#4opens — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #4opens, aggregated by home.social.
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Post on composting the #dotcons mess https://www.terrygodier.com/the-boring-internet and how the world is still kinda run by #4opens native internet, yes its messy but its also real and human.
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Post on composting the #dotcons mess https://www.terrygodier.com/the-boring-internet and how the world is still kinda run by #4opens native internet, yes its messy but its also real and human.
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Post on composting the #dotcons mess https://www.terrygodier.com/the-boring-internet and how the world is still kinda run by #4opens native internet, yes its messy but its also real and human.
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Post on composting the #dotcons mess https://www.terrygodier.com/the-boring-internet and how the world is still kinda run by #4opens native internet, yes its messy but its also real and human.
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Post on composting the #dotcons mess https://www.terrygodier.com/the-boring-internet and how the world is still kinda run by #4opens native internet, yes its messy but its also real and human.
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The for-profit platforms, underpinned by neoliberal ideology, drives much of the dysfunction we see - both in society and within tech itself. Life “inside the #dotcons” means participating, often uncritically, in reinforcing #stupidindividualism. Moving beyond this requires building alternatives grounded in the #4opens: open data, open source, open standards, and open processes. Projects like #OMN point in this direction.
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The for-profit platforms, underpinned by neoliberal ideology, drives much of the dysfunction we see - both in society and within tech itself. Life “inside the #dotcons” means participating, often uncritically, in reinforcing #stupidindividualism. Moving beyond this requires building alternatives grounded in the #4opens: open data, open source, open standards, and open processes. Projects like #OMN point in this direction.
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#reboot is the necessary reset of the #openweb - stepping away from the dead ends of #techshit and #dotcons to rebuild digital infrastructure on human-centred, trust-based foundations, using tools like #activitypub and the #fediverse, guided by the #4opens.
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#reboot is the necessary reset of the #openweb - stepping away from the dead ends of #techshit and #dotcons to rebuild digital infrastructure on human-centred, trust-based foundations, using tools like #activitypub and the #fediverse, guided by the #4opens.
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In the #OMN hashtag story, #Oxford functions as a grounded local instance of normal tensions - a city that embodies the contradiction between elitist institutional power (#mainstreaming, #NGO culture, #deathcult economics) and genuine grassroots community, used as a real-world grounded path for #openweb organising and the #4opens approach.
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In the #OMN hashtag story, #Oxford functions as a grounded local instance of normal tensions - a city that embodies the contradiction between elitist institutional power (#mainstreaming, #NGO culture, #deathcult economics) and genuine grassroots community, used as a real-world grounded path for #openweb organising and the #4opens approach.
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In the #OMN hashtag story, #Oxford functions as a grounded local instance of normal tensions - a city that embodies the contradiction between elitist institutional power (#mainstreaming, #NGO culture, #deathcult economics) and genuine grassroots community, used as a real-world grounded path for #openweb organising and the #4opens approach.
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In the #OMN hashtag story, #Oxford functions as a grounded local instance of normal tensions - a city that embodies the contradiction between elitist institutional power (#mainstreaming, #NGO culture, #deathcult economics) and genuine grassroots community, used as a real-world grounded path for #openweb organising and the #4opens approach.
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In the #OMN hashtag story, #Oxford functions as a grounded local instance of normal tensions - a city that embodies the contradiction between elitist institutional power (#mainstreaming, #NGO culture, #deathcult economics) and genuine grassroots community, used as a real-world grounded path for #openweb organising and the #4opens approach.
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#OMN (Open Media Network) is a grassroots project to build human-centred, trust-based digital infrastructure on the #openweb - putting community need and collective governance ahead of technical complexity, commercial interest, and the centralised control of the #dotcons. It treats technology as a tool for social change rather than an end in itself, grounded in the #4opens (open code, open data, open standards, open process) and the principle that networks should be controlled and shaped by the people who use them.
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#OMN (Open Media Network) is a grassroots project to build human-centred, trust-based digital infrastructure on the #openweb - putting community need and collective governance ahead of technical complexity, commercial interest, and the centralised control of the #dotcons. It treats technology as a tool for social change rather than an end in itself, grounded in the #4opens (open code, open data, open standards, open process) and the principle that networks should be controlled and shaped by the people who use them.
