In an upcoming @ieeesoftware #paper I've conducted a longitudinal #genderstudy of authors of #publiccode commits from @swheritage, analyzing 1.6 billion commits contributed by 33 million distinct authors over a period of 50 years. Short thread w/ links at the end π #FOSS [1/6]
If youβre wondering why rickrolls are suddenly in disconcertingly high quality, itβs because someone used an AI to remaster the original video in 4K 60fps quality π
This is an incredibly well presented talk, and my current #lca2021 favourite. Kudos to @TheMartianLife@twitter.com!
"Radio Astronomy for Programmers" https://youtu.be/P4UiWbUVaaM
My #lca2021 talk video, Implementing Diverse and Inclusive Codes of Conduct, is online! https://youtu.be/TYMUZHN8OZk
(Thanks @nextdayvideo!)
#xp
My #lca2021 talk video, Getting started with Docker and Swarm, is online! https://youtu.be/X0aarx6LLzI
(Thanks @nextdayvideo!)
#xp
Indeed, if things are so dire, why are any of us even sticking around? The problem is:
* Network effects (the more people there are on a platform, the more reason there is to join)
* High switching costs (if you leave, you give up all those people)
And those lead to:
* Lock in (you don't leave because you don't want to give up everyone else, and they don't leave for the same reason - we're all holding each other hostage)
3/
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It's been more than a year since Jack Dorsey announced Project Blue Sky, inspired by Mike Masnick's "Protocols, Not Platforms," paper - a critical work explaining how walled gardens can be transformed into open protocols.
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/protocols-not-platforms-a-technological-approach-to-free-speech
There hasn't been much (visible) progress on Blue Sky since the 2019 announcement, but Twitter just published an "ecosystem review" analyzing the distributed systems out there as a kind of lay of the land.
1/
I guess this might be relevant to #Telegram users. Or not.
>Security researcher Ahmed Hassan has shown that spoofing the Androidβs βPeople Nearbyβ feature allows him to pinpoint the physical location of Telegram users
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/01/finding-the-location-of-telegram-users.html
The countdown is on: Just 7 days βtil linux.conf.au 2021 π± . Have you got your tix? We canβt wait to hear from our speakers, including keynotes, Cory Doctorow @pluralistic, Omoju Miller & Limor Fried. Here's a wee teaser from Cory. #lca2021
A Β£320,000 #bicycle lane in #London was used by 4000 cyclists a day. About 300 people complained so council ripped it off to ease congestion.
The result?
The lane is blocked by parked cars 80% of the time, and congestion... has increased.
There will always be (loud) complaints from motorists when infrastructure makes it safer and easier for people wanting to use active transport. Hereβs another example of _everyone_ being worse off when a council listens to them only.
A good table in here on Mastodon app accessibility features
https://firewally.net/post/mastodon-client-accessibility-comparison/
Looks like Amazon is retiring the Goodreads API, which just another step towards basically abandoning Goodreads and folding it into some other Amazon service I guess: https://joealcorn.co.uk/blog/2020/goodreads-retiring-API
My advice? Get off Goodreads while you still can (ie export your content) and move over to StoryGraph: https://beta.thestorygraph.com
A black-owned startup finally developing a viable alternative to Goodreads. Fuck yeah!
(Why not LibraryThings? Because, guess what.. itβs also owned by Amazon!)
@themmefatale I'm delighted and impressed at your efforts trying to evangelise mastodon to Insta folks!
I've tried to do similarly in the past, but my approach wasn't particularly fruitful.
You've managed to convince a bunch of my friends to create accounts; awesome work! π
Linux sysadmin/advocate, scoutsvic leader, okfnau, bisexual/polyamorous/autistic geek. Opinions mine. he/him/his