Kishau Rogers @kishau@bigthinking.social

Adding to my list of things to learn about mastodon & other #fediverse applications: lists & relays.

Re: lists - I understand the importance of lists; I had shy of 10k followers on [the other place], curated organically over many years. Not a lot, but lists became very useful with the prominence of algorithmic feeds and more than 1K connections.

Re: relays - understanding pros/cons for self-hosted instances

I often provide mentorship & advisory support to emerging #founders & #startup teams. When pitching solutions, it’s common to be met with a word salad of emerging tech used (#AI, #web3, #blockchain etc)

I’d love to see a culture shift in tech … more focus on outcomes, less centering of tools. You can build a house with a screwdriver, but in some cases, a screwdriver may not be the best tool for the job. I’d like to see more people explain why the tools selected are the best for the job.

How many years have we been in chaos mode? At this point, the world needs a mental health break from billionaires & politicians …

On #CWs: Seems that the expectation regarding what requires a #CW varies by person/community (ex: established communities vs. new arrivals). I’ve decided to use the following guideline (for my single-user instance / island):

- Use a CW (broadly): political, violence, adult/sexual, self harm, hate speech & abuse, spoiler alerts

- No CW: Topics that are important to me that may annoy you

Revisit “Genius”; a thought provoking read via The Atlantic (“Our Genius Problem”, 2002)

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/12/our-genius-problem/308435/

FYI According to Reiss’ theory, the “16 Basic Desires” that drive nearly all human behavior are:

acceptance, curiosity, eating, family, honor, idealism, independence, order, physical activity, power, romance, saving, social contact, status, tranquility and vengeance.

Photo Credit: Matt Davies (mrmattdavies.me)

On Tech, Status, Desire & Profit

Steven Reiss developed the theory of "16 Basic Desires" that guide nearly all human behavior. For example, if you are driven by the need for social status, you may be more susceptible to paying for high-status indicators (even if they are nothing more than symbols that offer little value to your experience as a customer).

What people value is not my business. Conflating “social status” with online safety & trust (verification) is where things get dangerous, IMO

On AI, Coding & Art: A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that the creation of AI-powered coding assistant GitHub Copilot relies on copyright-protected repositories of code. This may have impact on other AI generated works (music, arts … I see a lot of similarities in the act of coding and the act of creating art).

More details on the proposed lawsuit here —> https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/8/23446821/microsoft-openai-github-copilot-class-action-lawsuit-ai-copyright-violation-training-data

Seems that federated social networks like Mastodon offer an opportunity for people to curate & nurture micro-communities vs. optimizing to “be social” with the masses. It’s certainly a different mindset than other major social networks, where collecting followers, likes & other forms of engagement are promoted. If there’s a #Twexit, I anticipate growing pains as many will naturally assume that <this new thing> should work like <that other thing>

Still learning. #WomenInTech #BlackMastodon

If you find value here on Mastodon, don’t forget to donate some funds to your instance administrators. With an influx of new users, someone will be paying to upgrade servers + spending more time on moderation. Maybe send $8.

Our team has stated a large scale (multi-region) deployment of our platform. Before configuring a technical solution at this scale, our first goal is to complete listening tours to understand a day in the life of the roles that will be impacted. For large or complex projects, the point of failure is rarely technical.

I’m also a recovering night owl; I used to reach creative flow late at night when there’s less “noise.” I’ve worked long stretches when I’m in a creative flow … that can be rewarding. But I also require an adequate recharge period (most people do).

I would never want to lead or work in an environment that didn’t balance work sprints with periods of rest & recharge. Burnout is a real.

Saw a thread on another site re: long hours being required to build great things (the #SleepWhereYouWork thread). IMO It’s not about the hours, but quality of output & honoring your team’s most productive “rhythm”.

I haven’t booked an AirBnb in years, although I can see the benefit for large group travel. For most trips, I find hotels to be more consistent (Re: service) and I’m not expected to water plants or do chores lol

Reading that AirBnB will be making changes in Dec. to promote transparency in total price (to include cleaning fees) and checkout chores. Despite complaints, the company had a profitable 3rd quarter with a 25% increase in booked nights & “experiences”

https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-is-introducing-total-price-display-and-updating-guest-checkout/