Unlike traditional social media, the fediverse operates without a central authority. This creates a unique set of challenges and opportunities for how it’s governed.

Luckily, there are thoughtful stewards who want to see decentralized social media succeed in the most human — and humane — fashion. Two of the most prominent are Erin Kissane, a writer and researcher working on new networks, and Darius Kazemi, a senior engineer at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard University.

Earlier in 2024, the pair researched and wrote a 40,000-word report on governance in the fediverse. Now they are deep in other projects designed to move the fediverse forward, including Erin’s new studio devoted to network work and Darius’ Fediverse Schema Observatory (software built to enhance the ecosystem’s interoperability while being sensitive to user data). You’ll hear about these projects and more in the latest episode of our Dot Social podcast.

Highlights of the conversation include:

The impact of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election on this work
Thoughts on the migration to Bluesky
A model for how to socialize software in the fediverse
What needs to be done next: a prioritized list
The nutritional label analogy
Funding and sustainability
Bridging protocols and avoiding fragmentation

Mentioned in this episode:

How to buy shoes in the fediverse
Findings report: governance on fediverse microblogging servers
Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard University
IFTAS
Blacksky
Fedify
Bonfire Networks

🔎 You can find Erin at wreckage/salvage or learn more about her via her personal site. She’s also posting on Mastodon and Bluesky.

🔎 Darius’s home on the Internet is at Tiny Subversions. He works at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard University and he posts on Mastodon.

✚ You can follow Mike at @mike@flipboard.social and @mike@flipboard.com

💡 To learn more about what Flipboard's doing in the fediverse, sign up here: http://about.flipboard.com/a-new-wave

Making Better Networks for Humans, with Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi