bmann.ca
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_notes/DWeb Meetup - Bluesky and Beyond.md
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_notes/DWeb Meetup - Bluesky and Beyond.md
···-<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/dweb-meetup-feb-2025-bluesky-beyond" width="1920" height="1080" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>+<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/dweb-meetup-feb-2025-bluesky-beyond" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>Video embedded from [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/dweb-meetup-feb-2025-bluesky-beyond/GMT20250219-193017_Recording_1920x1080.mp4).
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_notes/Geoffrey Litt.md
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_notes/Geoffrey Litt.md
···+A researcher exploring _malleable software_: computing environments where anyone can mold their tools to their own unique needs.+For more background on what that mission means and why it matters to him, check out my [interview on the Metamuse podcast](https://museapp.com/podcast/34-bring-your-own-client/).+Geoffrey is currently a senior researcher at the independent research lab [[Ink & Switch]], leading our Malleable Software research track.+Before that, he completed a PhD at MIT CSAIL in the [Software Design Group](http://sdg.csail.mit.edu/) advised by [Daniel Jackson](http://people.csail.mit.edu/dnj/). Before _that_, he spent five years as an early engineer and designer building the edtech startup [Panorama Education](https://www.panoramaed.com/) (YC S13).+These days, he is thinking a lot about **AI + malleable software**: How can LLMs help people make their own custom software?+_Talk:_ [[Causal Islands]] [Dynamic documents as personal software](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ3i4K3hefI)
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_notes/Local First.md
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_notes/Local First.md
···-The label emerged from the article [Ink & Switch Local-first Software](https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/)
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_notes/Local-first Software.md
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_notes/Local-first Software.md
···+This article has also been published [in PDF format](https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/static/local-first.pdf) in the proceedings of the [Onward! 2019 conference](https://2019.splashcon.org/track/splash-2019-Onward-Essays). Please cite it as:+> Martin Kleppmann, Adam Wiggins, Peter van Hardenberg, and Mark McGranaghan. Local-first software: you own your data, in spite of the cloud. 2019 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software (Onward!), October 2019, pages 154–178. [doi:10.1145/3359591.3359737](https://doi.org/10.1145/3359591.3359737)+Cloud apps like Google Docs and Trello are popular because they enable real-time collaboration with colleagues, and they make it easy for us to access our work from all of our devices. However, by centralizing data storage on servers, cloud apps also take away ownership and agency from users. If a service shuts down, the software stops functioning, and data created with that software is lost.+In this article we propose “local-first software”: a set of principles for software that enables both collaboration _and_ ownership for users. Local-first ideals include the ability to work offline and collaborate across multiple devices, while also improving the security, privacy, long-term preservation, and user control of data.+We survey existing approaches to data storage and sharing, ranging from email attachments to web apps to Firebase-backed mobile apps, and we examine the trade-offs of each. We look at Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs): data structures that are multi-user from the ground up while also being fundamentally local and private. CRDTs have the potential to be a foundational technology for realizing local-first software.
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_notes/Malleable Software.md
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_notes/Malleable Software.md
···+That definition is by [[Geoffrey Litt]], who wrote [[Malleable software in the age of LLMs]] in March 2023, whose subtext is LLMs and end user programming.+This is also the name of one of the research tracks at [[Ink & Switch]], where Geoffrey is a senior researcher:+> Designing software environments where people can customize tools in the moment to meet their unique needs.+The "Malleable Software Essay" has not yet been published. It aims to set a foundation much as their April 2019 [[Local-first Software]] essay did.
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_notes/Malleable software in the age of LLMs.md
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_notes/Malleable software in the age of LLMs.md
···+All computer users may soon have the ability to author small bits of code. What structural changes does this imply for the production and distribution of software?+> **I think it’s likely that soon all computer users will have the ability to develop small software tools from scratch, and to describe modifications they’d like made to software they’re already using.** In other words, LLMs will represent a step change in tool support for [_end-user programming_](https://www.inkandswitch.com/end-user-programming/): the ability of normal people to fully harness the general power of computers without resorting to the complexity of normal programming. Until now, that vision has been bottlenecked on turning fuzzy informal intent into formal, executable code; now that bottleneck is rapidly opening up thanks to LLMs.
