The #openweb is a space for both progressives and reactionary groups

One thing we need to address now in a constructive way is that the right-wing has been better about co-operating around #openweb media than the left-wing for the last 10 years. We have been worse than useless on simple things like linking between radical media projects. The few successfully left media groups have abandoned alt tech solutions and built careers inside the #dotcons

Where we progressives have seceded, in terms of #openweb, has been outside politics and more in lifestyle subcultures with mastodon and the fedivers, these tools have been political natural and focused on privacy. We start to see the use of these tools for radical and progressive agenders with #visionontv and #indymediaback with the radical anarchism of #kolektiva and the #openweb framework of #OMN

With the #mainstreaming move away from the #dotcons we will see more activity in this area from both progressives and reactionary groups – make your voice heard – its pastime for you to #stepback to the #openweb

https://activism.openworlds.info

Cat videos – A “shadow ban” experiment on youtube

Just finished a cat video, it’s an experiment for #YouTube. We have over 7000 subscribers and over 5 million video views on our legacy #visionontv account Our viewing numbers have been dropping over the last few years, and now we get very few views, likely do to do with the activists content not being “ad friendly”. Have recently tried making fluffy content, very few views, so let’s try cats 😉

Am curious if the “algorithm” will pick it up or not. If it does pick up will it feed views onto the other videos on the account, with the suggestions etc.

Pushed it out quite hard on #failbook #twitter and #mastodon, but it did not pickup views on youtube (37 views in 15 hours) which suggests that the visionontv account is “shadowbanned” not surprising I suppose, will try pushing the video on cat forums to test how strong the “ban” is.

You can find much more interesting (but not as cute) videos on http://visionon.tv

Looking at the tech and organising of UK alt grassroots media

How meany sites link to another alt/grassroots media sits. From this list of 38 UK sites, only 2 link to another site.

Many people find it hard to understand the underlining understandings that push projects based on flow and linking, such as #OMN and #openweb. Here is a short list of activism projects.

Silo

Is a place for holding/hoarding closed data – this is used by the #dotcons to extract funding from “free users” when mainstream/alt silo projects finish, as 99.9% do, the data varnishes and is lost, and in this the effectiveness of any alt building is diminished. Silos do not use open licensing for content re-use. Just about every alt/grassroots media project is a silo. It’s about capturing data. It’s obvious that this is a unthought through issue of “churning”

Portal

It is an idea that you can be the big one, all the small fashionista websites aspire to be the big one and by doing this they are working to the logic of the #dotcon and working against the logic of the openweb. They are building a project to lock their users into their project. Portal and silo are overlapping (but different) ideas for building web projects. In the mainstream, Apple is a prime example of this working. In the alt/grassroots, almost all alt/grassroots media projects are portals. It’s about capturing users, just as silos are about capturing data. For a left wing group this looks much like “recreating the Soviet Union” the one party to rule the state.

Dotcons

Are for-profit data silos in the old days working as portals, more recently they are building out siloed networks as a pseudo networked portal. It’s both sad and bad that many alt media projects unthinkingly aspire to be #dotcons

Link

It is where ALL the value is, on the open web. Without links, content has NO VALUE. This is an obvious statement, its hard to understand the lack of understanding around this simple thing.

RSS

Is a grassroots web standard that is still at the base of many of the #dotcons world but is being pushed into the background of the #openweb by building silos/portals in the grassroots/alt. RSS is like an open LINK with added data, thus adds value to the web. Its a powerful open tool that we still have. An API is like a geek control freak superpower of RSS – the problem is in the complexity/control freak bit…

Geek

A subculture that is control/obscurity and more recently technical solutions to trust (wraparound right) this has always been a closing force on open projects. This helped to strangle the original successful alt/grassroots media projects and is pushing for the shrinking of the open web.

Fashionista

The unthinking desire for new/innovation/conformity. A wider subculture that churns the growth of alt/grassroots so little can grow beyond seedlings.