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On the #OMN path, the #fediverse is the practical #reboot infrastructure of the #openweb - a decentralised network of interconnected, community-controlled networks built on #4opens standards like #activitypub, where no corporation owns the pipes, and where people and media flow across different instances.
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Pull conflict into shared space (#openprocess #4opens #trustflows)
Poison thrives in private channels, so you gently but consistently move things:
from DMs → into group threads
from whispers → into meetings
from vague → into specificThis doesn’t eliminate conflict, it grounds it. Sunlight doesn’t solve everything, but it stops the worst rot.
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@evan digital sovereignty is a made up meaningless term in this case - of a liberal idea of a fear based economy.
The #openweb is at its base trust and standards based #4opens so we don't deal with that mess at all #KISS
Kinda keep thinking people need to say this more clearly.
https://hamishcampbell.com/we-keep-making-mess-then-wondering-why-everything-smells/
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The mess we made with the #dotcons https://hamishcampbell.com/the-mess-we-made-with-the-dotcons/ Balancing this mess we made requires continuing efforts to promote decentralization, #4opens and “native” #openweb culture and infrastructure.
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#Oxford example:
Oxford boaters want to be sovereign—to keep the free-flowing life of the river, not bound by the old rules of the landlords.#Fediverse example:
The Fediverse is native to the #openweb path. We judge by the #4opens, and we walk with power. -
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A post from 2 years ago. The influence of NGOs in social activism raises concerns https://hamishcampbell.com/the-influence-of-ngos-in-social-activism-raises-concerns/ By resisting centralisation and embracing the #4opens, we can help ensure these spaces remain progressive, participatory, and free.
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In the #geekproblem mindset, crossing a protocol flow is a gateway. In #OMN, it’s a bridge.
That’s the difference between CONTROL and TRUST. A gate is locked. A bridge lets things flow. In the real world, we don’t put gates on bridges.
Strange how that basic truth gets lost in code metaphors.
#RSS is a bridge.
Closed APIs are gates. -
Coming out of #noaw this is a good post - What could a #4opens world look like? https://hamishcampbell.com/what-duse-a-4opens-world-look-like/
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Reducing fear at scale usually requires: stronger communities, trustworthy “native” institutions using #4opens communication to drive real participation in building visible alternatives. Individual fears https://hamishcampbell.com/individual-fears/
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@hamishcampbell @danie10 @ki @gsymon @EUCommission @long
The #EUcorruption #4opens team is about making public the mess the #EU crew make of tech. And in contrast celebrating when they get anything right.
It's about balance not only criticism #KISS
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@danie10 @ki @gsymon @EUCommission Any idea if this is public or private, funding, ownership etc.
Is it based on exiting #FOSS projects or more #techshit to compost? Are they adding to the commons or privatising it?
Who wonts to join the team composting #EU #techshit corruption as they will likely be spending billions on this over the next few years, It could be used for good, but more likely just mess making.
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For #openweb work, a useful rule of thumb is: Keep the core simple. Focus funding on maintaining the #4opens infrastructure. A note to #FOSS funders https://hamishcampbell.com/a-note-to-foss-funders/
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"To start to compost this mess we need to get back to rebooting an alternative, for twenty years I’ve been arguing that we urgently need to reboot a working alternative. A good place to start is the #openweb as the mainstream web is dominated by corporate platforms tightly coupled to capital and intelligence ecosystems. We cannot keep debating inside systems owned by the #NastyFew and expect any structural change.
We need #4opens publishing infrastructure, federated networks with transparent governance and community hosting to build protocol-level resilience infrastructure."
https://hamishcampbell.com/the-nastyfew-are-not-hidden-theyre-integrated/
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The tension that’s pushed back into the #Fediverse the last few years https://hamishcampbell.com/the-real-tension-thats-pushed-back-into-the-fediverse-the-last-few-years/ Where this matters is simple – If we don’t consciously build flows, commons, and #4opens practices into the infrastructure and culture, the same enclosure dynamics will re-emerge – just more politely.
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No one is coming to save us, but maybe we can still save each other. Compost lies using #4opens horizontal networks https://hamishcampbell.com/we-compost-lies-to-build-4opens-rooted-local-horizontal-networks-of-resistance-and-renewal/
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The #4opens framework is best understood not as ideology or branding, but as a simple set of engineering heuristics for evaluating whether a project will remain usable, forkable, and resilient over time.
