Re: My input for tomorrow

Marnanel asks:

> "Shall we ask around on the fediverse for people who can contribute with
> perspective?"

Of course!

But, which perspectives should we seek? Jon's note only mentioned
perspectives arising from diversity of sex, gender, or other inherited
characteristics  But, there are many other influences that intersect to
create unique, valuable, and addressable perspectives. Gamers, chemists,
teachers, users of accessibility features, merchants, non-English speakers,
operators of disaster response systems, and many others will have, in
addition to many common interests, usefully diverse interests that might,
or even should, be considered by those developing SocialWeb standards.

I think we should recognize that seeking diverse perspectives is not like
collecting stamps. To some, the value of a stamp collection may be measured
by its exhaustive completeness, but that isn't the best metric for what we
need to inform SocialWeb specifications. We must accept that not all voices
will or can be heard. Also, many perspectives, even when diverse in some
ways, are likely to lay similar requirements on SocialWeb systems. Further,
we should recognize that many in the community of developers have extensive
experience, sometimes accumulated over decades, in hearing and addressing a
great variety of often conflicting interests. This means that we can and
should, to some extent, rely on these experienced developers to represent
the needs and interests of those who are either unaware of the opportunity
to speak for themselves or who don't yet understand the value in doing so.

It is much easier to build a system that addresses the needs of a small
community. The SocialWeb is not small. It is the largest community one
could imagine. We should seek to address the widest possible range of
needs, but we should also recognize that we will have always left something
undone. Fortunately, we can address this problem iteratively.

bob wyman

On Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 12:50 PM Marnanel Thurman <marnanel@thurman.org.uk>
wrote:

>
>
> On 22 September 2023 06:03:59 BST, Jon Pincus <jon@achangeiscoming.net>
> wrote:
> >My input: it would be a huge mistake to charter a WG, define its scope,
> or even start a task force before getting a broader range of perspectives
> /and /finding a way to ensure diverse participation.
> >
> >If you want to create decentralized social networks that are good for
> Black and Indigenous people, women of color, trans and non-binary people,
> and others who are marginalized and exploited by today's centralized and
> commercial social networks ... you need to involve them in the discussion.
> That isn't currently happening.  I've followed this list for several months
> and I rarely hear perspectives from women, Black or Indigenous people, or
> trans and non-binary people.  I don't think I've /ever /heard a perspective
> from a woman of color or trans person of color.
> >
> >That's a problem that needs to be addressed before moving forward.
>
> This is a really important point.  Shall we ask around on the fediverse
> for people who can contribute with perspective?
>
> M
> --
> Who would stoop to be fearless— like a tree?
>
>