Re: The term: "Mastodon" vs "fediverse" vs ...?

You wrote:

> "perhaps another term will emerge spontaneously from users or through a
> coordinated PR campaign *by a powerful actor.*"

I suggest that we have come to rely too much on "powerful actors" to define
the Social Web, the Internet, etc. Too many of our previous attempts to
build Social Web protocols have failed or been sidelined because one or
another "powerful actor" failed to support the effort or stopped supporting
it.

We would be wise to wean ourselves of this attachment to the powerful and
to discover that our own power, in the aggregate, is sufficient to achieve
what we need or desire.

bob wyman


On Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 9:45 PM Sean O'Brien <sean.obrien@yale.edu> wrote:

> Well "multi" isn't very exciting either when it's separated from
> "multiverse" and that term is also pretty popular in mainstream culture atm
> ;)
>
> IMO it's not early enough to introduce a new term for the fediverse. The
> ship has sailed, or perhaps another term will emerge spontaneously from
> users or through a coordinated PR campaign by a powerful actor.
>
> Social Web has been used in this context for a long while and I think it's
> fine. But it also is less specific and descriptive re: federation, which is
> the defining and common aspect that unites these instances / platforms.
>
> Whatever happens, I hope we can avoid the ambiguity of "free" in any term,
> so I don't have to explain _gratis_ vs. _libre_ :)
>
> Cheers,
> - Sean
>
> --
> Sean O'Brien
> Fellow, Information Society Project at Yale Law School
> Founder, Privacy Lab at Yale ISP, https://privacylab.yale.edu
>
>
> On December 20, 2022 1:17:23 AM UTC, Johannes Ernst <
> johannes.ernst@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Dec 19, 2022, at 17:08, Sean O'Brien <sean.obrien@yale.edu> wrote:
>> ... Gen Z and younger folks ...are, after all, hyper-exposed to
>> cinematic universes, the spiderverse, and so on :)
>>
>>
>> “Spiderverse” is a so much cooler term than “Fediverse”. I know what a
>> spider is, and it creates a gamut of emotions, all of which get me fired up
>> — but what’s a Fedi and how should I feel about that?
>>
>> IMO it's very unwise to add more terminology to the pile here.
>>
>>
>> If a rebranding needs to happen, it needs to happen at the
>> earliest-possible time, which is why I bring this up now.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>>
>>
>> Johannes.
>>
>> https://reb00ted.org/
>> <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Freb00ted.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7Csean.obrien%40yale.edu%7C06beaf2d1f4549048d9c08dae227faa7%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638070959463465327%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=32kS8Fy7Avl6gEXrBX0hNiPr9mCLVHGzNOHsw%2FqAEwU%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>>
>>