Complete this sentence:

@smallcircles Quoting Monty Python.

@smallcircles Exactly, it's kind of like each person has their own topography of what the Fediverse looks like based on who they are interacting with, and the nodes of interests where they intersect.

@PrinceOfDenmark ha! Love that.

@unattributed

I call thinking about how people would experience such a network and taking their needs in account to be examples of Personal social networking in a new paradigm that differs to how we now think about social media (which is in a very technical sense characterized by "people are users").

https://coding.social/blog/reimagine-social/#personal-social-networking

@unattributed

On that last bit..

"If as a developer you call your people users, you just lost the first battle of a great solution design."

-- Some dude on the fediverse

@smallcircles Well, there are a couple of potential negative connotations to the word user.  First, "user" was frequently used in the 90's for the customers that purchased some software products.

Then there is also the connotation of "drug" users.

Maybe the Fediverse is better thought of as groups of participants in communities that may or may not overlap.

@smallcircles Just re-thinking this a moment... What if it can be seen as individuals that define their own communities (which may / may not overlap).

@unattributed exactly.

I practiced myself in avoidance of the term, and found that to be refreshing and lending a different perspective.

"Users" carries an aspect of depersonalization, but also implies an ownership relationship that creeps into the developers thinking, and even where the noble ones say "I serve MY users" it has consequences to the entire dynamics around software dynamics, and how the solution deliverable is able to serve the needs of different stakeholder groups.

Social experience design focusses on needs-based development and starts to consider problem statements first for all identified stakeholders in the solution delivery process.

For fediverse I use #fedizens on occasion, the residents of the fedi universe.

#SX #SocialCoding

@amans happy to hear that! There are a lot of fedi villagers on this thread, which is delightful.

@unattributed

Note that once you are conditioned to avoid the term "User" after a full career of addictive use of the word in that dev context, you start to notice how weird and awkward it really is.

You don't notice that while still addicted to your daily dose of saying "user" in broad generalization and technical abstraction. Devs think it is practical to use the word, pragmatic. But it is not. It is a technical word, and the use is similar to when a dev says "JSON" for instance. It is depersonalized, and that depersonalization seeps deep into the codebase over time. It is a word that anchors devs in the technosphere and keeps them there.

@amans certainly, and welcome

@smallcircles A friendly global village, although a bit white.

@smallcircles An opensource school

@smallcircles I should mention I was trying to capture my experience as an anonymous user. I would still guess the town analogy is generally apt.

@CEDO

Een sidestep.. Het valt me op dat bijna niemand op de fediverse meer boost. Een boost is een schaars goed, en op zich is dat een gunstige ontwikkeling die aansluit bi het Personal social networking paradigma van SX. Maar voor orgs en mensen die een goede boodschap willen overdragen naar een groter publiek, zoals ook CEDO, is het geen goede zaak. Er moet een goede balans zijn, waarbij ook non-profits en actie groepen het gevoel hebben nut te behalen dmv campagnes i.p.v. tijdrovende friend-of-a-friend netwerk opbouw.

https://coding.social/blog/reimagine-social/#personal-social-networking

#SX #SocialCoding #SocialWeb #CEDO

@octarine_wiggle

That is a nice thing the fediverse offers. Note that if you enter a descriptive email in your account registration, or talk about personal matters in fedi direct messages, then technically you are pseudonymous as the instance admins have access to that information if they wish to.

@smallcircles Bustling city where everyone says hello and folks are mostly nice … so, not a real city and not entirely "bustling"

@smallcircles kudos for your reply-reply stamina!

I keep retuning to be any one of those things and more, depending on my prevailing energy/focus here/mood ... that's the beauty -- if frustration at the time it takes -- of being your own algo-creator.

[edit] -- notices "Automated" in the profile. Wonders ... HOW automated !!?

@smallcircles Personal take, after thinking for quite a while about that: A larger metropolitan area in the global Northwest. Not too densely populated but far-reaching and covering a lot of real estate. A lot of roads and interconnects in between different parts, partly along areas that have been somewhat structured but in the end not really grown into /any/ kind of meaningful use. And a lot of more clearly outlined neighbourhoods of very different kinds, styles, attitudes and openness towards new arrivals or strangers, including places were you'd like to settle and stay for an indefinite amout of time and ... places, people you'd better avoid without taking a closer look or even stopping there.

@smallcircles A cosy village with a bustling public transit system bussing in interesting people to see people I like who say hello with a cheery wave as they pass by.