NGO

Are greedy dispoling of resources, both human and money. The liberals that use bureaucratic funding to push out the geek/fashernista agendas over alt/grassroots projects. These are uneasy friends and clear (invisible) enemies.

Network

It is both a technical thing of wires and frequency and an understanding of mutual aid and of “diversity of strategy”. It’s native to the openweb and should be at the base of any alt/grassroots media project. In the closed #dotcons the widespread use of A/B testing is a pail controlled shadow of this.

4opens

Wikipedia is an example of this. It’s basic stuff, open source project stuff. LINK

Looking at the tech and organising of UK alt/grassroots media. Do sites link to other alt-media projects? Do they support/display openweb standards (RSS)

First DRAFT (please message me with corrections/info)

the canary

http://www.thecanary.co/

Has a RSS feed, regular updates, copyright group silo, it has no outside linking

Reelnews

http://reelnews.co.uk/

UPDATE: site back online, no visible RSS but can find a hidden one. It’s likely copyright and a silo.

(Their website is hacked/down, so posted the #failbook link used to have RSS and regular updates. Anyone know what’s happening? Update they hope the site is back online soon.)

Real Media

http://realmedia.press/

UPDATE: website back online copyright, no visible RSS feed, but you can find ones. It’s a bit of an aggregator but has been suffering from poor spam control. It’s pretty much a portal/silo – but could be more.

(They used to have an interesting website for the tec used, but it ended up being just a silo, they look like they are rebooting? Maybe a another silo? We shall see.)

Update they are rebooting as a linking site, let’s hope it’s not a silo.

Novaramedia

http://novaramedia.com/

Has regular good content, RSS, they are a product of the #dotcons social media wave and good at it. Copyright/CC is not stated. The site is a silo with no outside linking

Counterfire

http://www.counterfire.org/

No RSS feed, starting to look a bit “old left” regular updates, no copyright/CC notice. A silo with no external links

The Bristol Cable – Bristol

https://thebristolcable.org/

No visible RSS feed, it kinda probably tries to obey the #4opens, maybe. It’s a WP blog site, in this it’s a media silo with no external links.

Port Talbot Magnet

http://www.porttalbotmagnet.com/

No visible RSS feed, it mostly fails the #4opens due to copyright, data and organising. It’s a WP blog site, in this it’s a media silo with few if any external links.

New Internationalist – based in Oxford

https://newint.org/

Has RSS feeds, it kinda passes the #4opens using a CC licence for its content. It links to the #visionOntv project.

The Ferret – Scotland, based in Edinburgh

https://theferret.scot/

Looks like the old media transitioning to the new media. No visible RSS feed or copyright/CC notice. Is trying to be “open process” looks like a WP site.

Strike! – based in London

http://strikemag.org/

Looks like an archive of a print mag? Has an RSS feed 🙂

Positive News – based in London

http://positive.news/

Dated looking site, hard to read, no RSS feed and a copyright notice. A silo.

Slaney Street – Birmingham

http://www.slaneystreet.com/

Did not load

Manchester Mule – Manchester

http://manchestermule.com/

Has RSS feed but last article end of 2015 so not an active site. Probably for fills the #4opens.

Co-operative News – based in Manchester

http://www.thenews.coop/

Nasty looking site and no RSS, copyrighted, it’s a silo

Ethical Consumer

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

No RSS, copy rightish, old looking site.

Marlborough News Online

http://www.marlboroughnewsonline.co.uk/

no RSS, copyright

West Highland Free Press

http://www.whfp.com/

No RSS, copyright, it’s a silo.

Star and Cresent – based in Portsmouth

http://www.starandcrescent.org.uk/

No RSS, no copyright notice? It’s a silo.

Morning Star – based in London

https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/

Has an RSS feed but its empty, copyright, silo.

Cambria Publishing Co-operative

http://www.cambriapublishing.org.uk/

Publishes paper books?

Zed Books – London

https://www.zedbooks.net/

paper books and online reading lists, no RSS I can see.

