Both #Indymediaback and #MakingHistory represent grassroots publishing models built around commons-based media rather than platform ownership. They differ in structure and interface, but share the same DNA: collective trust, open participation, and social moderation. The challenge – and opportunity – is to bridge these approaches, allowing interoperability while preserving their distinct paths.
Data model is the commons, most content exists as shared common’s data rather than owned posts. Authority comes from collective process rather than individual ownership.
The default core flows:
- Newswire (public, chronological flow). The newswire is the living river, anyone can contribute, but trusted contributors publish directly. Untrusted or unknown contributors enter moderation flow. Editorial collectives curate trusted streams feeding into the instance. Te news is chronological, raw and immediate to reflect street-level reporting. This flow priorities presence over polish – what is happening now.
- Features (curated layer) where features are the reservoir built from the river. Editorial collective crafts longer pieces that draw from newswire material to provide narrative framing and synthesis. This is to slow down the flow, too provide time for context and elevate significant stories. This layer introduces collective editorial voice without eliminating grassroots origin.
- Hidden (private moderation layer) Hidden is the dam, filtering toxic waste while preserving transparency internally by moderating untrusted content, not publicly visible unless released. This is used for spam control, conflict mediation and ethical decision-making. The goal is not censorship but collective filtering.
The default view structure is mostly fixed layout of:
- Newswire (live stream)
- Features (curated)
- Hidden (private moderation)
Tags exist but are secondary. Think of a fixed landing page shaped by flows rather than algorithms.
Editorial Model is collective moderation by affinity-group consensus to build social trust through participation. Authority emerges from process, not ownership.
Core metaphor is a river feeding a reservoir, with a dam filtering toxicity.
#MakingHistory
MakingHistory evolves the model from chronological publishing toward narrative ecology.
Data Model: Fragment-first publishing. Media objects become composable fragments of text, images, video, audio with annotations. Stories emerge from assembling fragments rather than existing as single immutable posts.
Everything begins as a crafted piece, linking fragments together.
Context is explicit, when editing is iterative and collaborative.
Publishing is closer to historical archiving than newsroom reporting.
Tag-based flows are primary navigation. Rich tagging enables dynamic timelines, thematic streams and historical clustering. Instead of one homepage, many narrative paths emerge.
Moderation has a private curator layers to review, prioritise and archive. Moderation becomes gardening rather than gatekeeping.
Interface is dashboard-based with multiple parallel views and TweetDeck-style streams.
Users track themes rather than sites.
Core metaphor is a garden of stories with paths (tags) connect plots. Some bloom publicly, others compost behind the scenes.
All #OMN projects have shared DNA
Both systems treat data as commons, rely on collective moderation and maintain public/private split for trust-building. They resist corporate enclosure, support grassroots communication. Differences are primarily structural:
- Indymedia = flow-first (timeline + editorial layer).
- MakingHistory = narrative-first (linked stories + thematic streams).
The role of #OMN is to act as bridge infrastructure enabling interoperable flows, shared trust networks and cross-platform publishing. Through ActivityPub and #4opens principles we get transparency, participation, open standards and shared stewardship. #OMN enables federation not just technically but socially.
Open Questions (Design Challenges)
- Collective data ownership. Should commons data be managed through group structures? A possible model is groups hold stewardship rights, membership grants moderation/admin capabilities and legacy admin roles remain but fade into background. The goal is to shift from individual admin power → collective governance.
- Trust model is about trusted vs untrusted flows – what determines trust? Possible signals are group membership, instance reputation, individual history, tag-based reputation and source provenance. Trust must remain dynamic and reversible.
- Metadata layer becomes the backbone of federation.
- Every object as a wiki is a radical shift, each object has a history in this articles become evolving commons rather than static posts. A Wikipedia of news built from organic trust groups and street-level reporting. Narrative truth emerges from collective editing over time.
The deeper shift is not in just technical architecture, it is moving from publishing as broadcast → publishing as process, authority as ownership → authority as participation, fixed media → living commons. The aim is to rebuild #mainstreaming from below not more centralised media institutions. We need federated grassroots storytelling networks.
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