aanscherpen

content/federations.md

@@ -3,24 +3,30 @@ Category: introduction
 slug: welcome-to-the-federation
 tags: Wtt�F, software, design
 
-Over the past few years there has been a renewed interest in 'alternative' on-line services. These are services that imagine different experiences and models to the ones we are used to from corporations like Google, Facebook and Apple. 
+Over the past few years[^1] there has been a renewed interest in 'alternative' on-line services such as social media and chat. These are services that promise to provide different experiences and models to the ones we are used to seemingly for free from corporations like Google, Facebook and Apple. 
 
-Some of these alternatives are that in name only, opting for similar or identical business models as the platform they want to become an alternative to. In essence a different brand serving the same product. 
+Some of these alternatives are that in name only. These alternatives promise to be something else from the start, but often end up being more of the same since they use similar or identical business models as the platform they pretend to be an alternative to. In essence a different brand serving the same product. 
 
-Others projects take a different approach. They fundamentally challenge the status quo through putting effort in building free software ecosystems based around open protocols. 
+Others projects take a different approach. They challenge the current state of affairs by putting effort in building fundamentally different ecosystems based around free software and open protocols. 
+
+One of the ways this current state of affairs is challenged is by insisting amongst on federated, as opposed to centralized structures. Federation is the idea that various actors decide to cooperate in a collective fashion to make a network. Distributing responsibility and power as they do so.
+
+These software practices can be understood as forms enacted criticism, developing a theoretical critique of systems into concrete and practical responses.
 
 The interest of *Welcome to the � Federation* is to consider software projects that are working towards these alternative ecosystems. In particular those projects whose activities have reinvigorated interest for their underlying protocols, in part by their focusing on design, language and user experience (UX). 
 
-These software practices can be understood as forms of Critical Engineering[^1]or Software As A Critique[^2], developing a theoretical critique of systems into concrete and practical responses. 
+The Wtt�F question is to explore how arts and design communities can play a supportive role in these processes by contributing skills, knowledge, time and exposure.
 
-The Wtt�F question is then how arts and design communities can play a supportive role in these processes by contributing skills, knowledge and exposure.
+Wtt�F will host a series of two-day gatherings that invite developers of these software projects and people active in arts and design. After an evening of presentation and discussion on the first day, the second day will be dedicated to a hands-on worksession.
 
-Wtt�F will host a series of two-day gatherings that invite developers of these software projects and people active in arts and design. After an evening of presentation and discussion on the first day, the second day will be a hands-on worksession.
+During these worksessions participants will be invited to work on making a concrete contribution to the project as a way to introduce these critical software practices in a practical way.
 
 ## coming gatherings
 
-* June 1st: ['The Ecosystem Is Moving'](/conversations-gultsch.html), an evening on XMPP, federated chat and Conversations with Daniel Gultsch
+### June 1st: ['The Ecosystem Is Moving'](/conversations-gultsch.html)
-* 2nd 2018: 'The Ecosystem Is Moving' worksession. A hands-on dive into the affordances and challenges of Conversations as part of a larger free software ecosystem
+an evening on XMPP, federated chat and Conversations with Daniel Gultsch
+### June 2nd 2018 'The Ecosystem Is Moving' worksession. 
+A hands-on dive into the affordances and challenges of Conversations as part of a larger free software ecosystem
+
 
-[^1]: "The Critical Engineer considers Engineering to be the most transformative language of our time, shaping the way we move, communicate and think." <https://criticalengineering.org/>
+[^1]: Any time there is large scandal relating to privacy or the concentration of power of cloud companies, there are attempts and campaigns to delete social media. This was notable after the Snowden revelations, most recently #deleteFacebook was a popular item.
-[^2]: See: <http://constantvzw.org/w/?u=http://constantvzw.org/w/eft/2539.html> and <https://wiki.laglab.org/Software_as_a_Critique> 

content/meet_the_dev_1.md

@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
 Title: 'The Ecosystem is Moving' a gathering with Daniel Gultsch
-Category: encounter with a developer
+Category: exchange with a developer
 slug: conversations-gultsch
 tags: instant messaging, conversations, xmpp
 