Sheffield Live!

http://web.sheffieldlive.org/

Blake House – based in London

http://blake.house/

No RSS, fashionable calling card website without content, probably copyright?

Media Co-op

http://mediaco-op.net/

Calling card website without content, no RSS, likely copyright.

Ignite Creative – based in Oxford

http://ignitecreative.co.uk/

Calling card website without content, no RSS, copyright.

Shedlight Productions – based in Southampton

http://www.shedlightproductions.co.uk/

Calling card website without content, no RSS, copyright.

Steel City Film and Media Co-op – based in Sheffield

https://www.facebook.com/SteelCityFAM

it’s a #failbook page, maybe open?

Trafford Media & Communications – based in Manchester

(mostly a printer, but also do film production)

http://www.traffordmc.org.uk/

Calling card, no site.

The Community Channel

Community Channel

The granddaddy of NGO media, no RSS feed, likely copyright silo.

Jammu Kashmir TV

http://www.jammukashmir.tv/

It has content, silo?

Open Audio

http://openaudio.co.uk/

Has a working RSS feed

Inform My Opinion

https://audioboom.com/channel/informmyopinion

Has working RSS feed, but it fails in my pod catcher, it’s a page on a #dotcon?

Mydylarama

http://mydylarama.org.uk/

Has RSS feed, copyright, silo?

AMP Worcs

http://www.ampworcs.co.uk/

Calling card.

A Television

http://www.afro-media.org/

Half finished calling card site.

Salfordstar

http://salfordstar.com/

Hastings independent press

No RSS, no copyright/CC notice, a silo with no external links.

http://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/

Corporatewatch

https://corporatewatch.org/

Has RSS feed and CC licence, no external links on front page, it’s a silo but better than most.

bellacaledonia

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/

Has a RSS feed, it’s a silo but the is hope for it.

voxpoliticalonline

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/

it’s a blog in the old school sense, has RSS

evolvepolitics

http://evolvepolitics.com/

it’s a silo with no RSS and no external links

A lot of the original links came from https://www.facebook.com/jdaviescoates

What would rebooting grassroots media look like

Published Date 2/13/15 2:01 PM

DRAFT

Intro to the event

Unconferences are called for a reason and are about a subject, generally with an idea of an outcome.

Invite all the existing groups and most importantly, representatives from past groups to tell their stories and outline their ongoing projects. Invite groups from outside the activist/NGO ghetto such as London JAVA and hackspaces and many more etc.

The preamble:

Our culture is broken. Start with these two critiques of the failed grassroots media/geek culture and the failings of the NGO solutions to such issues.

A defining of open industrial standards and federation, a look at peer to peer and client / server.

This intro is to set the atmosphere of the event, to increase group feedback that question these streams in the workshops over the weekend.

When people arrive, a brief overview of the event and goto it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference Then everyone has their workshop/say.

The event would tend to split into 2 streams, Media Creators (story tellers) and Geeks (tool builders). “We” as the “organiser’s” would continuously gently push to keep the streams entwined, as they both need each other and need an emulsifier to combine for any length of time.

The outcome would be wide, we have a note taker (strait to public wiki) and audio recorder for each session (uploaded soon after)

What I would think important is:

* how to make media so it is part of a flow, rather than for a silo.

* Importance of linking, just getting this working would be a big step forwarded.

* using the corporate #dotcons as dumb pipes – not original sources – build peer pressure here – no sin by only posting to #failbook and bird seed world.

* recognition of the problems with the widespread use of WordPress as top sites, fine as a blog/source, disaster as top-down centre controlled group/campaign site.

* importance of seeing media production as a production of media objects to be shared across the expanding network – not to be held as lost in personal silos or spent purely in the dotcons world.

* recognition of the danger and damage from closed (encrypted) working practices in activism/being pushed by some NGOs. The positive possibility of open working on the open web. Encryption has a limited role, encrypt everything is a clear and present disaster and the people unreflectively pushing this need reasoning with, then pushing off a cliff 😉

At the end, have report backs based on the 4 opens. How do the projects/groups meet these.

