𝓻𝓻𝓪 @rra@post.lurk.org

On Twitter, we can experience the dark undertones of heteronomous convenience. User Tony Arcieri [developed](https://twitter.com/bascule/status/1307440596668182528) a worrisome experiment about the automatic selection of a focal point for image previews, which often show only a part of them when tweeted. Arcieri uploaded two versions of a long, vertical image. In one, a portrait of Obama was placed at the top, while one of Mitch McConnell at the bottom. In the second image the positioning was reversed. In both cases the focal point chosen for the preview was McConnell's face. Who knows! The system spares the user the time to make such choice autonomously but its logic is obscure and immutable. Here, convenience is heteronomous.

Does it have to be this way? Not necessarily. Mastodon is an open source, self-hosted social network that at the first glance looks like Twitter, but it's profoundly different. One of the many differences (which I'd love to describe in detail but it would be out of the scope of this text, srry) has to do with focal point selection. Here, the user has the option to choose it autonomously, which means manually. They can also avoid making any decision. In that case, the preview will show the middle of the image by default.

(thx @joak for pointing me to this case!)

https://varia.zone got nominated for the 'Best Venue' audience award of the 2020 #Rotterdam #Music #Award.

So if you've enjoyed the things we've done at #varia, either in-person or remotely please help us with your vote:
http://popunie.nl/awards2020/ (it is the yellow section midway down that says 'Beste Podium')

Please consider boosting.

This is me screaming across the fediverse. I'm looking for people that used the original Seesmic before the service was shut down in 2009. I feel like if I were to reconnect with anyone from there, they'd be on the fediverse in 2020.

For context, Seesmic was a cross between YouTube and Twitter. Micro-video blogging with threaded conversations, no commenting, only videos.

I feel with a custom PeerTube instance we can maybe recreate what once was, what do you think?

The collapse of international communications conglomerates left communication dead zones all over the world. On remote Pentecost island, residents applied traditional building techniques used in Nagol land-diving towers to construct long-range wi-fi nodes capable of rising above the jungle and mountains of their home.

#inktober2020 #mastoart #solarpunk

So I currently have enough money now to buy a new laptop. I don’t believe in buying new things unnecessarily either. Do you have a 13 inch or smaller laptop that will run Linux well and still have usable battery life that you want to sell me?! Please boost! Would love to buy a laptop from the fediverse.

New zine ready!
***Tunnels and smartphones***
Consider buying a physical copy to support the vpn zines project from
https://www.cucu.gr/prints/tunnels-and-smartphones-en/
Available to download in digital format at
https://psaroskalazines/zines/

hey folks, just joined the fediverse. I'm interested in design, typography, open source type and free culture. Also fascinated by archives & collections. #introduction

an important report has just been published by my friend emmi: The Decentralized Web of Hate

"Fascists (and other bad actors) are [...] hosting manifestos resiliently, raising money anonymously, communicating securely to organize attacks, sharing weapons plans, and networking to build out their numbers."

"We cannot abandon p2p technology but we also can't ignore the risks. The only way out is through."

thread
https://twitter.com/emmibevensee/status/1323350970496032769
site
https://rebelliousdata.com/p2p
pdf
https://rebelliousdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/P2P-Hate-Report.pdf

An abandoned war strider rusts away in a salt marsh on the coast of the Carolinas, its purpose long forgotten.

#solarpunk #inktober2020 #mecha

Tomorrow, my desktop essay 'Feditation', commissioned by The International Center for Knowledge in the Arts, will be screened as part of the programme of their event Coherency, Diversity and Networks in Artistic Research and its session on "Alternatives & Interdependencies in Constructing Future Networks". You can find more info and a link to the webinar here:

https://artisticresearch.dk/en/activities/link-for-symposium-coherence-diversity-and-networks-in-artistic-research

#fediverse #federation

Mobilizon [1] instance in Vienna: Who wants to team up to make it happen? I'll chip in my yearly meetup expenses (~100€) for hosting budget, plus brains and hands for graphics/theming and looking after the application (possibly contributing bugfixes too). Physical hosting aspects I'm clueless, server software/os duties I can help ("Gefährliches Halbwissen"). ETA: <= Christmas/New Year :D Let's do this! /cc @c3wien @metalab

[1] https://framablog.org/2020/10/27/mobilizon-your-events-your-groups-your-data/

Informatics of the Oppressed
Rodrigo Ochigame
https://logicmag.io/care/informatics-of-the-oppressed/