Sean TilleyOne of my largest concerns over the past few years has been in the decline of quality news coverage of Free Software projects and the shuttering of outlets such as Free Software Magazine and other Linux-friendly outlets. Indeed, even at the peak of such outlets, there has been a long history of awesome projects getting completely passed over because it is deemed uninteresting to "the average consumer". Even popular outlets such as OMG! Ubuntu have been on a decline for years in terms of meaningful coverage.
In 2018, I hope for We Distribute to become a full-blown publication, a periodical that syndicates content throughout The Free Network and covers technical advancements in the decentralization movement. Most of this will still be federation-focused, but I've decided to expand my definition of The Decentralization Movement to include:
- Free and Open Source Software - GNU/Linux, BSD, desktop environments, applications, etc
- Distributed Systems - This includes Peer-to-Peer projects, as well as initiatives such as i2p and Hyperboria
- Cryptocurrencies - AltCoins as well as other types of distributed ledgers / distributed value storage
- Mesh Networking - Scuttlebutt and other initiatives
The idea for this publication is to write articles in a structure and format similar to Ars Technica or The Verge. The core difference is that, instead of trying to sell you products, it provides exposure for an ecosystem of digital counterculture, all of which provides free knowledge as a basis to build on. It would also provide simple news updates alongside chunkier articles, interviews, and in-depth reviews.
I'm still evaluating how I want to build it out, but I'm looking very seriously at using #Hubzilla as a base - that way, every single article can be dispersed in a federated stream across OStatus, Diaspora, and ActivityPub protocols. It could even get cross-posted to Identi.ca and Libertree.
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