Robert W. Gehl

Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, York University

he/him

Public Key

npub19nkz76z2s8xsgepeg4396a0k3c27gz8mfdavpm57t8w8wg5dtk3shud73j

NIP-05 Address

rwg_at_aoir.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszemp0dp9grngyvsu52cjawhmgu90ypra5k7kqa609nhrhy2x4mgcpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3eryvfwvdhk64gthph

Publishing to

nostr21.com

Author Public Key

npub19nkz76z2s8xsgepeg4396a0k3c27gz8mfdavpm57t8w8wg5dtk3shud73j

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Last Notes

2024-10-02 21:16:55

I wonder if Mastodon is to Meta what Firefox is to Google.
A little thing for a big company to gesture towards whenever a regulator starts mumbling something about monopolies.

2024-09-20 19:01:09

My university now has YAAPS
Yet Another Academic Profiling System
add it to the pile: the personal homepage, the CV, Orcid, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, BASE...
so much sharing
much public scholarship

2024-09-13 13:47:50

Do meme scholars think AI-generated images count as memes?
#memes #AI #generativeAI

2024-08-26 17:15:45

Happy times for an academic: when various different centres, faculties, and research projects welcome you aboard!
Sad times for an academic: 8 months later, when each any every centre, faculty, and project asks for a full accounting of your past, present, and future publications and presentations, but each one has a completely different system for inputting that information.
Oh, and you *can't* just upload your CV. (but you do have to keep that updated, as well!)

2024-07-29 15:46:09

The change to #Wayland does not go well, Enterprise

2024-07-25 22:47:03

Gee, what changed in two weeks, I wonder
https://cdn.masto.host/aoirsocial/media_attachments/files/112/849/552/368/842/641/original/bdf26477e16f866d.png

2024-07-24 19:36:06

I'm a little in over my head, but I'm just about to give a presentation based on my book about #Mastodon to the #IETF120 meeting. I'm going to talk about the development of #ActivityPub to a group interested in standards development:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/120/materials/agenda-120-rasprg-04

2024-07-20 15:42:31

After 15+ years of hustling to publish #academic journal articles and books, a significant proportion of my work is now being sold off to #Microsoft to train #LLMs. I never consented to this, and of course when I started my career, I never predicted this.
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/academic-authors-shocked-after-taylor--francis-sells-access-to-their-research-to-microsoft-ai
That whoosh you're hearing is me rushing to sign on to whatever class action lawsuit is in the offing.

2024-07-19 15:21:09

to learn more details about how one centralized proprietary corporation pushed out crippling updates to the world's infrastructure, please go to this centralized social media site run by a jerk who fired most of his IT team and allowed it to be overrun by disinfo bots

2024-07-04 04:32:25

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@npub1rsl…lqqt Is turnout low?

2024-06-29 15:08:30

Latest #FOSSAcademic post: On Threads's Blocklist
https://fossacademic.tech/2024/06/28/ThreadsBlocking.html
In which I offer some quick analysis of #Meta #Threads new list of blocked servers.
There's so much more we can do to study what Threads is doing. Indeed, I will have a chapter on Threads in my book. But these are my initial thoughts a day into this event.
[Responses to this post will appear as comments on my blog, unless they are set to followers only or DM. CWs will work]

2024-06-28 01:53:24

People ask me why I moved to Canada...

2024-06-22 18:59:37

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@npub1grx…uxfe Can you get a bit of 2x4 board? That is usually enough for that exercise

2024-06-16 15:22:15

@npub1n6y…rg3t may not be active on here, but... ping:
https://jenni.ai/taylorfrancis
#researchFlow

2024-06-14 21:10:09

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@npub1wzl…wvt3 DS9, Explorers

2024-06-12 18:21:33

Latest #FOSSAcademic post: "Maven Ain't So Mavenly":
https://fossacademic.tech/2024/06/12/Maven.html
In which I argue that #Maven, a new social media site, is not only breaking norms of the #fediverse by #scraping without consent -- they're ironically violating their own stated reason for existing in the first place.
[Responses to this will appear as comments on my blog, unless you set privacy to followers-only or stronger. CWs will work]

2024-05-24 19:20:13

With #Microsoft doing stuff like #Recall, I see a lot of folks say, "that's it! I'm switching to #Linux!"
As someone who a) made the switch two decades ago and b) is not a computer scientist, I say: the switch is feasible!
I wrote up a little tip sheet for academics considering the switch, though it might be useful for others:
https://fossacademic.tech/2024/05/24/fald.html
[Replies to this post will appear as comments on my blog]

2023-11-24 14:53:31

Hey, fellow #Mastodon (and #fediverse) #admins:
I am working on my book about the fedi and would like to get a sense of what it costs to run your server per month.
Anyone willing to share numbers? (Feel free to do it via DM if you don't want it public). Please let me know your instance and how much it costs.
Boosts welcome!

2023-08-12 19:31:04

On #FOSSAcademic: an #AlternativeSocialMedia update about content moderation and @npub1pfr…c5m6's Fediverse Safety Enhancement Project:
https://fossacademic.tech/2023/08/12/ASMupdateFSEP.html
Plus, a quick note to say the #AoIR2023 preconference focusing on alternative social media is a GO!
[Replies to this post will appear as comments on my blog unless you set privacy to followers-only or DM. Content warnings will work.]

2023-08-11 18:17:13

I just contributed to an important GoFundMe: to support the work of @npub1pfr…c5m6.
He's involved in new content moderation services, such as the Bad Space and The Federation Safety Enhancement Project (https://nivenly.org/docs/papers/fsep/).
I can say, as a fedi admin, these projects are making the fediverse a better place.
His GoFundMe is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-new-way-to-social-media

2023-08-08 22:08:09

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But I also hear, over and over, unprompted, that the fediverse is making people into better humans. They're learning new ways to associate with one another, ways to fight bigotry, ways to govern themselves.
It's remarkable how often I hear that.
So for those of you moderating, running good instances, writing codes of conduct, federating and blocking -- you're doing great work, and you are changing how people think. Keep it up!
edited to add: 2/2

2023-08-08 22:06:33

I don't know who might need to hear this, but:
I'm doing research for a book about the #fediverse, including a lot of interviews. I've talked with people who have been here since before #ActivityPub to people who just joined in the past few months.
Everyone notes there are problems here.
1/2