@fediforum@mastodon.social

Tools for the Enterprise on the Fediverse

/2023-03/session/2-b/

(Two sessions, one set of notes)

Convener: Shannon Clark (@rycaut@mastodon.social)

Participants (add yourself here if you want to be listed, no obligation): Name and Fediverse handle

  • Shannon Clark (@rycaut@mastodon.social)
  • Tim Chambers (@tchambers@indieweb.social)
  • Hannah Aubry (@haubles@fosstodon.org)
  • Jon Udell (@judell@mastodon.social
  • David Slifka (@davidslifka@mastodon.social)
  • Matthias Pfefferle (@pfefferle@notiz.blog, @pfefferle@mastodon.social)
  • @Jeff@newsie.social
  • Steffen
  • Jonathan Glick
  • Brad DeGraf
  • Jon Odell
  • Fra - OpenForFuture.org
  • Christopher

Key points:

  • What beyond ActivityPub: records retention, identity management
  • Running a private (defederated?) instance?
  • Would need a rellay if they only have a few dozen or hundred users to federate better
  • Tools needed for security and compliance
  • POSSE / IndieWeb / Fediverse

What beyond ActivityPub software might an enterprise need? (“Enterprise” defined broadly)

  • Authentication/Identity
  • Record retention
  • Provisioned accounts
  • Moderation
  • Community onboarding
  • Security/hosting

What are diffs between running a private instance for staff, vs. an open instance for a defined community like a school, vs. a public instance?

The #1 pushback I get from institutions is metrics/measurability

Attracting/retaining organizations may require loosening resistance to tracking/metrics

Orgs need tracking for impact and between various systems.

Across enterprises: Places like Medium and Flipboard will be selling access to their high-end users

They must have some means beyond spreadsheets to integrate that, (I hope)

And to close the accounts when the user stops paying

Similarly, newsrooms will need systems for how to remove reporters from the instance when they leave

Unions would want methods to target groups of users: Senior staff, affiliate leaders, etc.

Verification e.g. Washington Post

Could a Mastodon instance be the basis for an internal chat tool like Slack, etc.? Or with a new platform?

  • Maybe, but Shannon persuaded me not an important need given other options :-)

I’m unclear on the value proposition for media orgs to move to the fediverse IDK where the fediverse can provide the best value

  • Maybe it’s just about more communication channels for anyone who wants to communicate: media, public officials, etc.

Fastly supports security and compliance for several large Mastodon instances

Community onboarding lists:

Native list sharing in Mastodon would be a very useful feature for onboarding and retention

One model for lists is community management of a list, rather than individual. Specifics are TBD

concept: Send a message to a list, that adds a member to it, so a group collectively maintains a list together for their collective use

A past example is WebJ

People could make playlists

People started to emerge as DJs

Hoping to see WebJ of the fediverse

For example: A climate scientist could make a list, “Good climate scientists for outside people to follow”?

Or the climate scientist can just become a useful resource for non-scientists to follow their field and learn

One big institution experimenting is SURF/universities of the Netherlands: https://www.surf.nl/en/news/surf-and-the-universities-of-the-netherlands-are-working-on-a-mastodon-pilot-for-the-entire

Admins with any US linkage need to have a copyright agent with the US copyright office

How about a “Share to Mastodon” button?

Automattic/Wordpress just released it

There are ~five other widely used site tools that it would be great if they add it

Outside references: