Andrew (bookseller era)
I've gone off about "Human Scale" anticapticalist technology a lot over the last half decade or so.
That is to say, small (often very weird) software built by an individual or small group, to support direct needs of an individual or community, without any hint of marketability.
You know, gemini, the fediverse, tildes, game jam games, little CLI tools, etc. etc. etc.
This is familiar territory for me. I've written about it occasionally. Several other folks have too.
Andrew (bookseller era)
I support #DIYMedia, but what I make is intended to be Human Scale anitcapitalist media.
When I say Anticapitalist in this sense, I don't mean that the media itself is about anti-capitalist concepts, but it exists outside of and in opposition to capitalist structures. It doesn't make money, it's too weird and niche to ever find a wide market.
We make it because we want to to exist, we make it for a specific audience. If it grows beyond that, that's gravy.
Andrew (bookseller era)
There's some overlap between human scale tech and retrotech.
A lot of early computers were full of shining examples of human scale technology.
The beginnings of social media, and the earliest days of the consumer precursors to the web were human scale tech. Community Memory, BBSs, etc.
And, of course, it's human scale tech that brings us here.
Andrew (bookseller era)
Tonight, I'm thinking about Human Scale, anti-capitalist media.
Small, weird media created by individuals and small groups, made for a unique audience, without regard for general marketability.
This is similar to, but not entirely the same as the #DIYMedia stuff I'm usually talking about.
Or, I guess, the way to say it is that it's a flavor of DIYMedia.
Andrew (bookseller era)
When I say #DIYMedia I mean media made by individuals outside the influence of major media corporations.
This is every youtuber under the sun, but it's also things like Star Trek New Voyages and Journey Quest.
When I say Human Scale, Anticapitalist media, I mean DIY media that exists in direct opposition to major corporations.
Things that self distribute via torrent or peertube or whatever other human scale method, rather than depending on Youtube or Facebook or whatever corporate platform.
Andrew (bookseller era)
Is making and selling weird art toys human scale anticapitalist media?
I think it might be.
It's human scale manufacturing. It's a way to take back a slice of pop culture, to embrace a thing I love without giving money to companies that seek to destroy me. It's done for a niche community, in conversation with, and as a rejection of, corporate backed alternatives.
And for many folks, toy collecting is zero sum. Buy my weird art toy and that's $10 you aren't spending with Hasbro and Disney.
Andrew (bookseller era)
I do podcasts and I'm working on video and I produce music.
I make these things to appeal to myself and my weird friends, I distribute them on platforms I control, under a fairly permissive (but infectious) license.
I would consider all of these things to be human scale and anticapitalist in structure and distribution (and, in some cases, content.)
Andrew (bookseller era)
I also make toys, and I sell those and I've been moderately successful with that. I employ two designers and we're talking to two more. I have two folks who help with manufacturing.
We turn waste plastics in to toys. We take public domain characters and revive them in new toys. We have released some models under creative commons by sa license already, and we will release more in the future.
Andrew (bookseller era)
@cy community memory was built on a time sharing system in 73.
Cy
@ajroach42 To be fair, a lot of the early computers were gigantic monolithic behemoths designed from the start to further the profits of large corporations. It was only after they started making the "Personal Computer" that computers became more accessible to the average human.
Chirp! is a social network. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.1-beta0, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All Chirp! content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.