An #openweb organic intellectual,technologist and part of the #OMN
All the #OMN projects I’ve worked on over the years, from #OGB to #indymediaback, are not directly about social change. They are about creating the possibility of social change. A subtle, but critical difference. We don’t claim to have the answers. What we do offer are tools, networks, and processes that make it easier for … Continue reading A letter from the margins of the #openweb
Why don’t people boost #MutualAid posts? This needs a thread on trust, tools, and the current limits of our #openweb. Saw this poll recently: One comment stood out: And that hits the nail on the head: Mutual aid vs charity. The difference flows from power. Charity is hierarchical, Mutual aid, at its root, is about … Continue reading #MutualAid posts?
The #OMN project is a #DIY commons, that is it only works if we build it together. This isn’t a startup pitch. It’s not a platform that magically appears out of nowhere to fix everything. It’s not a product to consume, it’s a path you walk. The direction is participatory, not passive. You don’t get … Continue reading The #OMN is not a product — It’s a path you walk
The leadership model of the #Fediverse has long mirrored the “aristocracy” of many open-source projects. At the centre stands the developer “king”, a benevolent dictator model that, while functional to a point, is fundamentally limited. Now, we see a shift towards the #NGO-style of governance, and ironically, this may be an even worse model. Let’s … Continue reading This is what the #OGB is aiming for
Almost all our posting in the #openweb and in the #dotcons in response to #mainstreaming news is noise. It’s reactive, fragmented, performative. We scroll, we rage, we boost, we dunk, but we don’t build. Sometimes, someone posts something thoughtful, something deep, meaningful. But it vanishes in the churn. The system is designed this way. Even … Continue reading News, the signal-to-noise mess
There’s a “normal” dangerous illusion still clinging to liberal democracies: that we’re in a time of political turbulence, but the foundations remain intact. That, somehow, we’ll “course correct.” But this needs to be seen as blinded thinking. What is obvious is that we’re actually experiencing regime change, not in some distant land, but right here … Continue reading Regime change in the West
Our history of involvement in #EU digital outreach and policy meetings has made one thing starkly clear, our #openweb is deeply entangled in the process of #mainstreaming, a messy, often co-optive dynamic where grassroots voices are softened, diluted, and redirected into bureaucracy, then in the end they are simply #blocked. Yes, while there is value … Continue reading Mainstreaming: Building Grassroots Balance
It should be painfully obvious by now that all the current #mainstreaming paths have failed. Whether we look at politics, technology, media, or activism, the same patterns emerge, co-option, stagnation, and eventual collapse under their own mess and self-destructive contradictions. The valid question isn’t whether mainstreaming has failed, it has. The real question is – … Continue reading The Failure of #Mainstreaming – What Comes Next?
If we want the #openweb to survive and thrive, we need new forms of power, ones that can defend the community and challenge traditional power dynamics without falling into the traps of control, hierarchy, and co-option. The problem is clear: If we follow traditional power politics, which are built on control, manipulation, and exclusion, we … Continue reading Building #OGB is about power without #powerpolitics
Fighting the #mainstreaming is pointless if you don’t have anything to replace it with #KISS. With this central in our minds, we need to present a sharp critique, that current funding structures not only shape but often stall #openweb development. The issue is that #NGO funding models divert energy away from real grassroots alternatives, trapping … Continue reading Paranoid individualism creates mess
The core problem for the last 20 years has been that most activists were locked into #dotcons (corporate social media silos) because open alternatives were either too difficult to use, lack network effects, or fail to meet their practical needs. With the current reboot of the #openweb with the #fedivers based on #ActivityPub has already … Continue reading What software do activists need?
If you’ve been finding https://hamishcampbell.com useful, here’s a heads-up, the site is struggling under increasing load, thanks to growing #ActivityPub readership. That’s a good problem to have, but it means I need to pay much more to upgrade the server and do some tech work to keep things running smoothly. If you have any spare … Continue reading Community support needed to keep this site online