Concrete outcome:

* Get everyone to front page, link to at least 3 complementary groups.

* Get people to review alt-media projects based on the 4 opens to spark off wider social debate.

A list from our perspective on good outcomes:

Put out the (existing) #visionOntv video embeds, sign up some more moderators – they are a semi working example of the world we want to create.

Look at the newsflash, linking embed and funding site projects.

Find non-loon geeks to help build out the OMN tools, make links to other projects view the tools and micro formats

nourish a non-sectarian single sign in for activism and beyond (look at https://www.grc.com/sqrl/sqrl.htm)

A geek view of this world

I am going to link to some existing “complex” projects that overlap to THE OMN “KISS” project, examples:

https://tent.io/docs is the same project, just too far forward to be adopted, that is its not based on the past so would need too much of a jump to adopt, this is why we use RSS as that stepping stone.

http://scripting.com is working from a “single user” perspective on very usable micro formats and standards-based projects. The technology being ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node.js and RSS) used has good peer to peer strengths.

https://indiewebcamp.com same project but again from the “libertarian” camp, making it of limited use for outreach beyond this camp.

Just about all the parallel projects are about individuals first and groups second. For our more communitarian project, we need to tweak/expand these code bases to make them useful. Also, there is a strong geek start-from-scratch approach, which means that their projects cannot lead any change but could become part of the change as it flows. We need to be the flow, otherwise we are all standing around in puddles – the state of alt-media today.

The Role of #Blocking in Horizontal Projects: Mannequins Dancing to Barely Visible Strings

(DRAFT) In this post, I explore how #blocking hinders positive social change in horizontal projects. By #blocking, I mean various tactics: ignoring core issues, prioritizing everyday agendas to obscure systemic problems, and using significant issues to distract from necessary changes.

Understanding Outcome-Driven Horizontal Projects

Outcome-driven horizontal projects, such as Climate Camp, face sustainability challenges. A notable issue is the strong resistance to process change—this resistance, or #blocking, makes necessary changes harder, leading to vertical structures and eventual ossification. This results in rigid, non-functional structures incapable of adapting, ultimately breaking under pressure and failing to achieve horizontal processes.

Psychological Roots of #Blocking

At the core of #blocking is a psychological fear of losing perceived certainty, where individuals cling to a misguided sense of certainty and autonomy. I refer to this phenomenon as “#stupidindividualism,” to overcome this, we need to circumvent this “stupid individualism.”

Comparing Intentional Communities and Online Projects

Rainbow Gatherings manage to circumvent this #stupidindividualism by creating environments of enforced scarcity. In these intentional communities, participants are moved into a world where normal options are unavailable, necessitating change. The path of #Stupidindividualism becomes too dysfunctional to impede progress.

In contrast, online media projects like #visionontv lack this scarcity, allowing “stupid individualism” to thrive unchecked. This results in participants self-defining and dismissing critical points without engagement, perpetuating the issues.

Trust Networks as a Solution

“Trust networks” are essential in overcoming “stupid individualism.” With this understanding, I view the Climate Camp process more sympathetically. The “process people,” criticized for ossification, suffered alongside the wider camp. This issue reoccurs, and those pushing empty agendas are less to blame than the unaddressed systemic problems.

The Metaphor of Strings and Mannequins

It’s crucial to avoid personalizing the responsibility for this problem. Viewing ourselves as mannequins dancing to barely visible strings highlights the systemic nature of the issue. The circle we dance in isn’t right—we need a new circle with different strings, some more visible, to start a new dance.

Participants often feel tangled by the strings, trying to unravel them to create a new circle. It’s the strings, not the messengers, that block progress. Assistance in untangling and resetting the strings is needed—perhaps the messenger is trying to help. Try not to shoot.

Reflection and Call to Action

In this post, I attempt to untangle a string, acknowledging that the Climate Camp process wasn’t as bad as I once thought. What string will you untangle? Avoiding “stupid individualism” is crucial, yet we increasingly become ensnared by it on all sides.