-[Conversations](https://conversations.im) is an instant messaging application for Android that is based on the XMPP protocol. 
+
+On the 1st and 2nd of june *varia* will host a gathering with Daniel Gultsch
+
+Daniel Gultsch is the developer behind [Conversations](https://conversations.im), an open source instant messaging application for Android. In 2014 he decided to work full time on Conversations and try to make a living from it. Rather than starting from scratch with Conversations, he built it as a client for the existing federated messaging protocol XMPP. 
+
+Since an XMPP messenger can, in a way, only be as good as the entire ecosystem, Daniels work on Conversations included work on expanding and improving that larger ecosystem. This work included helping to draft and implement protocol standards, such as introducing OMEMO, modern and user-friendly end-to-end encryption based on Signal's protocol. In addition he has contributed code to other XMPP servers and clients in the ecosystem to bring them up to speed and [through his critical essays](https://gultsch.de/xmpp_2016.html) he has been a vocal defender of XMPP and open standards in general.
+
+Conversations is notable because, through its singular focus on user experience, design and security it has garnered a lot of interest and revived work and interest on the XMPP ecosystem as a whole. This makes it an interesting example  
+
+
 
 
 This is a chat protocol which has at one point also been the underlying technology of both Google and Facebook chat before they closed it down and made it proprietary. From the onset Conversations focused on a combination of user friendliness, security and ultimately visual design to be on par with mobile messengers such as whatsapp and telegram. The work of Conversations has reinvigorated the XMPP protocol. Partly because it focused on implementing the double-ratchett encryption algorithm almost immediately after it was open-sourced. This is the modern userfriendly end-to-end encryption algorithm developed by Moxie Marlinspike for Signal and licensed to companies like Whatsapp. Another effect of the work of Conversations is that the decades old protocol has been updated in the span of a few years to work very well for mobile usage. For me one of the interesting aspects of the development of Conversations is the role that modern thinking on UIs, design and user friendliness played in its popularity. This especially becomes apparent in the very technical and awkward world of XMPP software. The developer has mentioned multiple times that he 'bases' his design on that of his GAFA 'competitors'. Apropos tactical media, this project's appropriation of corporate design, yet very clear and solid political stance (see <https://gultsch.de/objection.html>) leading to an increase in popularity and community involvement is an interesting development.

content/test.md

@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-Title: So aside from the discussion
-Category: meet the developer
-slug: so-aside
-
-So aside from the discussion of who listens (or didn't listen) to whose
-#i am placeholdercontent
-opinion it can be interesting to have a closer look at action and momentum.
-
-#i am placeholdercontent
-Three projects caught my attention and I think could be an interesting
-case for this 'next steps' discussion:
-
-#i am placeholdercontent
-Mastodon (2016) en Conversations (2014) and Peertube (2015) *
-
-All three are projects that during the past twelve months have somehow
-#i am placeholdercontent
-reinvigorated (the work on, attention for) their underlying protocols.
-Protocols that have been proclaimed dead or unsuccessful for many years.
-And probably will be for more to come.
-#i am placeholdercontent
-
-The first one, Mastodon (https://joinmastodon.org/), you may have read
-about or even tried out. It is essentially a twitter clone /
-alternative. Technically it is based on Ostatus, which is a protocol to
-distribute
-status updates across networks. Ostatus is the protocol that powered
-early 'alternative 2.0 style' social networks such as Friendica and
-Lorea. The latter was a product of and important site of organization
-for the Spanish Indignados and 15M movements. Mastodon also supports
-ActivityPub which is the likely successor of Ostatus as a protocol for
-further ongoing work on so-called federated publishing. The interesting
-thing is that Mastodon managed to attract a good chunk of the recent Twitter
-refugees. These where mostly voices which aren't white, loud or extreme
-right wing and for those reasons felt themselves increasingly out of
-place on twitter. Mastodon communities managed to involve so many of
-these people by focusing on developing tools for community moderation,
-content warnings and the ability to block other instances in the
-network. As a result (the english language) Mastodon became a site that
-is predominantly populated by the queer, PoC, left and artistic, or
-anyone that would otherwise be at risk of being on the receiving end of
-the Gamergate-style interactions on twitter. The decentralized nature of
-mastodon has created a culture of 'thematic mastodon servers (see
-https://instances.social/list) that have become a large part of what
-makes the network interesting and relevant to its several hundred
-thausand users.

