#closedweb — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #closedweb, aggregated by home.social.
-
This summer #climatechaos
This summer, heat, fires, the soon to come winter floods and insurance withdrawals will make #climatechaos harder to treat as something happening somewhere else. For years, climate breakdown was framed as an activist issue, something discussed by environmental groups while mainstream politics carried on with business as usual. That is changing, people are experiencing the consequences: extreme heat, flooding, damaged homes, rising insurance costs, failing infrastructure and growing […]https://hamishcampbell.com/this-summer-climatechaos-is-mainstream/
-
20 years of #dotcons selling libertarian individualism has pushed aside the collective politics that once made the #openweb revolutionary.
For 20 years the #geekproblem helped turn "left tech" into the #closedweb. That's a disaster we can't keep repeating.
No prat fights, we need alternatives: #IndymediaBack, #OMN, #OGB, #MakingHistory. To rebuild collective power.
-
20 years of #dotcons selling libertarian individualism has pushed aside the collective politics that once made the #openweb revolutionary.
For 20 years the #geekproblem helped turn "left tech" into the #closedweb. That's a disaster we can't keep repeating.
No prat fights, we need alternatives: #IndymediaBack, #OMN, #OGB, #MakingHistory. To rebuild collective power.
-
Feelings/facts, stupidindividualism is about peoples role in systems
Just because you feel attacked doesn't mean someone is attacking you, sometimes that feeling is worth listening to, it may be telling you that something doesn't fit with how you currently see the world. But a feeling is not a fact, this matters because much political discussion now begins and ends with personal reactions rather than examining the underlying structures. Take the hashtag #stupidindividualism. Many people read it as, "You're stupid because you're an individual." That isn't what […]https://hamishcampbell.com/feelings-facts-stupidindividualism-is-about-peoples-role-in-systems/
-
Why #FOSS matters socially
The internet didn't become broken overnight, it drifted from being a network of communities into a marketplace dominated by platforms whose purpose is extracting value. This is the logic of #dotcons most of us invested our lives and community into. How did we get into this mess? The problem isn't only bad companies, it's that our digital lives depend entirely on proprietary #dotcons paths and software, commercial interests end up controlling our reality. This is why #FOSS (Free and Open […] -
Why #FOSS matters socially
The internet didn't become broken overnight, it drifted from being a network of communities into a marketplace dominated by platforms whose purpose is extracting value. This is the logic of #dotcons most of us invested our lives and community into. How did we get into this mess? The problem isn't only bad companies, it's that our digital lives depend entirely on proprietary #dotcons paths and software, commercial interests end up controlling our reality. This is why #FOSS (Free and Open […] -
The #4opens: A Practical Compass for the #openweb https://hamishcampbell.com/the-4opens-a-practical-compass-for-the-openweb/ If the answer is “yes” to all four, you’re probably looking at a native #openweb project. If not, you’re probably feeding another #closedweb platform.
-
The #4opens: A Practical Compass for the #openweb https://hamishcampbell.com/the-4opens-a-practical-compass-for-the-openweb/ If the answer is “yes” to all four, you’re probably looking at a native #openweb project. If not, you’re probably feeding another #closedweb platform.
-
The #4opens: A Practical Compass for the #openweb
Need to come back to this, as people still are not seeing the value or use. The #4opens is a simple, practical tool for evaluating and guiding grassroots technology, media and social projects. Rather than asking whether a project is simply "open source", it asks a broader question - can people actually trust this project to remain part of the commons? The #4opens helps distinguish native #openweb projects from #closedweb platforms and projects that have drifted into corporate, bureaucratic or […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-4opens-a-practical-compass-for-the-openweb/
-
The #4opens is a simple, practical tool to evaluate and guide grassroots, alternative tech projects. It judges how "open" and trustworthy a project is, helping to distinguish native #openweb efforts from #closedweb or captured ones (e.g., #dotcons like corporate social media).