The danger lies in discussing parallel things and thinking along parallel, divergent lines. “Stupid individualism” is strong and active—the more we struggle, the more entangled we become, diminishing hope for a new dance. Dance, as a metaphor for process, and strings, as a metaphor for the human sense of belonging necessary for societal cohesion, illustrate this struggle.

Conclusion

Does this end well? Historically, it hasn’t, but approaching the problem from different angles might yield different results this time. Therefore, I avoid personal responsibility, seeing us as mannequins dancing in a circle, twitching to barely visible strings. The current circle isn’t right—we need a new circle with different strings, some more visible, and to start a new dance.

The role of #blocking in horizontal projects

Published Date 12/16/11 6:00 PM

Mannequins dancing to barely visible strings (DRAFT)

This is an attempt to understand how blocking is used to stop/slow positive social change. By #blocking I mean many things, refusing to address core issues, pushing everyday agenda’s to hide more systematic issues, and confusingly using big issues to distracts and fog everyday needed changes.

Outcome-driven horizontal projects are hard to sustain. I understand #climatecamp process #ossification better now – there is a strong blocking to process change – the continuing pushing of the needed change is blocked thus the change gets harder (more vertical) until it ossifies and becomes non-functional strong enough to break the block (thus breaking the horizontal process it is trying to achieve). End up with a broken structure that cannot move or change.

So the issue is “blocking” which largely is a psychological fear of losing non-existent certainty – ie. the false consciousness (cf Marx) of capitalism – Thus the moniker “#stupidindividualism”. The root out of this is to work a way round this “stupid individualism”.

Rainbow Gatherings manage this – by forcing scarcity, in #visionontv we don’t have this option, in Rainbow you are moved into a world where all the normal options are simply are not there – thus change HAS TO HAPPEN – it’s an intentional community. “Stupid individualism” simply becomes too dysfunctional in this situation to stop change. This is at the heart of rainbow process. In our situation, on the internet, in media there is no scarcity, so “stupid individualism” reigns supreme and unstoppable.

An issue is that many people will self-define what I am saying at this point – BUT will not engage with it – The writer is being a “stupid individual” and this would be the case if the writer was not actively engaged in a real social project.

“Trust networks” are the solution to “stupid individualism”. With this understanding, I have a more sympathetic view of climatecamp process. The derided “process people” suffered from ossification as much as the wider camp. And I am arguing that this is a re-occurring issue, so the individual who were left pushing an empty agenda are less at fault than the systematic issues that they haven’t addressed.

It’s important NOT to take personal responsibility for this, as the is a dead end block in using this as a solution to this problem. Maybe more useful to seeing us as mannequins dancing in a circle, twitching to barely visible strings. And the circle we are in – is not the right one. We need a new circle with some different strings (some of them more visible) and to start a new dance.

The blocks: what participants feel are the tangling of strings, the process they are trying to unravel so as to make a new circle to dance in. We are all attached to strings, so get untangling. It’s the strings, NOT the messenger, that stops you. Help is needed trying to untangle and re-set some strings, perhaps the messenger is trying to help? Try not to shoot

In this post, I attempt to untangle a string (#climatecamp process wasn’t as bad as I thought it was). Which string are you going to untangle? “Stupid individualism” is the trap we have to avoid, but we are getting more and more snared in it – on all sides.

The danger is that we are talking about parallel things and more tragically – thinking along parallel divergent lines – “stupid individualism” is strong and kicking and the more we kick, the more entangle we become – leaving little hope of a new dance – by the way dance is a metaphor for process and strings are a metaphor for the very human senses of belonging that we need for society to hold together.

Does it end well, I wonder – it never has in the past, but one can keep coming at a problem from different angles. Maybe this time it might. Thus, am NOT taking any personal responsibility – just seeing us as mannequins dancing in a circle twitching to barely visible strings. And the circle we are in – is not the right one. We need a new circle with some different strings (some of them more visible) and start a new dance.