. Good to think a bit more on this one. With power comes responsibility.

This list only touches on the meanings and subjects.

Next question, what is the story and world-view that these #hashtags embody?

Ians Campbells Eulogy

While people are coming in “You can’t get me, I’m part of the union” by the Strawbs…. https://youtu.be/qJYbFFFZwdE

History

Ian was born in 1936 in Gillingham, Kent then brought up in Coventry during World War 2. The day after the bombing of Coventry, his family left and spent the war with family at Campbell’s Garage, in Main Street, Pembroke. He attended East End school.

“In Pembroke during the war Ian’s grandfather shot down a German aircraft on Saint Daniel’s hill. Ian and many children from East End primary school run up to see the Germans being removed from the plane”

After the war the family went back to Coventry, where Ian went to Bablake School. He then went to Bristol University to study biology and psychology. He met Thalia in 1959 whilst working at the new outward bound school in Holne Devon. Then they went to teach in Nottingham. They had four children

Angus, tom, hamish and Lucy

Lucy remembers: Fishing with dad, harpooning sea bass off the jetty in Aberdovey and trying not to get pulled in. Towing the cutter boat back from the sea over the bar, also in Aberdovey, with the cutter boat landing on the back of our boat, a bit scary. Dad bringing me back from sea a inflatable Heineken bright yellow ball which I loved. Teaching me to swim and canoe in the outward bound school open air swimming pool, it was freezing.

Sailor

Sailing by weather forecast..need for Ian to do outdoor jobs https://youtu.be/kpJEtnpd2dM

Ian did national service in the navy where he was almost included in the military who were going to be guinea pigs in the British atom bomb tests. At sea he was airlifted off the ship by helicopter ( because he was a student) His national service included visits to Malta, Italy and Norway ,,,, you might spot him as a young man in the film of the Yangtse incident. He loved ocean racing in Southampton, the Fastnet races, and the Round Britain race. Later in life while in charge of the sailing at Aberdovey outward bounds school he was Lifeboat coxswain and in the mountain rescue team.

Poem: Sea Fever by John Masefield https://youtu.be/aH6e9_Jb4S8

Teacher

After Bristol university, Ian taught in Somerset at Brymore farm boarding school in the early 1960’s, which had been the home of John Pym the parliamentarian, Ian had replanted the mile of chestnut trees with the school pupils, alternative pink and white up the long drive. They are still there as beautiful mature trees today.

Southampton at Itchen secondary school. master mariner’s certificate, and taught at private and public colleges in Scarborough.

“Working with the teenage pupils he organized pop concerts with many of the biggest bands of the day, this was frowned upon because the children were making too much money”

This led him to the outward bound school in Aberdovey in the 1970’s.

Activism

Ian and Thalia moved the family to Wales as a part of the healthy and flourishing alternative culture at the time. They started making banners mixing art and politics in the late 1970s; the first ones for Aberystwyth Labour Party, and a bi-lingual banner to celebrate nuclear free Wales. Over 40 years later this original banner is still being used to shore up Wales’ nuclear free status.

The hundreds of professional and community banners Ian and Thalia made together over the next 30 years became famous at the Greenham Common peace camp, in the streets and at national and international political events, conferences and exhibitions,. With Gwasg Gomer printers in Llandysul published over 100 bi-lingual colour cards and posters of banners – their own and others – for organizations. These were given and sold around the world.

“At Greenham Common, Ian, in his electioneering camper van, read out over the PA part of the Nuremberg declaration to the soldiers lined up soluting the flag in the missile base, while under the threat of arrest”

Living on the coast at Ynyslas, Borth, they made many of the banners and toured three major exhibitions in the UK and abroad – 100 years of women’s banners, the 150th exhibition of the Co-op banners and then the American ribbon exhibition. The exhibitions were hosted in city halls, city art galleries and museums during the Thatcher era. The British Council purchased two banners to tour globally.

Joan Baez – Where have all the flowers gone https://youtu.be/fIPJGljUkAc

Politician

Ian was a lifelong Labour party member and trade unionist. He stood for parliament in Clwyd North Wales, 1983, and the European election, North Wales in 1984. The campaigns were made stressful with media dirty tricks and vilification and Tory/police physical violence which were endemic.

During the miners strike they made a load of banners for the labour and union movement at cost below cost

“Ian was a founder member of Arts for Labour. With the left wing TV soap opera stars, he filled the halls with banners during the party shift to New Labour, which put a stop to this.”

He was a strong Environmentalist as a part of the environmental coalition of groups in Aberystwyth, an anti-nuclear peace activist, a member of the NUT and a branch secretary of the TGWU. He attended and was a delegate to Labour and trade union conferences in the 1970’s and 1980s.

Summing up

Challenging and effective, for peace and social justice, warm, passionate, engaged and a fighter for human civil rights correct and challenging to the end, Ian will be missed.

Now Internationale https://youtu.be/PPExpmtdMEw