If I had known the academy was this morally bankrupt going in, I would have been a financial planner like my Dad.
Robert W. Gehl
@robertwgehl.org
Mastodon: @rwg@aoir.social. Bridged account @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy Research Chair at York University (Toronto). I mainly use Mastodon, so if you use https://fed.brid.gy/ I will follow you from there
Meta wants you to look the small number of perverts they’ve addressed rather than the large number of perverts they’ve enabled.
Exclusive: Meta disables cameras on thousands of tampered smart glasses
The company is putting up billboards to raise awareness about when its smart glasses are in record mode.
semafor.com
Hey, #AoIR2026 peeps! Don't forget we can cross-post about the conference from Blacksky/ATproto to the fedi and back! I wrote about how here: fossacademic.tech/2025/09/01/a... (please boost this if you see it to spread the word)
A Guide for #AOIR2025 and Social Media
The annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers is fast approaching! Scheduled for mid-October in Brazil, hundreds of Internet scholars (like me!) will convene to do what we do: share...
fossacademic.tech
As #AoIR2026 acceptances start, we start posting more about going to the conference. As a reminder, folks on the fediverse (especially AoIR.social) and folks on #Bluesky can interact and share #AoIR2026 posts! Here's how: https://fossacademic.tech/2025/09/01/aoir-socials-guide.html (If you see […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
What I found a bit sad about the #bluesky being down thing was someone I was sitting next to at a conference said, "oh, Bluesky's down! I guess I'll post to X." At the end of the day, most people really do not care. It's pretty disturbing.
Hey! Here's my first post on Blacksky infrastructure! I'm Rob, a professor of media studies in Canada. I have been studying alternatives to corporate social media for over a decade. #introduction
Hey, AoIRfriends on Bluesky! Did you know that your #AOIR2025 posts can travel to the fediverse? It's true! You can bridge your accounts to the fediverse and interact with AoIR members there *in addition* to on Bluesky! I wrote a guide about this: fossacademic.tech/2025/09/01/a...
Blog
The annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers is fast approaching! Scheduled for mid-October in Brazil, hundreds of Internet scholars (like me!) will convene to do what we do: share...
fossacademic.tech
Hey, AoIRfriends on Bluesky! Did you know that your #AOIR2025 posts can travel to the fediverse? It's true! You can bridge your accounts to the fediverse and interact with AoIR members there *in addition* to on Bluesky! I wrote a guide about this: fossacademic.tech/2025/09/01/a...
Blog
The annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers is fast approaching! Scheduled for mid-October in Brazil, hundreds of Internet scholars (like me!) will convene to do what we do: share...
fossacademic.tech
Along with @__nate__, I have a new article out, called "After Twitter": https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051251366907 The article is #openAccess and is our analysis of the fragmentation, polarization, and protective connections we're seeing across a major portion of social media […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
I would recommend @robertwgehl.org's book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges, about the history of developing the fediverse! moveslowlybuildbridges.com
Move Slowly and Build Bridges, by Robert W. Gehl
moveslowlybuildbridges.com
FediForum special event next week! Join us for an hour with Robert W. Gehl, who wrote a great new book about the Fediverse: "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the struggle for democratic social media." Come and hear excerpts from the book, and ask questions! We read […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
Hey, fedi! If you want to buy my book, you can now get the paperback version direct from Oxford and save 30%! https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com/images/discountBill.png #moveSlowlyAndBuildBridges
“Drawing on the sociologist Robert #Putnam, @ethanz argues that alternative #socialmedia can bolster the practices of #democracy. “We should make this shift because participating in social networks we ourselves govern could turn online spaces into Putnam’s ‘schools for democracy.’” 10 Instead of […]
Original post on hachyderm.io
hachyderm.io
Good day all! Fireside Fedi Episode 35 starts NOW! With me today is @rwg . Robert's next book, "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media" will be published by Oxford University Press this year. Watch the show live: #Owncast #Livestream […]
Original post on social.firesidefedi.live
social.firesidefedi.live
Pleased to announce that my book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media, is now available online, and will be out in print in a couple weeks! https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com That site has more stuff, too -- links to related […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
📘#BookAlert: Move Slowly and Build Bridges by @robertwgehl.org explores the #Fediverse — #Mastodon and beyond — as a #democratic alternative to #BigTech. Activists, devs & communities working for an ethical #socialmedia. A vital read for digital #democracy. 🌍 https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com/
My book about Mastodon and the fediverse is now available for pre-order! https://global.oup.com/academic/product/move-slowly-and-build-bridges-9780197776681?q=gehl&lang=en&cc=ca# #Mastodon #fediverse #bookstodon #academicchatter
Move Slowly and Build Bridges
Move Slowly and Build Bridges tells the story of activists, software developers, artists, and everyday people who have built the fediverse -- a large, noncentralized, alternative social media system. In contrast to big tech corporations like Meta, TikTok, or X, the fediverse is comprised of thousands of small, independent communities who use a powerful internet protocol to communicate with one another.
global.oup.com
[Daily random quote out of context from my academic book about Mastodon] The following is a random quote from my next book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Yes, There is An Alternative... #MoveSlowlyAndBuildBridges #bot
This thread is a handy timeline of the threats against Canada made by Trump. Every bit is true. I've been watching intently (I'm a USian living in Toronto). https://defcon.social/@tprophet/114150958658307132 #canpol #uspol
TProphet (@tprophet@defcon.social)
A Canadian friend's perspective on US behavior since the Trump regime was installed: ---cut here--- One thing I've learned over the past few weeks, and it's been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don't actually know what's going on between the US and Canada right now, and just how seriously Canadians are taking this. So, against my better judgement, here's a timeline to explain why we're here, and why we're angry. Nov 30th, 2018 - The United States, Canada and Mexico finalize a trade agreement. Trump personally negotiates the terms and signs the document, celebrating it as 'the greatest trade agreement in history". (This is important.) Nov 29th, 2024 - In a face to face meeting, Trump threatens the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, that he will be imposing 25% tariffs and that if Canada wants to avoid that, it should join the US as a state. Nov 30th, 2024 - Trump publicly calls our Prime Minister 'Governor Trudeau' and instructs his staff to only address him as Governor going forward. He again suggests Canada should join the USA. Dec 3rd, 2024 - Trump remarks that he would split Canada into two states once annexed.
defcon.social
Latest FOSS Academic Post: My workflow, 2025 edition: https://fossacademic.tech/2025/03/15/workflow2025.html In which I discuss chasing the FOSS Academic Lifestyle Dream, a world in which an academic can get all their work done using free and open source tools. And not just coding! I'm […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
The latest FOSS Academic post is "Standards War?": https://fossacademic.tech/2025/03/05/standardsWar.html In which I contrast the fact that @iftas is shutting down some of its services against the advent of "Free Our Feeds," and I speculate that maybe we're seeing an ATProto/ActivityPub […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
It's the entire email list for all DOGE employees. Have fun!
Here's the chapter overview. I should note that I wrote the title to chapter 2 ("Techlash: How to Vaporize Elon Musk") a long, long time ago. Nice to see things holding up.
I have reached the copyediting phase of the book, with a proof version of the title page as a nice tease of what it will all look like! #bookstodon
Latest FOSS Academic post: https://fossacademic.tech/2025/02/15/organizing-fascism.html In which I respond to the @404media article, "You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism." I argue that the "you can't post" piece ignores alternative social media, which itself is a form of activism that can […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
I spoke to @waresgemma.bsky.social and the @ConversationCA Podcast about decentralized social media: https://theconversation.com/decentralised-social-media-offers-an-alternative-to-big-tech-platforms-like-x-and-meta-how-does-it-work-podcast-249758 The episode discusses Twitter/X, Bluesky, and […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
Google maps as I see it in Canada. Stop using Google.
I wrote a short draft overview of alternative social media research, based on a project @rra and I are working on: https://www.socialmediaalternatives.org/2025/02/07/asm-scholarship-history.html We trace ASM scholarship back to its early days in the late 2000s, through the Unlike Us […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social