The Four Opens
* Open Data - The basic truth of the project. Data (content, metadata, etc.) should be openly accessible and exportable/portable. This prevents lock-in and enables sharing, archiving, and reuse by communities.
* Open Source - The code (or equivalent for non-software projects) is publicly available under a free/open license. This allows inspection, modification, and forking, embodying #FOSS principles but integrated into a wider social context.
* Open Standards - The project uses (and contributes to) interoperable, non-proprietary standards. This supports federation, compatibility across tools/instances, and avoids silos (e.g., #ActivityPub in the #Fediverse).
Open Process (the critical addition) - Transparent, participatory decision-making and governance. This is not just technical openness but social openness: how the project is run, how power is handled, how feedback shapes direction, and how it avoids hidden hierarchies or #NGO-style capture. It emphasizes trust-building, commons-oriented culture, and composting conflicts through visible, inclusive processes.
How this works in practice
Badging system (simple and motivational):
* 2 opens: Bronze badge (basic alt/grassroots alignment).
* 3 opens: Silver badge.
* 4 opens: Gold badge (full native #openweb project).Projects self-assess and are evaluated by the community using these criteria. It's designed to be #KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) - easy to apply without bureaucracy.
It acts as a compass for #openweb vs. #closedweb. Use it to judge value, compost #techcrap/#techchurn, resist enclosure, and build trust-based digital commons. It's explicitly a social restating/extension of #FOSS paths, adding the missing social layer (#openprocess) that pure technical openness often lacks.
Only technical openness (e.g., open source + data) still leads to #geekproblem outcomes, meritocracy, fragmentation ("just fork it"), or capture by careerists/#fashionistas if process and culture are closed.
The #4opens prioritizes human-centred, trust-based infrastructure over scale, funding, or individual exit. This supports horizontal activism, mutual aid, and decentralized organizing (e.g., in #Indymedia history or current #Fediverse efforts).
Examples: Mastodon (when aligned) can score high; corporate platforms like Facebook score low across the board. It helps grow networks where communities own their storytelling, governance, and tools.
The framework is not rigid dogma but a living tool for "composting the mess" - turning failed and captured projects into fertile ground for better ones. It's central to #OMN projects, which are working on building federated, grassroots media and social infrastructure.
To sum up, it’s a powerful, low-overhead way to keep tech aligned with grassroots values rather than drifting into #mainstreaming or #deathcult logics of extraction and control.
-
The #4opens is a simple, practical tool to evaluate and guide grassroots, alternative tech projects. It judges how "open" and trustworthy a project is, helping to distinguish native #openweb efforts from #closedweb or captured ones (e.g., #dotcons like corporate social media).
The Four Opens
* Open Data - The basic truth of the project. Data (content, metadata, etc.) should be openly accessible and exportable/portable. This prevents lock-in and enables sharing, archiving, and reuse by communities.
* Open Source - The code (or equivalent for non-software projects) is publicly available under a free/open license. This allows inspection, modification, and forking, embodying #FOSS principles but integrated into a wider social context.
* Open Standards - The project uses (and contributes to) interoperable, non-proprietary standards. This supports federation, compatibility across tools/instances, and avoids silos (e.g., #ActivityPub in the #Fediverse).
Open Process (the critical addition) - Transparent, participatory decision-making and governance. This is not just technical openness but social openness: how the project is run, how power is handled, how feedback shapes direction, and how it avoids hidden hierarchies or #NGO-style capture. It emphasizes trust-building, commons-oriented culture, and composting conflicts through visible, inclusive processes.
How this works in practice
Badging system (simple and motivational):
* 2 opens: Bronze badge (basic alt/grassroots alignment).
* 3 opens: Silver badge.
* 4 opens: Gold badge (full native #openweb project).Projects self-assess and are evaluated by the community using these criteria. It's designed to be #KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) - easy to apply without bureaucracy.
It acts as a compass for #openweb vs. #closedweb. Use it to judge value, compost #techcrap/#techchurn, resist enclosure, and build trust-based digital commons. It's explicitly a social restating/extension of #FOSS paths, adding the missing social layer (#openprocess) that pure technical openness often lacks.