content/test2.md

@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-Title: So aside from the discussion2
-Category: meet the developer
-slug: so-aside2
-
-#i am placeholdercontent
-So aside from the discussion of who listens (or didn't listen) to whose
-opinion it can be interesting to have a closer look at action and momentum.
-
-Three projects caught my attention and I think could be an interesting
-case for this 'next steps' discussion:
-
-Mastodon (2016) en Conversations (2014) and Peertube (2015) *
-
-All three are projects that during the past twelve months have somehow
-reinvigorated (the work on, attention for) their underlying protocols.
-Protocols that have been proclaimed dead or unsuccessful for many years.
-And probably will be for more to come.
-
-The first one, Mastodon (https://joinmastodon.org/), you may have read
-about or even tried out. It is essentially a twitter clone /
-alternative. Technically it is based on Ostatus, which is a protocol to
-distribute
-status updates across networks. Ostatus is the protocol that powered
-early 'alternative 2.0 style' social networks such as Friendica and
-Lorea. The latter was a product of and important site of organization
-for the Spanish Indignados and 15M movements. Mastodon also supports
-ActivityPub which is the likely successor of Ostatus as a protocol for
-further ongoing work on so-called federated publishing. The interesting
-thing is that Mastodon managed to attract a good chunk of the recent Twitter
-refugees. These where mostly voices which aren't white, loud or extreme
-right wing and for those reasons felt themselves increasingly out of
-place on twitter. Mastodon communities managed to involve so many of
-these people by focusing on developing tools for community moderation,
-content warnings and the ability to block other instances in the
-network. As a result (the english language) Mastodon became a site that
-is predominantly populated by the queer, PoC, left and artistic, or
-anyone that would otherwise be at risk of being on the receiving end of
-the Gamergate-style interactions on twitter. The decentralized nature of
-mastodon has created a culture of 'thematic mastodon servers (see
-https://instances.social/list) that have become a large part of what
-makes the network interesting and relevant to its several hundred
-thausand users.

content/test3.md

@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-Title: So aside from the discussion3
-Category: meet the developer
-slug: so-aside3
-
-So aside from the discussion of who listens (or didn't listen) to whose
-#i am placeholdercontent
-opinion it can be interesting to have a closer look at action and momentum.
-
-Three projects caught my attention and I think could be an interesting
-case for this 'next steps' discussion:
-
-Mastodon (2016) en Conversations (2014) and Peertube (2015) *
-
-All three are projects that during the past twelve months have somehow
-reinvigorated (the work on, attention for) their underlying protocols.
-Protocols that have been proclaimed dead or unsuccessful for many years.
-And probably will be for more to come.
-
-The first one, Mastodon (https://joinmastodon.org/), you may have read
-about or even tried out. It is essentially a twitter clone /
-alternative. Technically it is based on Ostatus, which is a protocol to
-distribute
-status updates across networks. Ostatus is the protocol that powered
-early 'alternative 2.0 style' social networks such as Friendica and
-Lorea. The latter was a product of and important site of organization
-for the Spanish Indignados and 15M movements. Mastodon also supports
-ActivityPub which is the likely successor of Ostatus as a protocol for
-further ongoing work on so-called federated publishing. The interesting
-thing is that Mastodon managed to attract a good chunk of the recent Twitter
-refugees. These where mostly voices which aren't white, loud or extreme
-right wing and for those reasons felt themselves increasingly out of
-place on twitter. Mastodon communities managed to involve so many of
-these people by focusing on developing tools for community moderation,
-content warnings and the ability to block other instances in the
-network. As a result (the english language) Mastodon became a site that
-is predominantly populated by the queer, PoC, left and artistic, or
-anyone that would otherwise be at risk of being on the receiving end of
-the Gamergate-style interactions on twitter. The decentralized nature of
-mastodon has created a culture of 'thematic mastodon servers (see
-https://instances.social/list) that have become a large part of what
-makes the network interesting and relevant to its several hundred
-thausand users.

