I joined Mastodon over five years ago, when I was doing a project about shared networks of trees and fungi often called the 'wood wide web'. I made artworks about community, digital and forest networks. For that project I worked with a volunteer tree planting organisation in Northumberland, UK called Kielderhead Wildwood.
This year, I have been invited back to revisit the same site, and have found myself reflecting on what has changed in networks since then.
This entry was edited (4 days ago)
Fionnáin
in reply to Fionnáin • • •The COVID-19 pandemic hit just before I was due to visit the site for the first time.
A pandemic impacts all sorts of network behaviours. The virus spread was by community, often through social events.
DIgital spaces became safe spaces. In 2019 I might have had a video call once every few month, now it is a weekly thing.
The pandemic also showed up the value of human-forest networks as so many people reconnected with a surrounding natural landscape.
Fionnáin
in reply to Fionnáin • • •After the initial lockdowns, I finally visited the tree planting site in 2021 and documented the young trees there. Some of that is visible in my web artwork Macalla https://macalla.shanefinan.org
That work was designed to give consideration to the human hand in the future forest, made visible on the web. I wanted to combine perspectives of networks.
This year, when I revisit the site, these tiny saplings will be substantial young trees. Most of those that have survived will be taller than me.
#art
shane finan - macalla tryptich
macalla.shanefinan.orgFionnáin
in reply to Fionnáin • • •Reflecting on federated networks is a strange thing. I remember my own 'detox' as I came here after years on commercial social media. I now watch others detox in real time, watching the tone gradually mellow.
I also went into other spaces then. I reignited my diaspora account from 2013 (since then the server closed) and dipped my toe in scuttlebutt (abandoned when I changed computers).
These days I post less, not finding I have as much to share. Or maybe I just learned to virtually listen more
Fionnáin
in reply to Fionnáin • • •I've watched a few waves of twitter exodus in those years. There tended to be a lot of conversation during each one about the network itself, how it behaves, and what it can be.
These days, I don't see that in my feed. I see more social and political commentary, technology updates, current affairs and art.
I guess my reflections on my mastodon experience are biased based on my behaviours on this platform. But I do feel grateful for the lack of algorithm here, so those biases are by choice.
Fionnáin
in reply to Fionnáin • • •For me that was also an important transition time because I had spent the previous 6 years managing two projects developing machine learning tools for emergency management. We were aggregating signals from those same commercial social media platforms to help early warning and messaging for floods and fires.
On those projects I researched how to build trust through social media communications, looking at behaviours and the risks posed by the platforms' algorithms. All that seems superfluous now.
Fionnáin
in reply to Fionnáin • • •Some of the original material from this project, including a pretty interesting socratic dialogue with Mastodon users, is archived on my website: https://shanefinan.org/VAP/10_woodwideweb.html
I don't know what I might do with the new leg of this project on my website, whether I should append it onto the old one or give it a page of its own...
wood wide web
shanefinan.org