Only technical openness (e.g., open source + data) still leads to #geekproblem outcomes, meritocracy, fragmentation ("just fork it"), or capture by careerists/#fashionistas if process and culture are closed.
The #4opens prioritizes human-centred, trust-based infrastructure over scale, funding, or individual exit. This supports horizontal activism, mutual aid, and decentralized organizing (e.g., in #Indymedia history or current #Fediverse efforts).
Examples: Mastodon (when aligned) can score high; corporate platforms like Facebook score low across the board. It helps grow networks where communities own their storytelling, governance, and tools.
The framework is not rigid dogma but a living tool for "composting the mess" - turning failed and captured projects into fertile ground for better ones. It's central to #OMN projects, which are working on building federated, grassroots media and social infrastructure.
To sum up, it’s a powerful, low-overhead way to keep tech aligned with grassroots values rather than drifting into #mainstreaming or #deathcult logics of extraction and control.
-
We're living inside a full-blown #blinded ideology: 40 years of #neoliberalism layered onto the liberal consensus. That's a powerful #BLOCK on imagining different futures.
One way to push back is to name today's "common sense" for what it is: worship of the #deathcult.
On the grassroots tech path keep it simple: #openweb vs #closedweb. Use the #4opens to judge and compost #techcrap instead of feeding the #techchurn.
Shared #hashtags are simple organising tools.
-
We're living inside a full-blown #blinded ideology: 40 years of #neoliberalism layered onto the liberal consensus. That's a powerful #BLOCK on imagining different futures.
One way to push back is to name today's "common sense" for what it is: worship of the #deathcult.
On the grassroots tech path keep it simple: #openweb vs #closedweb. Use the #4opens to judge and compost #techcrap instead of feeding the #techchurn.
Shared #hashtags are simple organising tools.
-
Best not to keep feeding the churn. It's #KISS #openweb and #closedweb. The rest is #fashernista guff that'll need composting when the next buzzwords arrive in a year or two.
Keep it simple. #KISS
-
Best not to keep feeding the churn. It's #KISS #openweb and #closedweb. The rest is #fashernista guff that'll need composting when the next buzzwords arrive in a year or two.
Keep it simple. #KISS
-
We are living through a dangerous moment
The nasty side Let's look at a #fluffy positive view of the path we need to be on. We are living through a dangerous moment, the systems around us are failing, but the dominant response is still denial at worst or to try to repair the existing structures that created the crisis at best. But, the problem is not one bad policy, one bad company, or one bad government. The problem is a whole way of organising society around extraction, scale, speed and distance. A system that measures success […]https://hamishcampbell.com/we-are-living-through-a-dangerous-moment/
-
Rebuilding Shared Meaning in a Fragmented World
A lot of our current mess can be understood through the long transition from #modernism to #postmodernism. Not as an academic debate, but as a lived reality. Modernity was about progress. It believed that society could be understood, improved, and consciously shaped. Science, democracy, planning, industry, public institutions, trade unions, education, and infrastructure were all part of this path. The future was something people could build together. Of course, this vision was never as […]https://hamishcampbell.com/rebuilding-shared-meaning-in-a-fragmented-world/
-
The dogma of one path: why alternatives, diversity and linking matter more
This toot sparked off some thinking - A blinded assumption of modern Western liberalism has been that there is an automatic connection between free enterprise, liberal democracy and economic and technological progress. The story was simple that open markets create wealth, wealth creates a middle class, the middle class creates democracy, technology and progress naturally follow the same path. This became more than an economic theory, it became a "common sense" worldview - a belief that every […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-dogma-of-one-path-why-alternatives-diversity-and-linking-matter-more/
-
The dogma of one path: why alternatives, diversity and linking matter more
This toot sparked off some thinking - A blinded assumption of modern Western liberalism has been that there is an automatic connection between free enterprise, liberal democracy and economic and technological progress. The story was simple that open markets create wealth, wealth creates a middle class, the middle class creates democracy, technology and progress naturally follow the same path. This became more than an economic theory, it became a "common sense" worldview - a belief that every […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-dogma-of-one-path-why-alternatives-diversity-and-linking-matter-more/
