It is a media war and we have no media

We are in befuddling times and the #dotcons and #conspiracynutters agenders are not helping. In fact they make it much wereas, that’s why it best to not spread the chemical crap, it’s not good fertilizer, keep media organic #openweb

In the westen world I would say almost all the war that matters is fought in the media. YES the disadvantaged are the casualties and the 3ed world will be disseminated. BUT they do not matter to the power plays that fight the war, collateral damage. The war that makes a difference is fought in the media and we have ZERO media distribution of our own, its a problem that undercurrents mediated for a time.

It is a media war and we have no media #OMN

 

A Q&A on altmedia

Q. First question, to start things off. Setting aside the negative aspects of social media platforms like Facebook for a moment, what does, say Facebook do well? In other words, how can platforms like Facebook be used in a positive way by your average person? How can it be used in a positive way by someone who considers themselves an activist?

A. Its a pay to view platform for any outreach beyond family and a few friends. So you can keep in touch with family and a few friends while being reshaped by the algorithms into god knows what, but probably not very social.

You can run fluffy activism on #failbook but agen this will be shaped by the algorithms to create friction and then amplify this into social fires. Trolls will take over your pages after a time.

So good for making a few events happen then failing.

Q. Second question. Can you give an example of an alternative to a platform like Facebook, and describe two or three things that this alternative platform does better?

A. There are many good projects on the #openweb at moment, most of them built around a standard called activertypub. Currently you can reach over 2 million users based on thousands of different services that all talk to each other.

For activist you could try http://campaign@openworlds.info for a fluffy view or http://actavisam@openworlds.info for a more spiky.

These platforms do not have the addictive algorithms that the #dotcons have so you get out what you put in. If you put focuses and activity in you will find yourself taking responsibility for building your own communities of new interesting people who tend to be much nicer that the people that #dotcons connect you too. The applications work easily across all formats with modern ui’s its a simple step, if you can focus for a time.

Q. Third question. Can you briefly describe why we need alternative platforms like the one you mentioned above.

A. The #dotcons shape us into being isolated individuals feeding our attentions/lives to depressing consumption and ecological disaster. All the time distracting us with cat memes and news gossip, to this despair its bread and circuses, an old trick.

Q. And if you’d like to add where you think a conversation like this ought to go, in terms of direction, topics to cover, that would also be really helpful.

A. Could talk about #XR

Howto see the world

With out a wider “ideological” world view you have no place to stepaway from your past mistakes. Everyone needs to look at the world from differing perspectives. The current neo-liberal dogma in all its different fashionable clothes is just that a failed dogma that we clearly need to stepaway from.

The world can be different, I have lived most of my life in a different world to the one that is swallowing everything around me.

I use the word “blinded” to describe meany of the people I meet in tech and grassroots movements. They are blinded for differing surface reasons, on the hippy side it is conspiracy dressed as empty spiritualism. On the liberal progressive side it is internalized neo-liberalism feeding fear, cowardice and greed dressed in the “sacred” garb of “self intrest”. Best not to mention the process geeks or #encryptionists

The are paths to stepaway from this mess #openweb is one that would be empowering for both non geeks and the more technically minded.

Brixet and the Labour Party -Why the media is full of lies

You do understand that almost all #traditionalmedia coverage of #brixet and the labour party is a right meme the labour party have a solid policy on this subject, that is not explained, thus the right wing meme issue. Please check sources before spreading media #openweb

I think meme is actually a good way of describing the issue as #traditionalmedia moves its #classwar into the internet era. They used to have a fig leaf of objectivity when the only news source. If you look this has now been removed, I suppose am not surprised people don’t look 😉

The labour party POLICY has nothing to do with #traditionalmedia agenders, its a sensible 3 stage democratic process. Ie most articals are FUD https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

People push right wing memes from #traditionalmedia to the #dotcons were the algorithms push it into every unthinking addictive corner of society. Not surprisingly few people have any understanding of the policy of the British Labour party, nothing new here, but our own role, this is new.

The #geekproblem pushing over #openweb agen

https://www.wired.com/story/how-blockchain-can-wrest-the-internet-from-corporations The #encryptionists are trying to pushing there flagging project over the healthy #openweb reboot.

Q. need a new hashtag? lovers of blockchain (bloccatenaphile?) are a breed unto themselves, and not likely to be as sensible as some those who are in to encryption.

how broad is your definition of #encryptionist?

A. #encryptionists my “fuckyou” thoughts started with the #indymedia network. The #geekproblem installed a self signed certificate on the domain to increase “privacy” alongside not logging ip addresses on the local server.

The “good affect” only securaty theater, the bad affect, every user received a browser pop up saying “do not trust this site” and the IP addresses could just be collected “upriver” at the ISP/switch level by the state actors who were monitoring the project

#openweb

The affect of not logging IP address locally was a rising deluge of spam and moderator burn out.

The was not democratic process on these changes, and no way to role them back or even address the issue. The project of over 100 globle news sites, with thousands of media creators and millions of users. Ossified and then died, the #dotcons soon replaced it.

#fashernistas moved on, the #openweb started to die.

The #geekproblem pushing #encryptionists agenders OVER #openweb projects.

The is a role for #encryptionists /closed but it’s on balance a smaller one than “open” is my core experience over the last 20 years.

