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Could We Build a Decentralised Social Platform Rooted in Place? (carlnewton.github.io)

submitted 7 months ago by carlnewton@feddit.uk to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

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Over the past year or so I’ve been playing with the idea of a decentralised social platform based on your location. By putting physical location at the centre of the experience, such a platform could be used to bring communities together and provide a source of local information when travelling. Please let me know what you guys think.

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[-] BJHanssen@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

Loving this concept. May I make a suggestion? Show this to and discuss this with your local library. That strikes me as a good potential partner, and a model that can be replicated in most places to potentially help with everything from hosting to community resources access.

[-] carlnewton@feddit.uk 3 points 7 months ago

Thanks! I'll take all the suggestions I can get! This is interesting, and something I've never really considered for any local project. Is it common for libraries to take an interest in online platforms like this? Which country do you live in by the way? I'm not sure if it's a knowledge gap on my part or just something that libraries in the UK wouldn't get involved with.

[-] BJHanssen@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I live in the UK, but am from Norway. I know a few librarians though, and I know that community libraries are usually (or at least often) interested in projects that can connect their communities and help them with outreach. Something like this certainly could do that, and with libraries existing in most communities there is a built in network for broader proliferation there.

I’m also just very keen on the idea of libraries having a central role to play in the future of the broader fediverse ecosystem.

Edit: It may be key to pitch this to them not as a platform, but as a decentralised community network.

[-] carlnewton@feddit.uk 2 points 7 months ago

Thanks for this. I like the idea of local libraries being the hub of community connection. If I get a strong impression that people would want this, and if I get the impression that I can do a better job of building such a platform than anyone else willing to do so, I'll be sure to contact my local library. At the moment, I'm still on the fence on both counts, given that I don't believe the idea has yet garnered the attention of anyone who has experience developing for decentralised platforms. I'm hopeful though. It sounds like a fun project, but it would be a shame to get to the end of it without help and nobody actually wants it, or to work away at it and find something I've overlooked will prevent it from happening. I'll keep my ear to the ground for a little while.