-
The Fediverse’s growing signal-to-noise problem – and who’s causing it
People nowadays are soaked in #stupidindividualism, and the important word on this is hopeless. Not hopeless because people are bad, but because we've spent decades dismantling the social structures that gave us the ability to act together. We know how to consume, react, and perform as individuals, but increasingly struggle to cooperate, organise, and build collective power. A society of isolated individuals is easy to manage and hard to change. There have been a lot of institutional prat […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-real-debate-isnt-institutions-versus-communities/
-
The Fediverse’s growing signal-to-noise problem – and who’s causing it
People nowadays are soaked in #stupidindividualism, and the important word on this is hopeless. Not hopeless because people are bad, but because we've spent decades dismantling the social structures that gave us the ability to act together. We know how to consume, react, and perform as individuals, but increasingly struggle to cooperate, organise, and build collective power. A society of isolated individuals is easy to manage and hard to change. There have been a lot of institutional prat […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-real-debate-isnt-institutions-versus-communities/
-
A bit of #OMN history: after the first wave of the #openweb was enclosed by the #dotcons, every few years a "new" solution appears promising to give power back to people and communities. Most of the time it simply repackages the same #dotcons power structures in a different form.
#web3 is a good example of this, it is the #closedweb rebuilt as an astroturf "grassroots" movement, wrapped in the language of decentralisation while remaining driven by speculation, investment, and control.
This is why so much of the #mainstreaming embraces it. It fits neatly within existing assumptions about ownership, markets, and power. In other words, it feels like "common sense".
The real challenge isn't new branding. It's rebuilding the social foundations of the #openweb.
-
A bit of #OMN history: after the first wave of the #openweb was enclosed by the #dotcons, every few years a "new" solution appears promising to give power back to people and communities. Most of the time it simply repackages the same #dotcons power structures in a different form.
#web3 is a good example of this, it is the #closedweb rebuilt as an astroturf "grassroots" movement, wrapped in the language of decentralisation while remaining driven by speculation, investment, and control.
This is why so much of the #mainstreaming embraces it. It fits neatly within existing assumptions about ownership, markets, and power. In other words, it feels like "common sense".
The real challenge isn't new branding. It's rebuilding the social foundations of the #openweb.
-
The #deathcult isn’t just politics or economics. It’s a dogma - a way of seeing the world that sits underneath what we call “common sense”. Forty years of #neoliberalism turned competition, greed, extraction, and isolation into normality. We breathe it in every day until it feels natural.
That’s the real prison: when the ideology disappears into the background and becomes invisible.
So how do we escape the mind prison?
It’s simpler than people think. Look outside the current mess. There are huge bodies of human thought, practice, and lived experience from before the rise of the #deathcult. Traditions of commons, mutual aid, collective survival, indigenous stewardship, labour organising, radical democracy, and the early #openweb all point to different ways of being human together.
The answers don’t come from worshipping new tech, stronger markets, or smarter branding. They come from remembering what was deliberately buried.
That’s why projects like #OMN matter. We need living alternatives, not just critique. We need spaces where trust, openness, and collective action can grow in native soil instead of inside the poisoned logic of the #closedweb and endless commodification.
The first step out of the prison is recognising the walls were built by people — which means they can also be dismantled by people.
#OMN #openweb #4opens #commons #mutualaid #socialchange #deathcult #nothingnew
-
The #deathcult isn’t just politics or economics. It’s a dogma - a way of seeing the world that sits underneath what we call “common sense”. Forty years of #neoliberalism turned competition, greed, extraction, and isolation into normality. We breathe it in every day until it feels natural.
That’s the real prison: when the ideology disappears into the background and becomes invisible.
So how do we escape the mind prison?