Most long-lived #FOSS projects already follow some version of these practices implicitly. The value of #4opens is making those assumptions explicit, so people can quickly understand how a project works, who controls it, and whether it will survive beyond its original maintainers or funding cycle.
In practical terms, the #4opens ask a few straightforward questions:
* Is the development process visible and reviewable?
* Are data formats and interfaces documented and reusable?
* Can someone else run this independently without permission?
* Are governance and decision-making transparent enough that forks remain viable if needed?These aren’t abstract political goals, they’re lessons learned from decades of broken platforms, abandoned repositories, and “open” projects that centralised control.
For developers and sysadmins, applying the #4opens as a lightweight checklist helps reduce risk:
* Less lock-in to fragile ecosystems.
* Easier collaboration across projects.
* Better long-term maintainability.
* Clearer expectations for contributors and downstream users.A shared registry or index based on these criteria functions much like early open source directories or package repositories - not as gatekeeping, but as a map. Projects could self-declare alignment and provide verifiable signals about openness, interoperability, and governance structure.
The goal isn’t purity tests or badges for their own sake. It’s about improving signal-to-noise so builders can quickly identify tools that are likely to remain open, portable, and maintainable.
In a landscape where systems drift toward centralisation and corporate capture, the #4opens simply provide a shorthand for practices that help keep the commons viable, without requiring anyone to agree on ideology.
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In a world where lying undermines our needed genuine change, mediating its pervasive use requires #4opens strategies that push transparency, mutual respect, and courage. We need to compost the current culture of lying https://hamishcampbell.com/we-need-to-compost-the-current-culture-of-lying/
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@warmsignull so it's a #block, nothing is to be done practical to build commons. This was a predictable path, hopefully the #4opens dialogue is useful for someone so it was not just a mess.
No resources were created for this energy used, worth thinking about that for the composting we need.
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@anttipeltola the #4opens is a good test.
Use #4opens as a litmus test, not a manifesto. It works best like this: “Cool project. Let’s do a quick sanity check.” is it: Open code? Open data? Open standards? Open governance? If the answers get vague, defensive, or managerial, that’s your signal. You don’t need to argue, simply don’t invest trust or energy. Capture starves quietly when it isn’t fed.
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I’ve opened a new #4opens issue proposing a bounded experiment, not a solution: a funding system where rules are fixed before deployment and no human makes allocation decisions afterward.
The goal is to explore whether some informal power failures can be reduced.
Discussion welcome:
https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/4opens/issues/18 -
I opened a discussion about a missing design constraint in #4opens.
How are creators expected to sustain themselves while producing #OpenSource and #Commons aligned work, without reintroducing hidden power or relying on self-sacrifice?
I am treating survival funding as a first-class design problem because it shapes governance, licensing, and organization.
Discussion:
https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/4opens/issues/17 -
So we can see a path where the web of documents (#4opens #smallweb) is pushed away from the web of apps (#dotcons #bigweb).
This is a functional path for sustaining the alt tech path as the #smallweb is much more #KISS thus #DIY than the mess we have in the "bigweb". We likely need a better framing than this...
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The fall of the #VisionOnTV reboot based on #PeerTube was a loss for grassroots media and activist history.
Why? Because over the last ten years, many of our most spiky videos, that told the truth about power, protest, and real-world struggle - have been quietly erased from the #dotcons. YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook… one by one, the archives of resistance are disappearing under “content moderation” and algorithmic amnesia.
The #VisionOnTV project was different. It was a piece of the #openweb — a living, federated video commons built on #P2P infrastructure. It held stories that mattered: direct action, environmental defence, social movements, community struggles. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked — messy, transparent, alive.
Now it’s gone. And with it, a piece of our collective memory.
We need to reboot this path while the backups and fragments still exist. This is not nostalgia, more about preserving the roots of grassroots action so we can grow new ones. Without memory, there is no movement. Without archives, there is no accountability.
It’s time to dig, compost, and rebuild.
#OMN #openweb #4openshttps://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/peertube-visionOntv/wiki/history
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Media shapes how we think, act, and relate. Right now, most of it is trapped inside #dotcons — corporate silos that feed fear, distraction, and control. The same path that built fascism now runs our feeds: obedience through algorithms, comfort through consumption, silence through dependency.