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_notes/Mike Masnick.md
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_notes/Mike Masnick.md
···+**Michael Masnick** (born December 8, 1974[^1] is an American editor and entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of [Techdirt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techdirt "Techdirt"), a [weblog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog "Blog").[^2]+He coined the term "[Streisand effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect "Streisand effect")" on the Techdirt blog in January 2005 and was interviewed about it three years later on [National Public Radio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR "NPR")'s _[All Things Considered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Considered "All Things Considered")_.[^3]+[^1]: Masnick, Mike (2008-10-21). ["The Uneasy Balance Between Wikipedia And Truth"](https://www.techdirt.com/2008/10/21/the-uneasy-balance-between-wikipedia-and-truth/). _Techdirt_. Retrieved 2024-04-20.+[^2]: Hill, Kashmir (2023-07-29). ["An Internet Veteran's Guide to Not Being Scared of Technology"](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/technology/mike-masnick-techdirt-internet-future.html). _The New York Times_. [ISSN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISSN_(identifier) "ISSN (identifier)") [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2024-04-20.+[^3]: Robert Siegel (February 29, 2008). ["The Streisand Effect' Snags Effort to Hide Documents"](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87809195). _[All Things Considered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Considered "All Things Considered")_. [National Public Radio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR "NPR"). The episode is the latest example of a phenomenon known as the "Streisand Effect." Robert Siegel talks with Mike Masnick, CEO of Techdirt Inc., who coined the term.+[^4]: Perez, Sarah (2024-08-06). ["Bluesky adds Techdirt founder Mike Masnick to its board"](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/06/bluesky-adds-techdirt-founder-mike-masnick-to-its-board/). _TechCrunch_. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
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_notes/Open Protocols are better than Open Source.md
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_notes/Open Protocols are better than Open Source.md
···+At a technical level, a piece of code available under an open source license, written in a particular programming language, can at best be "bug compatible" or APIs that interoperate with another piece of code.+A protocol with an open specification allows anyone to implement the protocol -- which by definition if coded correctly, will be interoperable. You can pick any programming language, and any source code license, you like, and still have software that works together. This leads to a plurality of options, with different business, governance, and community models.+Open Source at it's core is about licensing [[Open Source Licensing]], although I like to expand it with [[Three Definitions of Open Source]] that cover some of the accepted principles around the movement.+Protocols and the thinking around them, especially [[Open Social Protocols]], are well explained in the 2019 essay [[Protocols, Not Platforms]].
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_notes/Protocols, Not Platforms.md
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_notes/Protocols, Not Platforms.md
···+link: https://knightcolumbia.org/content/protocols-not-platforms-a-technological-approach-to-free-speech+The author is [[Mike Masnick]], who is now on the board of [[Bluesky]], which very much is taking a protocols over platforms approach.+> This article proposes an entirely different approach—one that might seem counterintuitive but might actually provide for a workable plan that enables more free speech, while minimizing the impact of trolling, hateful speech, and large-scale disinformation efforts. As a bonus, it also might help the users of these platforms regain control of their privacy. And to top it all off, it could even provide an entirely new revenue stream for these platforms. That approach: <mark>build protocols, not platforms.</mark>+> To be clear, <mark>this is an approach that would bring us back to the way the internet used to be. The early internet involved many different protocols—instructions and standards that anyone could then use to build a compatible interface.</mark> Email used SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Chat was done over IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Usenet served as a distributed discussion system using NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol). The World Wide Web itself was its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP.+> <mark>In the past few decades, however, rather than building new protocols, the internet has grown up around controlled platforms that are privately owned. These can function in ways that appear similar to the earlier protocols, but they are controlled by a single entity.</mark> This has happened for a variety of reasons. Obviously, a single entity controlling a platform can then profit off of it. In addition, having a single entity can often mean that new features, upgrades, bug fixes, and the like can be rolled out much more quickly, in ways that would increase the user base+This essay is part of the Knight First Amendment Institute’s essay series, Free Speech Futures. Authors were asked to envision new approaches to First Amendment doctrine and to online content moderation. The eight essays in the series consider the future of free speech along two dimensions. The first set proposes new interpretations and applications of the First Amendment by courts to meet 21st century pressures and challenges. The second offers new strategies and technologies to improve the quality and health of the online speech environment. The Free Speech Futures essay series was conceptualized and edited by Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, during his tenure as the Knight Institute’s Senior Visiting Research Scholar. The Knight Institute’s Research Director Katy Glenn Bass and other Institute staff provided additional editing and review. The full series is available at <https://knightcolumbia.org/research/>+mike masnick is the founder and CEO of Floor64 and editor of the Techdirt blog. He is also the founder and CEO of the Silicon Valley-based Copia Institute, a think tank exploring innovative approaches to tech policy.+The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education. Its aim is to promote a system of free expression that is open and inclusive, that broadens and elevates public discourse, and that fosters creativity, accountability, and effective