It’s simpler than people think. Look outside the current mess. There are huge bodies of human thought, practice, and lived experience from before the rise of the #deathcult. Traditions of commons, mutual aid, collective survival, indigenous stewardship, labour organising, radical democracy, and the early #openweb all point to different ways of being human together.
The answers don’t come from worshipping new tech, stronger markets, or smarter branding. They come from remembering what was deliberately buried.
That’s why projects like #OMN matter. We need living alternatives, not just critique. We need spaces where trust, openness, and collective action can grow in native soil instead of inside the poisoned logic of the #closedweb and endless commodification.
The first step out of the prison is recognising the walls were built by people — which means they can also be dismantled by people.
#OMN #openweb #4opens #commons #mutualaid #socialchange #deathcult #nothingnew
-
Thatcher, Reagan were the wrecking crew: How we keep pushing mess
This story is about the ideology that won. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two politicians on either side of the Atlantic didn’t only win elections, they reshaped what people came to accept as “common sense.” Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States did not invent capitalism’s worst tendencies, but they gave them state power, institutional infrastructure, and ideological legitimacy. What they built was not simply a set of policies, it was a social […]https://hamishcampbell.com/thatcher-reagan-were-the-wrecking-crew-how-we-pushed-the-current-mess/
-
Thatcher, Reagan were the wrecking crew: How we keep pushing mess
This story is about the ideology that won. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two politicians on either side of the Atlantic didn’t only win elections, they reshaped what people came to accept as “common sense.” Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States did not invent capitalism’s worst tendencies, but they gave them state power, institutional infrastructure, and ideological legitimacy. What they built was not simply a set of policies, it was a social […]https://hamishcampbell.com/thatcher-reagan-were-the-wrecking-crew-how-we-pushed-the-current-mess/
-
A fluff view of current tech we need to compost (about W Social)
-
A fluff view of current tech we need to compost (about W Social)
-
Turning stress, conflict, and exhaustion into commons culture instead of mutual destruction
"To put some "commons" structure into this kindness… A path before we knee-jerk criticise members of the community we should make real offers to help repeatedly (x3) in a positive community way. Only then let the "negative" monster of judgment lose to clean up the mess. Focus on clean up first, the "common senses" desire to attack second. What do you think about growing our positive norms (common sense)." This is the hard bit of any grassroots movement of turning stress, conflict, and […] -
Turning stress, conflict, and exhaustion into commons culture instead of mutual destruction
"To put some "commons" structure into this kindness… A path before we knee-jerk criticise members of the community we should make real offers to help repeatedly (x3) in a positive community way. Only then let the "negative" monster of judgment lose to clean up the mess. Focus on clean up first, the "common senses" desire to attack second. What do you think about growing our positive norms (common sense)." This is the hard bit of any grassroots movement of turning stress, conflict, and […] -
A fluff view of current tech we need to compost
You know, when people are heading over a cliff, I'm more than happy to be "left behind". This story is #openwashing, not innovation. “New European social network” is actually a fork of #Bluesky wrapped in sovereignty language, as Elena Rossini says with the same #dotcons logic - PR-first launch (Davos), reality comes later (or never). This tech mess illustrates, if people start with branding, funding, and media narrative instead of community and process, it’s not #openweb - it’s […]https://hamishcampbell.com/a-fluff-view-of-current-tech-we-need-to-compost/
-
A fluff view of current tech we need to compost
You know, when people are heading over a cliff, I'm more than happy to be "left behind". This story is #openwashing, not innovation. “New European social network” is actually a fork of #Bluesky wrapped in sovereignty language, as Elena Rossini says with the same #dotcons logic - PR-first launch (Davos), reality comes later (or never). This tech mess illustrates, if people start with branding, funding, and media narrative instead of community and process, it’s not #openweb - it’s […]https://hamishcampbell.com/a-fluff-view-of-current-tech-we-need-to-compost/
-
Actually solving things, and why this matters for #OMN
Activism has a reputation problem, in default #mainstreaming storytelling it’s painted as chaos, absence, or naive idealism. But if you look at what activists at best actually do, a different picture emerges: a long tradition of people working out, in practice, how to solve real problems together without relying on distant authority. And that’s the bit most people quietly skip. In most social/political movements, the hard questions - how we organise, decide, share resources, resolve […]https://hamishcampbell.com/actually-solving-things-and-why-this-matters-for-omn/
-
Actually solving things, and why this matters for #OMN
