Hi, Emma -- I looked at the threads on the fediverse. I think the argument I'll put forward here doesn't repeat some of the ones you've already received. In my experience, being on a Mastodon instance has made visible to me queer, trans, BIPOC, and radical artists and writers -- many of whom are on the fedi because they do not feel safe on corporate social media. I now support a bunch and have interacted with them. While these are not junior academics or reporters just starting out (a population not as present on the fediverse -- yet), I think that case is somewhat analogous. The mechanism for my seeing these artists and engaging with them has been through the timelines, not through bios. The flow is like this: An artist's post might get boosted into my timeline; I see it and think it's brilliant; I click on their username; THEN I read the bio and follow; conversation commences. So I'd recommend that, instead of the follower bio approach, what the fediverse emphasizes is the conversational approach. I follow based on intriguing posts, not after a quick look at the bio. So advice I would have for journalists is to rethink things. I'm sure journalists and others can do it -- after all, we're 10 years into the "How Twitter Will Change Journalism" phase of Journalism Studies publications. Perhaps in 10 years will be into "Journalists on the #fediverse" phase. - Rob On 11/6/22 09:26, Dr. Emma Briant via Air-L wrote:
Dear all,
I wanted to highlight an issue to the community if I may relating to our transition to Mastodon, which I think could have implications for diverse and emerging scholar expertise. Of course Mastodon isn’t a replacement Twitter, it operates differently, but it may well replace it in the daily lives of many of us.
Twitter has helped many previously obscure scholars, experts and scientists to get their voices out in a way previously not possible. I’m a little worried the way Mastodon works may not enable visibility as easily for those who aren’t already *known* in the same way, and potentially, in this aspect, more readily reproduce inequality. https://twitter.com/emmalbriant/status/1589170894303551488?s=46&t=GuaOniF5Nw... https://mastodon.online/@emmalbriant/109295686807615811 The issue is when people follow… in notifications Mastodon doesn’t seem to show follower bios like it does in Twitter. An apparently small thing, but I think it has important implications as I try to explain in the thread.
Grateful for your thoughts. Emma