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_notes/Rachael Ashe.md
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_notes/Rachael Ashe.md
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_posts/2025-02-22-my-50th-birthday.md
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_posts/2025-02-22-my-50th-birthday.md
···+excerpt: Today is my 50th birthday and I've been putting words in blog form for close to 25 years. A few reflections that are very much an update on what now is like for me.+Today is my 50th birthday. I've been putting words on the Internet in ~blog form for close to 25 years[^domain].+I feel good. I don't feel "old", although tweaking my back carrying some bags out to the cab for the trip to Berlin in October 2024 is when I realized that yes, my physical being was maybe getting a little creaky. So I guess I got old last year.+I am energized, doing slightly too many things, and feel supported by people & groups around me. What I end up collecting below is a snapshot of my "now": what I'm putting time into, what I believe in, what I'm working on.+This [[pooling capital and collaboration]] phrase that I've been using seems very relevant to describe my interests and practices. Perhaps a little cold, so I'll expand: I want us to work together in smaller local & regional groups, with impact in the real world, and I want us to connect as peers online around the globe.+The missions and meanings of [[Open Source]] that informed my last 20+ years of work and community have very much been superseded by [[DWeb]] principles. The licensing of software is a very small part of a bigger vision.+I've spent the last 6 months diving deep into the [[ATProtocol]] ecosystem, and have recently setup the [[AT Protocol Community Fund]], and am organizing the first community conference [[ATmosphereConf]], coming up March 22nd & 23rd in Seattle. This is part of another realization: [[Open Protocols are better than Open Source]].+Software ate the world, and now AI is eating software creation[^malleablesoftware]. We need to underline that human agency is possible, that local & community run AI can provide benefits to all, and should not be treated as closed, corporate goods or strategic state technology. Can we apply concepts of "buy local" to software?+[^malleablesoftware]: [[Malleable Software]] is the phrase you want to search. This both democratizes and makes software more personal if non-professionals can modify "apps" and use their data, and like all creators, calls into question of who pays for quality software.+I have this Community Search Engine concept that I'd like to put more time into if I can find the right co-conspirators and funding for it. Gathering people and organizations around events, topics of interest, and trust relationships, to pool data, and ask for recommendations, browse new things, and discover and develop knowledge together. I've cobbled together tools and techniques for years, and we have lots of pieces, but it's so hard and very fragile and we have to make things easier for everyone without having to just give up and put everything in some choice of corporate silo.+The [[Community Search Engine]] page in my notes was written with a focus more on "classic search". But as search runs straight into chatting with AI models, we have to consider both. <mark>We need both "fact engines" and agentic "dreaming & collaboration engines".</mark> That phrase is part of a [thread on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/bmann.ca/post/3lipjdzpsu22k), where I go on to [define a bit further](https://bsky.app/profile/bmann.ca/post/3liqptiyets24): A collection of tools running locally to collaborate with you and others over shared data. eg Statistics Canada or Wolfram Alpha would be fact engine tools.+I have a small work contract with [[Ink & Switch]], and am looking at what other paid work I will take on throughout the rest of the year. I would like to stay independent, if I can, although still working in [[NetworkedOrgs]] and connecting with many.+[[Rachael Ashe]] and I are good. We've been renting our 2 bedroom apartment in East Van for 15 years now. This year, we are starting to explore if my home town of Bowen Island will be our next living destination.+The [[Z-Space]] crew and the sense of place, connection, and gathering of the studio at the edge of Gastown has been so good for me. Leaving my "Zoom room"[^zoomroom], being around amazingly creative people, welcoming people in with coffee, conversation, and cooking. JOB[^job].+I have also re-explored what is happening in Vancouver, after many years of global focus[^fission]. The mission of [[Smart Young BC]] resonates -- we must make this city, this province, this country -- a place where young people want to stay, want to move to, and can thrive. We must pay it forward and pass the torch, and support young people in leading and trying things. Vancouver is an extremely small pond, make room for new voices. The Atelier, Novus, and [V2](https://v2.city) communities are where you can explore further what ambitious young people are already doing.+[^fission]: That global focus happened alongside building my startup [[Fission]] from mid-2019, which we shutdown last April 2024.+[[DWebYVR]], the Vancouver DWeb node, is just over two years old. The group has a solid crew and energy to do more things. Impact in the "real world" -- from tech policy for local municipal political parties, to co-housing, to perhaps some shared camping property near Kelowna -- are all things that are continuing to grow.+There are many macro level challenges in the world right now. What we have is connections to people with shared interests and goals at every level, from neighbourhood to digital spaces across the globe. I continue to be inspired to do things, and look forward to scheming with you all. See you around!+[^domain]: This domain got [registered 2000-11-14](https://www.whois.com/whois/bmannconsulting.com). Yes, I often wish I had registered something more interesting, since many cool domains would have been available at the time!
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