Activism has a reputation problem, in default #mainstreaming storytelling it’s painted as chaos, absence, or naive idealism. But if you look at what activists at best actually do, a different picture emerges: a long tradition of people working out, in practice, how to solve real problems together without relying on distant authority. And that’s the bit most people quietly skip. In most social/political movements, the hard questions - how we organise, decide, share resources, resolve […]https://hamishcampbell.com/actually-solving-things-and-why-this-matters-for-omn/
-
#OMN Grounding (the roots as a story)
#techchurn is the endless cycle of adopting new platforms, tools, and technologies - not because they solve any real problems, but because novelty is mistaken for progress. It burns community trust, institutional memory, and activist energy, while leaving the underlying #nastyfew power structures untouched.https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=techchurn The #OMN uses #stupidindividualism to describe the culturally manufactured habit of prioritising personal gain and self-interest over collective […]https://hamishcampbell.com/omn-grounding-the-roots-as-a-story/
-
#OMN Grounding (the roots as a story)
#techchurn is the endless cycle of adopting new platforms, tools, and technologies - not because they solve any real problems, but because novelty is mistaken for progress. It burns community trust, institutional memory, and activist energy, while leaving the underlying #nastyfew power structures untouched.https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=techchurn The #OMN uses #stupidindividualism to describe the culturally manufactured habit of prioritising personal gain and self-interest over collective […]https://hamishcampbell.com/omn-grounding-the-roots-as-a-story/
-
In #OMN language, #closedweb refers to, the controlled digital infrastructure = platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter - built on proprietary code, extractive business models, and centralised power, where people have no meaningful control over their data, their communities, or the rules that govern them.
-
In #OMN language, #closedweb refers to, the controlled digital infrastructure = platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter - built on proprietary code, extractive business models, and centralised power, where people have no meaningful control over their data, their communities, or the rules that govern them.
-
“Digital sovereignty” is more mess we need to compost
The servent of the #nastyfew wispering in the ear of the #deathcult ists liberals From a #OMN perspective, the mess isn’t just the wording - it’s the ideology embedded in the wording, and how that shapes behaviour over time. “Digital sovereignty” sounds harmless, progressive in a liberal policy context. But if you run this through a #KISS ideological lens, its more mess rooted in control, borders, and authority - concepts historically tied to state power. That’s why it’s so easy […]https://hamishcampbell.com/digital-sovereignty-is-more-mess-we-need-to-compost/
-
“Digital sovereignty” is more mess we need to compost
The servent of the #nastyfew wispering in the ear of the #deathcult ists liberals From a #OMN perspective, the mess isn’t just the wording - it’s the ideology embedded in the wording, and how that shapes behaviour over time. “Digital sovereignty” sounds harmless, progressive in a liberal policy context. But if you run this through a #KISS ideological lens, its more mess rooted in control, borders, and authority - concepts historically tied to state power. That’s why it’s so easy […]https://hamishcampbell.com/digital-sovereignty-is-more-mess-we-need-to-compost/
-
The #dotcons, #mainstreaming, and Build to Walk Away
Three years ago I was trying to explain something simple in language liberals might actually hear. They talk about “platform capitalism.” Fine. But I’ve been calling it the #dotcons for 20 years - because that’s what it is - a con. The last 30 years of tech hasn’t just drifted into this mess. It’s been shaped, step by step, enclosure by enclosure, into systems designed to extract value from us. What we now call the internet is, in large part, a machine built to manipulate, […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-dotcons-mainstreaming-and-build-and-walk-away/
-
So how do we mediate this fear?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcm-tOGiva0 Who would have though this would sum up our needed path for the #Oxfordboaters and the #fedivers? You would have to be an #asshole to unthinkingly disagree with what we are doing and pretty wise to thinkingly disagree with the path. Which one are you? So why are we in such a mess? Because people are acting from fear. Not always consciously, not always honestly - but fear is the driver. Fear of losing control. Fear of losing status. Fear of […] -
So how do we mediate this fear?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcm-tOGiva0 Who would have though this would sum up our needed path for the #Oxfordboaters and the #fedivers? You would have to be an #asshole to unthinkingly disagree with what we are doing and pretty wise to thinkingly disagree with the path. Which one are you? So why are we in such a mess? Because people are acting from fear. Not always consciously, not always honestly - but fear is the driver. Fear of losing control. Fear of losing status. Fear of […] -
Do you remember when technology felt like a way forward?