All tech is “ideology” as code, we need to talk about this

Extinction Rebellion outside the filterbubble

https://youtu.be/To5tZpjkakU

https://feralculture.blog/2018/07/30/interview-with-extinction-rebellion/

If you won’t to network about this outside #failbook https://activism.openworlds.info/about or http://campaign.openworlds.info

We need to reboot our networks outside the #dotcons if they are to speak beyond the #filterbubles to wider society.

You can find this wider view by searching on the #openweb http://openworlds.info

#OMN

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 set up 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 perspectives. 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) in 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.

Draft of our funding for the story

Patreon
Become partners in the story telling and invites to live events.

£1 reward – Buys ana a coffee so she can get out of bed in the morning.

• you get to see the draft edit of the show before it goes live

£10 reward – Buys 1GB of mobile internet to allows us to upload one video.

• you get access to the photo/video albums

• you get to see the draft edit of the show before it goes live

£20 reward – You fill our water tank while in a rare marina stop.

• You get invited to a monthly live video chat

• you get access to the photo/video albums

• you have access to the live working documents.

• you get to see the draft edit of the show before it goes live

£100 reward – Replace a key part of equipment that brakes all the time.

• you are sent a small souvenir of the boat

• you get to see the draft edit of the show before it goes live

• you get acess to the photo/video albums

• You get invited to a monthly live video chat

• you have access to the live working documents.

£300 reward – Upgrades a key part of the boat.
• you get to see the draft edit of the show before it goes live
• you get access to the photo/video albums
• You get invited to a monthly live video chat
• you have access to the live working documents.
• you are sent a small souvenir of the boat
• You get a special thankyou at the end of the next video

21 episodes of our video travel-log from London to the Black Sea and back via the East. One episode to be released approximately every month

Video Blogging
01. Buying the boat & motivation
02. London boating life + building the boat
03. Preparing to leave + Medway
04. Kew to Medway
05. Medway + English Channel
06. Calais to Paris
07. Paris to winter mooring
08. Winter mooring to Strasbourg
09. Strasbourg to Bamberg
10. Bamberg to Linz
11. Winter mooring / back to London
12. London life / getting boat ready ( drones ) / back on the water / boat club waving us goodbuy
13. Danube / Linz to Serbian border
14. Danube / Serbia
15. Serbia to Black Sea

Carrying on:
16. Constanta to Ukraine
17. Ukraine to Kiev
18. Kiev to Warsaw / boat on truck
19. Warsaw to Berlin
20. Berlin to the Low Countries
21. Low Countries to London

Patreon: 21 episodes during 2yrs aprox 1 episode/month
+ picture book of the trip

The shows will be 20-30 mintes long and free to watch on the #openweb (https://visionon.tv) and youtube.

Then Crowdfund for a feature length documentary

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. are key for projects to work dont drink to deeply from the #encryptionist stream 😉

Rainbow gatherings happen far away from Babylon – the problem of #failbook

Rainbow gatherings happen far away from Babylon, this is understood.

Yet for the last 10 years they have been increasingly/largely organized on Facebook and its importent to state the obvuse that this is having an affect on the gatherings. Facebook being a #dotcon is full on strong Babylon energy and this energy is overflowing/washing over into the Rainbow Gatherings and the people that come to them.

For #rainbow to have most of its organizing and communication in/on #failbook has been a clear bringing Babylon into Rainbow disaster. You can see this in the illness/eco disaster’s at European gatherings over the last 5 years. The recent regional one I was at for 3 weeks in Serbia this summer strongly affected, I was almost the only expirenced rainbow persion there most of the time. The were no Serbions, the ones that came all left after a few days. It was organised (not foculised) by a Bosnion who had real issues with serbs that keept serficeing in uncuftable ways. most of my time there was spent worked hard on the ground in circles to heal this on going “mess”. Though it had good moments.

Ok, your reading this and saying this is not my problem, facebook works for me etc. it might not be your interest, but saying this is is a problem should not be #blocked on rainbow facebook pages. Talking about the issues after the Serbion gathering and disaster of the polish Europen Gathering, why am being #blocked and called a troll on #failbook rainbow pages? Were did this power to block and censer come from in our gtaherings? The tag #failbook (the are other tags) is not my point of view its mainstream https://mastodon.social/tags/failbook lots of links here on the #openweb that show this.

If you won’t to take Rainbow into Babylon that’s fine and good. But please don’t bring Babylon into Rainbow. Remember Rainbow is not Babylon. We build our gatherings away from Babylon, just as we need to foculise and tell our story’s away from Babylon. In this our use of #Failbook is a clear and urgent problem for #rainbow

“step away”

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

Our current groups doing alt/grassroots media are too limited in their 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 #traditionalmedia” without controlling the distribution of their 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 #dotcons which nowadays is largely the #Failbook algorithm for the there content distribution.

Our current grassroots/alt media have websites so already have one foot in the openweb, but none of their sites prominently link in any meaningful way to each others. They do podcasting 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 their careers inside. A capitalist #mainstreaming.

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

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 crew’s naivety/self-interest/career focused thinking. Fair anufe if that is as far as their 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. Their 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 outside the controlling #dotcons

One simple and practical path to change this is a basic. To move on with the project to get 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 codebase 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 effect.

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

4) Publicly 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 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.

It’s 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, it’s a simple fail that the left/progressive do not now, and generally never have link to each other.

“Make the world you want 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 based on linking, it’s a “first step”.

Updated text, find our current project https://unite.openworlds.info/explore/organizations

Summing up of the #webroots meetings at #nwsk

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.