- From: Sean O'Brien <sean.obrien@yale.edu>
- Date: Thu, 18 May 2023 15:39:25 -0400
- To: "Dr. Matt Lee" <mattl@hey.com>, Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name>
- Cc: "public-swicg@w3.org" <public-swicg@w3.org>
- Message-ID: <e5ed3a16-8e64-1765-0ccb-913045d92526@yale.edu>
You folks are all so cordial :) I remember approx 50% of this. Thanks for your roles in bootstrapping the fediverse. Cheers, - Sean On 5/17/23 21:18, Dr. Matt Lee wrote: > Nice. I updated mine (https://social.mat.tl/@mattl) to say co-creator > and mention you and Mikael. I’ll ping Deb and Don and ask if they want > to be listed. I’ll also reach out and see if someone will update > gnu.org/s/social > > On May 17, 2023, Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name> wrote: > > Awesome, thanks for that! > > I updated my Mastodon bio to "co-creator of GNU social" and will > use that phrasing from now on. > > Evan > On May 17, 2023 20:53, "Dr. Matt Lee" <mattl@hey.com> wrote: > > Not on the list so please copy this to the list if it doesn’t > come through. > > My timeline from memory is roughly this: > > - April 2009 Libre.fm is started via a post on identica > > - Later in 2009 the idea of social networking features are > being added to GNU FM (by now we’d started calling the project > under a different name) and I’m uncomfortable with it as I > don’t want to be a silo. > > - various prototypes are made at the FSF, internally at first > and later looping in interns (Sean, Ian) and friends who hung > around the FSF.. At this point the FSF staff have a fairly > active darts league and we were making GNU Social to keep > track of it. > > - One of these people was Craig Andrews who suggested we > should make plug-ins for StatusNet instead. Our goal was to > replace Facebook, not Twitter. > > - Craig assigned his copyright over to the FSF and makes a > commit. Now StatusNet is partly FSF owned and GNU Social is > now a set of plugins for StatusNet. > > - Rhea Myers and I have our company, FooCorp and we’re looking > at making a version of GNU Social like we have Libre.fm. It’s > called daisycha.in but it never goes anywhere. At this point I > start using the name GNU social (lowercase) to describe the > new project, which is basically StatusNet plus plugins but at > some point we distributed a copy of StatusNet with the > project. I also don’t remember how well the plug-ins work. > > - We have a mailing list called social-discuss@gnu.org — > Diaspora project is also using it in early stages. > > - At this point it’s 2010 we have new interns at the FSF. We > have an event at the FSF with Evan, Blaine Cook and the > various FSF staff/interns/friends. We get a logo and some > mock-ups based on Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Evan/StatusNet > Inc kindly funds my travel to OSCON. This becomes the first > IndieWeb event. > > - In 2012 I leave the FSF and there is some attempt by another > GNU developer to take over the name. Stallman okayed it but > didn’t know there was paperwork for GNU social copyright > assignments so this is quickly reverted and the developer > makes something else. > > - In 2013 the merger has happened with FreeSocial (aka > Free&Social), StatusNet (the project) and GNU Social under the > name GNU social happens. I know this because > https://www.gnu.org/software/social/merge.html > <https://www.gnu.org/software/social/merge.html> > talks about it. Wow the last decade has gone fast. > > After around 2012 I have no more involvement in GNU social and > little involvement in GNU aside from occasional moments. > Nowadays I have no contact with the FSF or GNU. > > So I’d say GNU social has arguably six founders. Myself, the > GNU FM developers, Deborah Nicholson(ex FSF), Donald Robertson > (Ex FSF), Evan, Mikael (Free Social). > > Of all these people, Evan wrote most of the code. Stevie > DuBois did the logo.. I changed the case of the project name. > I might have done other stuff ;-) A bunch of very talented > people gave up a lot of their time and energy at a time when > none of this stuff was seen as especially cool to the wider > world. Everyone should be commended for that. > > All of this was a long time ago now and this is all from > memory so please let me know just how much I got wrong. > > As I say elsewhere I helped start the Fediverse now my > interests are painting toy soldiers and making monkey movies. > > Best, > matt > > > On May 17, 2023, Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name> wrote: > > You're correct! The GNU Social project used a different > codebase originally. > > Sometime around 2010, I believe, Matt and the team > switched over to using StatusNet as a base, plus some > dedicated extensions. > > And in 2013, we united StatusNet, GNU Social, and another > fork called Free Social. We called the resulting project > GNU Social. > > https://www.gnu.org/software/social/merge.html > > I feel pretty confident saying I am "the creator of GNU > Social", although it may be slightly more accurate but > also more confusing to say that I am "the creator of the > software that is now known as GNU Social". > > Wikipedia credits me as "the original author" of this > software. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social?wprov=sfla1 > > Matt, what are your thoughts? > > Evan > On May 17, 2023 18:16, Melvin Carvalho > <melvincarvalho@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > st 17. 5. 