Do you remember when tech felt like a way forward? That moment’s gone on the mainstream #closedweb path. What we’ve got now is something else entirely. Tools like Palantir and Project Maven aren’t about truth or insight. They’re excuse generators. Power does what it wants, then points to “the data” as cover. That’s the product. And the people building this? Still cosplaying as the good guys, well-paid servants of the #nastyfew, wrapped in the fading myth of being “freedom […]https://hamishcampbell.com/do-you-remember-when-technology-felt-like-a-way-forward/
-
Do you remember when technology felt like a way forward?
Do you remember when tech felt like a way forward? That moment’s gone on the mainstream #closedweb path. What we’ve got now is something else entirely. Tools like Palantir and Project Maven aren’t about truth or insight. They’re excuse generators. Power does what it wants, then points to “the data” as cover. That’s the product. And the people building this? Still cosplaying as the good guys, well-paid servants of the #nastyfew, wrapped in the fading myth of being “freedom […]https://hamishcampbell.com/do-you-remember-when-technology-felt-like-a-way-forward/
-
Just to add that this is the same metaphor as open/closed
ie. #openweb vs #closedweb
These hashtags all add up to a story http://hamishcampbell.com/tag/hashtags/ -
Just to add that this is the same metaphor as open/closed
ie. #openweb vs #closedweb
These hashtags all add up to a story http://hamishcampbell.com/tag/hashtags/ -
Growing the #openweb – Notes for Composting the #dotcons (and growing an #OMN)
Today there are a lot of dishonest people - it’s become the default. Finding someone who is actually truthful is rare. So with this in mind, let’s stop being polite about this, what we’re living inside online right now isn’t “social media.” It’s a managed enclosure - a system designed to extract value, shape behaviour, and concentrate power. It's what I have been saying for the last 20 years. Call it what it is - digital #feudalism - The Lords, the Serfs, and the Server. When […] -
Growing the #openweb – Notes for Composting the #dotcons (and growing an #OMN)
Today there are a lot of dishonest people - it’s become the default. Finding someone who is actually truthful is rare. So with this in mind, let’s stop being polite about this, what we’re living inside online right now isn’t “social media.” It’s a managed enclosure - a system designed to extract value, shape behaviour, and concentrate power. It's what I have been saying for the last 20 years. Call it what it is - digital #feudalism - The Lords, the Serfs, and the Server. When […] -
Thinking of workshops to run at “Nodes On A Web” #NOAW unconference
Hamish Campbell is a long-time #openweb activist and technologist working on grassroots media and digital commons. He was involved in the early development of #Indymedia and continues this work through projects like the Open Media Network (#OMN), which works on how federated tools and community publishing supports public-interest media infrastructure. His focus is balancing building native platforms and on growing the social culture that makes the #openweb work: transparency, […]https://hamishcampbell.com/thinking-of-workshops-to-run-at-nodes-on-a-web-noaw-unconference/
-
Thinking of workshops to run at “Nodes On A Web” #NOAW unconference
Hamish Campbell is a long-time #openweb activist and technologist working on grassroots media and digital commons. He was involved in the early development of #Indymedia and continues this work through projects like the Open Media Network (#OMN), which works on how federated tools and community publishing supports public-interest media infrastructure. His focus is balancing building native platforms and on growing the social culture that makes the #openweb work: transparency, […]https://hamishcampbell.com/thinking-of-workshops-to-run-at-nodes-on-a-web-noaw-unconference/
-
OMN: Broken Institutions, and the Need to Rebuild the Commons
