Happy New Year everyone!
This will be a year of changes for THE THING, as we are planning to revamp the whole organization and refocus on its original mission. At its core, THE THING remains a social network. So it almost felt serendipitous when I first came across this essay (see link below) by Geert Lovink, since it touches on many of the issues that came up when we discussed possible ways forward at our last board meeting. If you can ignore the fancy pants neologisms, you will find a lot of inspiring ideas in the text. Even Dunbar makes an appearance.
Please feel free to comment on the list.
Hasta la vista,
Wolfgang
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Another social network is possible
A draft essay, written by Harry Halpin and Geert Lovink on work done by French philosopher Bernard Stiegler (via nettime).
https://networkcultures.org/geert/2022/12/28/harry-halpin-geert-lovink-anoth...
Harry Halpin & Geert Lovink: Another Social Network is Possible!–On Bernard Stiegler and the Social Media Question
In this tribute to Bernard Stiegler, we highlight an obscure yet important episode in his work: Stiegler’s contribution to the debate on the future of social media. This theoretical and technical work was done at the Institut de la Recherche et l’Innovation, the World Wide Web Consortium and the Unlike Us network in the period 2011-2014. As demonstrated by tracing Facebook’s lineage to a reading of the concept of mimesis from Girard by Thiel, already then the toxic influence of Facebook on the mental condition of young users was known. In contrast, Stiegler’s work quickly focused on alternative architectures and the development of new concepts: Another social network is possible.