2023 v 22:44 odesílatel Evan Prodromou > <evan@prodromou.name> napsal: > > Hey, Melvin! I can see where you’d be confused, > especially if you’re unaware of the history of the > project. > > I created the software originally called Laconica, > then later StatusNet, which is the codebase that > GNU Social is based on. I was not the sole > developer, but I was the first one. > > Matt Lee started the GNU Social /project/, but > used the /code/ I had made. Free Software ftw! > > Because GNU Social is the most prominent currently > active project using the original Laconica > codebase, I usually refer to it when talking about > my work. The Laconica Wikipedia page was renamed > to GNU Social several years ago! > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social> > > I hope that helps! > > I appreciate your many contributions, Evan. I believe > it's also important to remember Matt Lee's role in > establishing GNU Social. I still recall his > enlightening talk to the W3C Social Web Incubator > Group in 2009, which possibly predated your > involvement, if I'm not mistaken. > > The gropu might find this link of interest: > https://www.w3.org/2009/10/14-swxg-minutes.html#MattLee > <https://www.w3.org/2009/10/14-swxg-minutes.html#MattLee>. > > The discourse from that period, especially around > seeking alternatives to Facebook, remains highly > relevant and engaging to this day, in my opinion. > Perhaps this is still important work to be done. > > > Evan > > On May 17, 2023, at 3:54 PM, Melvin Carvalho > <melvincarvalho@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > st 17. 5. 2023 v 20:56 odesílatel Evan > Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name> napsal: > > I’ll take this moment to make a > self-introduction ahead of the meeting. > > My name is Evan Prodromou; I am an > entrepreneur and technologist who has been > working on the social web since the mid-2000s. > > I’m primarily known in this community for > my work as co-author of the Activity > Streams 2.0 and ActivityPub > specifications. I co-chaired the Social > Web Working Group with Arnaud and Tantek. > > I was also the founder of Identi.ca > <http://identi.ca/>, > creator of GNU Social and pump.io > <http://pump.io/>, > and co-author of the OStatus specification. > > > I appreciate your contributions to the social > web, Evan. However, I believe there may be a > minor inaccuracy in your statement. To the > best of my recollection, it was Matt Lee who > originally founded GNU Social, as a spinoff > from GNU FM. Let's ensure we properly > acknowledge the efforts of all contributors in > our shared history of social media innovation. > > > For the near future of ActivityPub, I’m > /very/ interested in developing an > end-to-end encryption (E2EE) extension > in-band, using the media type on `content` > elements. I recently published some HCI > research > <https://evanp.me/2023/05/15/re-designing-the-mastodon-user-interface-for-better-personal-relationships/> on > this topic and how important it is to > supporting personal relationships on the > social web. > > I have a social web account on > https://cosocial.ca/evan > <https://cosocial.ca/evan> . > CoSocial is the Mastodon cooperative that > I co-founded. > > Further information about me and my work > here: > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Prodromou > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Prodromou> > > > Evan > > On May 17, 2023, at 12:56 PM, Dmitri > Zagidulin <dzagidulin@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi everyone, > > Finding a regular meeting time slot > that works with everyone continues to > be an impossible task. > > In the interest of getting momentum > going, we'll be having our first > SWICG call of the year this coming > Friday, May 19, at 9 am EST / 6 am > Pacific / 3 pm CET over at: > > https://meet.jit.si/social-web-cg > <https://meet.jit.si/social-web-cg> > > Apologies in advance to those who > can't make it, let's continue the > discussion on what we can do to > accommodate more people (perhaps > alternate biweekly calls, one on Fri > and one on Saturday, etc). > > AGENDA: > > 1) (NON-AGENDA item) Although the > common first call agenda tradition is > introductions, I'm wondering if we can > shortcut the introduction process by > doing it elsewhere, such as on the > SWICG mailing list, or SocialHub > forum. Otherwise there's a good chance > that we'll take up the whole call with > intros. :) > > 2) Overview of the W3C Community Group > process (code of conduct, governance, > etc) to refresh our memories. > > 3) Discussion and proposals for: > > * What are the goals and current focus > of SWICG > > * What is SWICG's relationship with > the other centers of community and > discussion, such as SocialHub > https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/ > <https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/>, > Fediverse Enhancement Proposals (FEP) > https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep > <https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep>, > the Fedidevs Matrix chat rooms. (My > view on this: We can all work together > with those communities, without > co-opting or interference.) > > * Governance process for adopting Work > Items.. (For a good example of an > existing effective Work Item Process, > see the Credential Community Group's > process doc: > https://w3c-ccg.github.io/workitem-process/ > <https://w3c-ccg.github.io/workitem-process/> > ) > > 4) Other discussion as time allows. > > Thank you, talk to you soon. > > Dmitri > > >
Received on Thursday, 18 May 2023 19:39:39 UTC