The Open Media Network (#OMN) is about composting that mess, turning the waste of the #closedweb into fertile soil for something new. Rebuilding media as commons, based on the #4opens
This matters because without open, trust-based networks, there is no real freedom. Just managed choice.
#OMN — composting tech for a better world.
https://hamishcampbell.com -
History isn’t something that happens to us; it’s something we make — or lose — together.
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Because the web, and the world, needs a working example of what trust-based, open, collective media can be again.
We’ve tried the #dotcons way, and it’s killing both truth and community. -
The #fashernista crew take and dispoal anything that starts to grow in the alt.
That’s the pattern: spot the spark, capture it, smooth the edges, and sell it back as lifestyle.They move fast - faster than we do - and by the time you notice, what was radical has been turned into content, branding, and funding portfolios.
If you’re working on something that matters, an alt tech project, a grassroots network, a commons. Mediation before they move in,
defend your work, your world, and your dreams before they’re commodified into polite irrelevance.Because make no mistake, it’s happening to something you care about right now.
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The real solution is always to respect and build from the #fluffy / #spiky debate, not bury it under politeness or pretend blindly it doesn’t matter.
#Fluffy brings empathy, care, and bridge-building — the social glue.
#Spiky brings clarity, honesty, and challenge — the fire that keeps things real.Both are needed if a project is to stay alive and #4opens.
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The real solution is always to respect and build from the #fluffy / #spiky debate, not bury it under politeness or pretend blindly it doesn’t matter.
#Fluffy brings empathy, care, and bridge-building — the social glue.
#Spiky brings clarity, honesty, and challenge — the fire that keeps things real.Both are needed if a project is to stay alive and #4opens.
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User Story: #MakingHistory - Digital Family Archive & Activist Memory-Building
Goal: Digitize and share activist / family archives primary sources, stories, documents in a way that’s open, participatory, and rooted in real community, not just relic preservation. The archive becomes both memory and tool for social change.
Steps & flows
Setup infrastructure - Spin up a small hosted VPS or desktop instance. Install a #DAT / ActivityPub / peer-to-peer hybrid archive app (#makinghistory).
Upload & seed - Scan family / activist archival material: photos, videos, letters, flyers. Add basic metadata (date, place, people involved). Upload into the system.
Community building - Invite family, networks, activist groups to install the app. Form an affinity group around the archive.
Columns & filtering - Interface: columns like New, Recent, plus user-added ones (by theme / era / type). Users see flows of items (boolean filters, hashtag categories) they care about. Interaction & tagging - Users contribute: add metadata, tags, stories behind objects.
Swipe, browse, edit. Items shift columns/categories as metadata evolves.
Story feature / Narrative building - With categorized & metadata-tagged material, users can assemble “stories”, narrative essays, timelines, thematic presentations.
Sharing & impact - Publish these histories publicly: open & CC-licensed. These become grassroots counterhistories. Use stories to inspire activism, education, or community organizing - showing how history roots current struggles.
Exhibition mode (Extension) - In physical exhibitions, visitors can use the app (on tablets or provided devices) to browse and contribute live: tagging, adding memories, shaping the narrative in situ.
Why it matters, it opens up history: Moves memory out of centralized institutions (archives, museums) into the hands of communities who lived it.
Counter-narrative: Offers history from below, not only top-down or official versions.
Living archive: It’s participatory, not passive. People don’t just view; they shape meaning.
Grounded in #4opens: Open data, open process, open source, open access.
Potential challenges & what to compost (Lessons from past failures) What has gone wrong before, how we compost it in this story:
Burnout among core volunteers, people overload metadata tasks, get exhausted; later momentum fades. Spread workload through community; avoid “metadatabase queen/king” roles. Use columns & tagging that feel playful and meaningful, not tedious.
Power consolidation, with one person / small team becomes the de facto gatekeeper of what’s seen / what counts. Use shared governance: decisions about themes, display, moderation are open. Rotate roles. Use open process.
Tech falling out of maintenance with custom tools built, then abandoned. Use stable, simple tools with community-supported code. Make sure data formats are portable.
Exclusion in “participation” Some voices get left out, marginalized, younger, remote. Proactively invite diverse participants; ensure the interface / metadata vocab doesn’t force people to use jargon; make offline or low-bandwidth modes possible.