Proceedings of FediForum, October 2026

All times given in Pacific Daylight Savings Time (UTC-7).

Tuesday, October 6

8:00am	Welcome and opening.
	Keynote by Anil Dash Anil Dash is a technologist, writer, and activist best known for advocating for ethical, inclusive technology. A Webby Awards Lifetime Achievement honoree, he was CEO of Glitch, a creative community for developers acquired in 2022, and is now principal and cofounder of Antitech, which helps organizations build thoughtful technology. As a writer, Dash was a monthly columnist for Wired and has contributed to publications including The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and Businessweek; the New Yorker called him a “blogging pioneer” for his personal blog, which has been running continuously since 1999. As an advocate, Dash advised the Obama White House on digital strategy, and led a MacArthur-backed research project on social media’s impact on policymaking. While CEO of Glitch, the company was the first tech startup to voluntarily recognize its workers’ union. Follow Anil at @anildash@me.dm or @anildash.com. Notes from the follow-up session. 54:18
	Collaborative agenda making for the unconference. Bring your session ideas!
9:30am	Introducing Atproto Spaces By Daniel Holmgren, head of protocol at Bluesky PBC. A technical overview of the recent extension of AT Protocol beyond public data to cover permissioned data and private group spaces. Follow Daniel at @dholms.at. Attendee notes. 42:36
9:30am	Unconference sessions: What Does Your Community NEED? Building the Purpose, then the Platform Fediponics: Automated Bot Detection and Moderation for Mastodon Instance Administrators Helping Universities Move to the Fediverse Creative Commons License Could the Fediverse Work in Low Income Countries? The Off-Ramp: Easy Switching for Creators Fundamental Operations Beyond CRUD Questions Research Should Be Answering: Your Challenges to Fostering Connection and Community Anil Dash Follow-Up Session Economics in the Fediverse: Building Marketplaces and Other Possibilities DoeiDag Are We Living Up to the Promise of the Open Social Web? Fediverse-Atmosphere Bridging: Current State and Future Developments Getting Student Unions and Students to Support and Adopt the Fediverse AI and the Fediverse: How Can We Do More than Just Be Haters of AI @Fediverse@Handles in Every Language Why Users Switch Mastodon Instances: Some Data and Broader Lessons for Social Network Interoperability
12:30pm	Community announcements.
12:30pm	Session recaps, closing.
1:00pm	End of FediForum day 1.

Wednesday, October 7

8:00am	Welcome and opening.
	Speed demos: developers show off their cool open social web software in 5 min. Full playlist on PeerTube or YouTube. 5:35 The Indie Beat Radio and TV: Showcasing artists from across the Fediverse The Indie Beat invites artists across the Fediverse to get their work showcased and discovered. Broadcasting 24/7, TIB Radio has 11 stations while TIB TV showcases music videos and animation. Plus, live events! More info about The Indie Beat. By Kirsten Lambertsen (@mizkirsten@mastodon.social). 5:07 Blacksky Acorn: Communities can own their social media experience In this demo I’ll be showing the process of setting up a community on Acorn, inviting members, and creating feeds for those members. More info about Blacksky Acorn. By Rishi Balakrishnan (@rishkebab.blacksky.team). 4:31 Sill: The antidote to doomscrolling By reorienting your feed around trending links in your network, Sill offers a calmer, slower way to get vital information from open social media, whether you’re on the Fediverse or the Atmosphere. More info about Sill. By Tyler Fisher (@tylerjfisher.com, @tylrfishr@social.tylerjfisher.com). 4:50 FediDeck.app: A Multi-Column Dashboard For The Open Social Web Inspired by TweetDeck/Hootsuite, connect multiple accounts across Fediverse instances and Bluesky (AT-Protocol), and view everything in customizable columns. More info about FediDeck.app. By Seth Goldstein (@phillycodehound@indieweb.social, @PhillyCodeHound.com). 7:36 OpenPeeps Community Platform: Announcing ActivityPub Support OpenPeeps is a full-featured FOSS community platform with a feed, long-form posting, private groups, event calendar, direct messaging, and video-chat integration. This fall, we are adding ActivityPub support, offering an opt-in way for OP communities to connect and share with each other and the world at large. More info about OpenPeeps. By Anca Mosoiu, Christoph Witzany, and D’Angelo Senat, OpenPeeps Co-Founders (@openpeeps@mastodon.social). 6:34 Note Following Using Follows to subscribe to deletes, updates and more, from specific Notes without following the Actor. By Liam Roche, Google (@rochebit@mastodon.social).
	Collaborative agenda making for the unconference. Bring your session ideas!
9:30am	Unconference sessions: CList: Personal Learning Environment for Reading Feeds, Writing Content, and Publishing to Social Platforms Visualising ActivityPub vs. Atproto Architectures for Non-Tech People Merits/Drawbacks of AI-Assisted Coding on the Open Social Web FediForum Connect Inconsistent State Across the Network Fediverse Conferences Around the World Fediverse Multimedia Grants IFTAS Annual Social Web Survey/Moderator Needs Assessment 2026 Report Preview Standardized Governance Tools Inconsistent State Across the Network (Continued) OpenPeeps Q&A Democratic Tech Fund Friends in the Fediverse: Are Mutual Follows Enough for Fulfilling People’s Desire to Connect? Leveraging Cultural Momentum (e.g. Solarpunk Trending) to Attract Fediverse Adoption Our Antifa Bar Is Being Surrounded
12:30pm	Session recaps, closing.
1:00pm	End of FediForum day 2.