For progressive and radical people, one of the central political questions of our time is simple to ask but hard to answer - Why is it so difficult to rebuild the institutions that were destroyed in our #deathcult worship of the 1980s and 1990s? And more importantly why does the impossibility of rebuilding them make it so hard to change the needed balance of power in society? These question matters for working on the future of the society and most importantly the grassroots part of this: […]https://hamishcampbell.com/omn-broken-institutions-and-the-need-to-rebuild-the-commons/
-
Disappearing from Search: A personal story about visibility, #dotcons, and the shrinking #openweb
Recently I’ve been doing media interviews - one mainstream piece for a #boatingeurope article coming out in traditional media, and another for the Cherwell student paper in Oxford focused more on biography. Both journalists said the same thing: “It was surprisingly hard to find information about you online.” Around the same time, a boater friend told me something similar. After finally discovering my YouTube channels - which contain thousands of videos and millions of views - they […] -
This message is a shovel
Ten years ago - and honestly long before that - there were endless conversations on #failbook about how useful it was for campaigning. The dominant view back then was simple: it’s just cat memes, it's just tooling, it isn’t political so we can use it harmlessly. Before Snowden, this wasn’t a fringe view - it was probably a 90% consensus, especially among activists, and #fashionista tech communities. I’m not pointing fingers here, as this was normal. Many of us - including friends and […] -
The #openweb is the soil, #OMN the seeds
We are feeling a cultural current many of us recognise but rarely name clearly. A feeling that something fundamental has gone wrong, not just politically or economically, but culturally. An experience that imagination has narrowed, participation has thinned, and people are increasingly pushed into the role of spectators rather than participants in shaping the world. This didn’t appear overnight. It grew out of decades of #neoliberal restructuring that reshaped culture, technology, and […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-openweb-is-that-soil-omn-is-the-seeds/
-
Composting the myths: power, hidden religions, and why the #openweb matters
Let’s look at an example of how belief systems shape political reality. Some people still deliberately conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. This confusion isn’t neutral, it shapes how discussions are framed, who gets silenced, and which political paths remain possible. Let’s be clear: Anti-Semitism is racism. It targets Jewish people as a people. It is hate, exclusion, and violence, and it must be opposed wherever it appears. Anti-Zionism is political opposition to a state […] -
A good first step to this is in balancing the realisation that we actually have far more direct power to deal with the internal mess than we do over the external #dotcons and their #closedweb “common sense” colonialisation. Compost the blocking, keep the seeds alive, and make space for growth https://hamishcampbell.com/compost-the-blocking-keep-the-seeds-alive-and-make-space-for-growth/
-
Why mainstream EU tech funding needs counter-currents, why tech activism matters
Across Europe, large-scale “mainstreaming” tech projects are increasingly shaping the future of the digital commons. From infrastructure initiatives to sovereign cloud strategies and federated social technologies, the EU tech stack is becoming more organised, more funded, and more institutionalised. On the surface, this looks like progress. But history suggests that without active counter-currents, #mainstreaming inevitably drifts toward bureaucracy, risk-aversion, and quiet capture by […] -
At best, the old #mainstreaming is about equality in worshipping the #deathcult
The old #mainstreaming was only in a limited way about freedom, we now need to focus on what it was about, equality in obedience. Equality in our blinded worship of the #deathcult: growth, consumption, competition, endless mess on a dying planet. That’s why #fashernista liberal progressivism is always a dead end problem, it plays radical, says radical, but composts nothing. At best, it sells rebellion as a lifestyle. It’s equality inside the system, not about freedom from it. We’ve […]