Manifesto

Not quite techno-utopian, because I don't think social problems can be solved purely with tech. Cyberpunk? Solarpunk? Open web advocate?

I just strongly feel: our technology shouldn't be absolutely disgusting.

I love tech. With computers, art is theoretically limitless. You just have your imagination, and your chops. Why should we entrust the future of all human art to Big Tech overlords?

State of the 'net today

The internet can be fun. What's not fun: the practice of displaying the logos of gross and unethical social media corporations. Arts industries are telling artists: be influencers. Be a brand. The advice is delivered with a shrug, like it's just a neutral fact. Decision-makers need your "data", so you need to show some hard numbers.

But corporate algorithms are not neutral. They are profit-seeking ¹, enshittified ², politics-meddling ³, ⁴, planet-killing ⁵, ⁶, genocide-promoting ⁷ and they frickin' suck.

Corpo nihilism

The dystopian reality: everyone is on Meta, YouTube, Xitter, Spotify. If they don't approve your schtick, the penalty is your algorithmic exclusion from the wider cultural conversation. Please the algo, or die.

And yet...

Art is at the very centre of my life. As digital artists, our art is made, shared and mediated by computer and phone screens. I need my tools to be mine. I need my experiences of others' art to be open-hearted and real. We need our art to be unsullied by corpos smearing their gross branding everywhere, sliding their unethical shit under the table.

There are alternatives to Big Tech.

A way forward

We do have a choice.

We can be honest, as artists and as human beings: influencer-ism is bullshit. "Be a Brand" is bullshit. We don't -- and shouldn't -- have to do this obsequious algo-pleasing routine to survive.

So, billionaire-owned Big Social controls our politics, relationships... and all human art? We don't have to accept that! The internet is open by design. To escape the grasping claws of Zuckerberg, Bezos and them: we can return to our roots. We can do some pruning, and let something new grow.

Under capitalism, our joyful work -- art, community, coding -- is done under the shadow of poverty and burnout. We all deserve to survive. This is why anarchists actively build Dual Power ⁸: online and IRL networks of mutual aid.

Resources

There are alternatives. I got the links to prove it. We're building this new scene together, listening to each other, making it better and better. See you on the open web!

• Linux
• Fediverse
• Gotosocial
• Owncast
• Peertube
• Faircamp
• Island Networks
• The Bad Space
• Tildeverse
• Yunohost
• Indieweb