yes, though the alternative image is probably a room full of us at laptops ;-)
On Tue, 18 Jul 2023 at 07:15, Erik Moeller <eloquence(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 8:54 AM Anusha A <aalikhan(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > I wanted to update you that the Wikimedia Foundation has launched a Mastodon
instance.
> > You can follow us at: wikimedia.social/@wikimediafoundation.
>
> This is wonderful news. I imagine it took quite a bit of behind the
> scenes work to get to this point, under a dedicated wikimedia.social
> domain name no less. Thanks to all who helped make it happen.
> Congratulations and welcome to the fediverse!
>
> > In addition, we’ll experiment with posting broader content about the Wikimedia
movement
> > and projects that might be appealing to tech enthusiasts and fans of open-source
platforms.
>
> There are definitely a lot of tech enthusiasts on the fediverse who
> will appreciate such content. But I would generally encourage a broad
> view of the network. I know you're saying it'll be a bit of both --
> this is also in response to the Wikimedia account cover image being a
> bunch of servers ;-) (I don't know if that's just a temporary
> placeholder, or if it was an intentional "know your audience" kind of
> choice). [1]
>
> Much like Wikipedia, the fediverse has barriers to entry, and those
> certainly skew the community more technical. Folks who are very
> comfortable with technology will not be _as_ frustrated or confused by
> stuff like "how do I choose a server" or "how do I follow someone on
> another server". Similarly, more technical folks contributing to
> Wikipedia may be less likely to be turned away by wiki syntax or the,
> er, magic of talk pages.
>
> But in both cases, people join not necessarily because of some
> technical appeal, but because of other goals (improving an
> encyclopedia, joining a community). The technology is often a means to
> an end, not an end in itself. And many less technical users _do_
> overcome friction and frustration, in both cases (I'd wager many
> fediverse users are Wikimedians in waiting).
>
> There are many, many communities in the fediverse that are not
> "techie" in nature. For example:
>
>
https://mastodon.art/ - thousands of artists in many different media
>
https://union.place/ - labor organizing, with official accounts for many unions
>
https://newsie.social/ - news and journalism, with many official media
> organization accounts
>
https://fediscience.org/ - science and scholarship across many disciplines
>
https://lgbtqia.space/ - one of several servers building safe spaces
> for the LGBTQIA community
>
https://polyglot.city/ - a community of language learners
>
https://veganism.social - a space for the vegan community
>
> (It's fun to visit the "local timelines" on these servers to see what
> the people who just signed up there are talking about.)
>
> With thousands of interconnected servers, even that's just a tiny
> slice of the diversity of topics represented today. And of course the
> big general purpose servers are home to users with a large variety of
> interests.
>
> Much like Wikimedia, the fediverse is a fundamentally mission-oriented
> endeavor. I personally would describe that mission like so: to create
> connected, self-governing social spaces for all of humanity.
>
> Wikimedia is not in the business of hosting general purpose social
> networks, and you're rightfully wary of going too far in that
> direction -- but the Wikimedia movement _will_ be better off if online
> social spaces become more open, inclusive, decentralized and
> self-governing.
>
> My concrete suggestion to any movement org would be to dedicate at
> least 50% of all effort that goes towards social media towards the
> fediverse. That would be placing a bet on the future, not just the
> present. Some of that effort could be in the form of lending expertise
> to making the fediverse more open, inclusive, and welcoming.
>
> A thriving fediverse will help Wikimedia in its policy struggles
> (because it will create new opportunities for alliances with nonprofit
> communities impacted by bad policies). It will help it in its outreach
> (because it will make Wikimedia less subject to algorithms skewed
> towards anything that makes Musk or Zuck money). It will help it to
> build community (because all participants will be able to more
> actively shape the many ways in which we construct community).
>
> In short, I would suggest not thinking of the fediverse as the place
> where the techies are, but as a space to expand our collective future
> possibilities.
>
> Warmly,
> Erik
>
> [1] As of this writing,
>
https://cdn.masto.host/wikimediasocial/accounts/headers/110/708/857/481/231…
> (granted, it's a cool image, though images of servers always make me
> feel a bit claustrophobic :)
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