Diversity on Micro.blog, from a minority viewpoint. vega.micro.blog
@vega The boundaries of every culture are always being contested, from within and from without. To know what boundaries to bend, and which to maintain, involves knowing who we want to be. These are good discussions. We will see what emerges.
@vega this is a great post, and I think it is relevent to not just diversifying webby-spaces, but most any sort of culutural space. Thanks so much for sharing.
@vega This: 'Heh, looks like yet another American-Silicon-Valley-Mac-exclusive-technophile enclave'. I love the way that you expressed the thought!
@vega I have nothing more to add to what you have said, you’ve captured the thoughts perfectly. A great post 👍🏽
@vega Interesting, definitely good food for thought! I appreciate your analysis on not only Micro.blog but the IndieWeb in general. All things take time to mature into the best version of itself. As more people hear about the IndieWeb it allows each new ring of people to help provide input on what blockades exist for the next ring of people.
@vega A brilliant and insightful post. And I think you are right.
'Heh, looks like yet another American-Silicon-Valley-Mac-exclusive-technophile enclave', heh, I could never put it together that eloquently, but there is a distinctive Mac based trace or sign that even I can spot. :-)
Thank you for writing this.
@bradenslen Here was some of my thinking: jgregorymcverry.com ..must say the critique of "We are Apple and we know the design you want even if you don't know" made me laugh....
Gimme messy css/html over minimalist markdown any day.
@vega this is a great post, thank you for writing it. I think it would be useful alongside other more tutorial-like posts when introducing people to MB.
@vega Thanks for that post. Diversity is in the attitudes of people. All we can do is to be open to whom ever and hope they see our openness.
@vega This entire essay is very insightful—and your whole blog has a whimsical and
determined air that has me punching my ‘subscribe’ button several times to make
sure it does the job.
One question I wonder: while I think the self-made entrepreneur has got to be
synonymous with imperialist America—couldn’t the independent
autodidact, operating apart from corporate interests, be a modern type of
vanguard for the dispossessed? I feel like the Instagram influencer is more
a direct descendant of The American Dream; the bespoke blog a piece of the
underground press—particularly in 2018, when they have become ancient machinery.
As Chris
quotes:
I write it myself, edit it myself, censor it myself, publish it myself,
distribute it myself, and spend jail time for it myself.
— Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky, 1942
Perhaps the difference is that the Indieweb has had an “every person for themselves”
kind of ethic. There are those who DIY and there are those who GTFO. Whereas
underground presses functioned collaboratively. And maybe M.B could be an
underground press if it had an editor and it sought out its sources. It feels
more like a Lions Club, some casual martinis and a snapshot of the
dwindling sun.
I hope that’s no condemnation. I think the underground presses had their coffee
houses, which gave you a place to bump into co-conspirators.
But it’s the editor thing that I keep bumping up against
on this Web—that we do need more editors, more librarians, more collaboration.
We haven’t quite figured out how to organize in structures that benefit, well,
all of us. That means starting with the lowest tier. If the library can make a way
for books to land in the hands of prisoners, refugees, the poor—then those
books can make it anywhere.
And I think this spiritual cause exists in the Indieweb when I see notes like
those on Brid.gy’s FAQ entry “How much does it cost?”
Nothing! We have great day jobs, and Bridgy is small, so thanks to
App Engine, it doesn’t cost much to run. We don’t need donations, promise.
I feel to inspire readers that might fall across this post—those who can
fashion things and who can throw themselves into rebuilding the Web (as if it were
Dresden)—to take up this same spiritual cause. To make a generous piece of this
crucial public engine. (I realize that this sounds terrifically technopiliac
and loathsome, maybe even in a shameful ‘tech bro’ way, but this technology is
here, right here, fucking everywhere else too it turns out—so let’s try to
find our way, shall we?)
I do think the Indieweb has the glimmer of real answers. But it’s a massive
undertaking. But that’s okay—real answers are too.