Where's Waldo of Cyberspace
My cousin alluded to my penchant for social media when asked the question "Where's Waldo of Cyberspace". I have some answers.
My cousin alluded to my penchant for social media when asked the question "Where's Waldo of Cyberspace". I have some answers. Let's start at the beginning when I worked at Digital Equipment Corporation.
VAXnotes - An Online Forum
In the early 1990s the clever folks at Digital Equipment Corporation developed an online notes conference that had three goals.
- Community of Purpose
- Community of Practice
- Community of Interest
These forums were developed as a way for us to collaborate in our work. However the Community of Interest goal captured the most interest. Topics exploded from everything from UFO's to Beermaking. Included was something called SOAPBOX which was a place to rant. However it was a lot more polite and civilized than the hellscape that is Twitter. It was moderated and had rules. Some of the current social sites should follow this example
Soapbox Conference Policy
Nov 17, 1994
(1) SOAPBOX is a general discussion conference. The ideal of Soapbox
is a clash of ideas in a free and open forum. All Digital employees
are welcome to participate to communicate matters of opinions and
common interests.
Responsibility
(1) Soapbox may not be used for purposes that are contrary to Digital
Company philosphy or policy, for purposes that interfere or compete
with the Company's business activities, or for purposes of individual
financial gain.
Guide to VAXnotes and other resources
I was on Twitter for 14 years. At first it was fun, posting haiku in less than 140 characters. It turned bad when TFG was President. I liked reading the snarky remarks about this postings. But the number of Russian bots made it an uncomfortable place to be. Once Musk took over it became a hellscape. One reason I stayed was to read Pearls from Myrna, but found out that she had started to use Mastodon. I followed her there.
Mastodonhttps://flic.kr/p/2nYXG9Y Screen shot of Mastodon
Mastodon is a decentralized open-source social media application. Instances of the application run on various servers in what they call the Federation. However these instances can communication with each other. I signed up for a similar decentralized app called Diaspora but never got past understanding what a POD was. Mastodon is a lot easier. I signed up and found Mryna. You TOOT! instead of TWEET! and a number of Twitter refugees have signed up.
WT.Social https://flic.kr/p/2nYWhYC WT.Social Screenshot
WT.Social and its founders are committed to creating an accurate and evidence-based platform for journalism by staff and a global community.
They intend to hold those involved to the highest ethical standards evident in examples of best practice in the media industry and online collaborative platforms.
Accuracy, a neutral point of view, clarity, sourcing, intellectual rigour and fairness are central to the vision the WT.Social founders have of an open journalism platform in which staff and community members share a common responsibility to quality and truth telling in news.
WT.Social will work against bias in what it publishes, and make its journalism open to amendment, correction, and disagreement while always striving for accuracy and impartiality. Legal compliance may require deletion of material, editing and even the restriction of user rights.
WT.Social is owned by a privately held for-profit company registered in the United Kingdom and will always strive to be transparent in its policies, staffing and decisions that affect the WT.Social platform, staff and the community.
We will deal with corrections, deletions, notice-and-takedown requirements, conflicts of interest and any issues of changes to or removal of journalistic content in a clear manner based on policies and the experience of the staff team and the expertise present in the community.
Ethics statement in the rest of the media industry we think can help guide us, include:
– The Trust Principles of Thomson Reuters
– ProPublica Code of Ethics
– WT.Social isn’t part of Wikipedia, however, the “five pillars” which underpin that project are broadly applicable to the approach WT.Social is taking
Ethics Statement
Facebook and all the others
I still use Facebook for keeping up with friends and family. They are not going to jump platforms. I'll stay on Twitter to watch Musk flail around trying to save it. Mastodon seems to be a good alternative to Twitter. WT.Social has the greatest potential for actual social interaction. We'll assess that after a few months. Look for me on these plaforms.