content/test4.md

@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-Title: So aside from the discussion4
-Category: meet the developer
-slug: so-aside4
-
-So aside from the discussion of who listens (or didn't listen) to whose
-#i am placeholdercontent
-opinion it can be interesting to have a closer look at action and momentum.
-
-Three projects caught my attention and I think could be an interesting
-case for this 'next steps' discussion:
-
-Mastodon (2016) en Conversations (2014) and Peertube (2015) *
-
-All three are projects that during the past twelve months have somehow
-reinvigorated (the work on, attention for) their underlying protocols.
-Protocols that have been proclaimed dead or unsuccessful for many years.
-And probably will be for more to come.
-
-The first one, Mastodon (https://joinmastodon.org/), you may have read
-about or even tried out. It is essentially a twitter clone /
-alternative. Technically it is based on Ostatus, which is a protocol to
-distribute
-status updates across networks. Ostatus is the protocol that powered
-early 'alternative 2.0 style' social networks such as Friendica and
-Lorea. The latter was a product of and important site of organization
-for the Spanish Indignados and 15M movements. Mastodon also supports
-ActivityPub which is the likely successor of Ostatus as a protocol for
-further ongoing work on so-called federated publishing. The interesting
-thing is that Mastodon managed to attract a good chunk of the recent Twitter
-refugees. These where mostly voices which aren't white, loud or extreme
-right wing and for those reasons felt themselves increasingly out of
-place on twitter. Mastodon communities managed to involve so many of
-these people by focusing on developing tools for community moderation,
-content warnings and the ability to block other instances in the
-network. As a result (the english language) Mastodon became a site that
-is predominantly populated by the queer, PoC, left and artistic, or
-anyone that would otherwise be at risk of being on the receiving end of
-the Gamergate-style interactions on twitter. The decentralized nature of
-mastodon has created a culture of 'thematic mastodon servers (see
-https://instances.social/list) that have become a large part of what
-makes the network interesting and relevant to its several hundred
-thausand users.

content/test5.md

@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-Title: So aside from the discussion5
-Category: meet the developer
-slug: so-aside5
-
-So aside from the discussion of who listens (or didn't listen) to whose
-#i am placeholdercontent
-#i am placeholdercontent
-#i am placeholdercontent
-opinion it can be interesting to have a closer look at action and momentum.
-
-Three projects caught my attention and I think could be an interesting
-case for this 'next steps' discussion:
-
-Mastodon (2016) en Conversations (2014) and Peertube (2015) *
-
-All three are projects that during the past twelve months have somehow
-reinvigorated (the work on, attention for) their underlying protocols.
-Protocols that have been proclaimed dead or unsuccessful for many years.
-And probably will be for more to come.
-
-The first one, Mastodon (https://joinmastodon.org/), you may have read
-about or even tried out. It is essentially a twitter clone /
-alternative. Technically it is based on Ostatus, which is a protocol to
-distribute
-status updates across networks. Ostatus is the protocol that powered
-early 'alternative 2.0 style' social networks such as Friendica and
-Lorea. The latter was a product of and important site of organization
-for the Spanish Indignados and 15M movements. Mastodon also supports
-ActivityPub which is the likely successor of Ostatus as a protocol for
-further ongoing work on so-called federated publishing. The interesting
-thing is that Mastodon managed to attract a good chunk of the recent Twitter
-refugees. These where mostly voices which aren't white, loud or extreme
-right wing and for those reasons felt themselves increasingly out of
-place on twitter. Mastodon communities managed to involve so many of
-these people by focusing on developing tools for community moderation,
-content warnings and the ability to block other instances in the
-network. As a result (the english language) Mastodon became a site that
-is predominantly populated by the queer, PoC, left and artistic, or
-anyone that would otherwise be at risk of being on the receiving end of
-the Gamergate-style interactions on twitter. The decentralized nature of
-mastodon has created a culture of 'thematic mastodon servers (see
-https://instances.social/list) that have become a large part of what
-makes the network interesting and relevant to its several hundred
-thausand users.