ActivityPub and the End of Walled Gardens, with Evan Prodromou - eviltoast
There was a time where people couldn’t email each other unless they were using the same email client. That changed when developers came up with a protocol that made it so it didn’t matter if you we...

cross-posted from: https://flipboard.video/videos/watch/b04f64e0-79a5-491a-876f-85e4eca19ab6

There was a time where people couldn’t email each other unless they were using the same email client. That changed when developers came up with a protocol that made it so it didn’t matter if you were using AOL, CompuServe or Prodigy — it just worked.

The same analogy explains how things work in the Fediverse, an open-source system of interconnected, interoperable social networks. The Fediverse is powered by a protocol called ActivityPub, which provides an API for creating, updating and deleting content across several platforms.

What does ActivityPub unlock for product builders and tech entrepreneurs? How will social networks without walled gardens change our relationship to content and to each other? Why does any of this matter?

All that’s covered in this episode of Dot Social, a podcast about the world of decentralized social media, aka the Fediverse. Each episode, host (and Flipboard co-founder and CEO) Mike McCue talks to a leader in this movement; someone who sees the Fediverse’s tremendous potential and understands that this could be the internet’s next wave. Mike is a true believer in the open social web and what it will unlock for how we connect, communicate and innovate online.

In this episode, Mike talks to Evan Prodromou, one of the co-authors of ActivityPub. Evan is a long-time entrepreneur, technologist and advocate of open source software. He’s also the Director of Open Technology at the Open Earth Foundation.

  • Docus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    We urgently need the ability to move your user account to another instance for that to work. At the moment, it’s not easy to move to another Lemmy instance, I would have to redo subscriptions, blocklists and likely pick a different username.

    • Unforeseen@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      11 months ago

      This is now available as of 0.19. Before that you needed a 3rd party tool like lasim.

      User data export/import

      Users can now export their data (community follows, blocklists, profile settings), and import it again on another instance. This can be used for account migrations and also as a form of backup. The export format is designed to remain unchanged for a long time. You can make regular exports, and if the instance becomes unavailable, register a new account and import the data. This way you can continue using Lemmy seamlessly.

      • Docus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        Good news, thanks for sharing. Not sure if any iOS apps support it though.