New: SocialHub and the Substrate of Decentralised Networks

Fediversity Fediverse Report
20

Yesterday I saw a video by Xin Yao given at a DDD conference formulated a similar paradox to the one we face with decentralization of the fediverse. This is the paradox between the decoupled software systems that engineers want, versus the deeply connected software that managers want to get most businesss value.

The video is well worth a watch, and inspired me to write some notes on..

:bust_in_silhouette: ← Autonomy vs. Connected ecosystems → :people_hugging:

“The paradox of decentralization is that the more a technology ecosystem decentralizes, the more need there is for cohesive coordination to assure that the foundational technologies can support that decentralization, without the ecosystem falling apart.”

Diagram credit Paul Rayner and Eric Evans titled "DDD bas born sociotechnical.. to decouple and connect". It shows a central square with 3 elipses connected to it. Central concept "DDD. Ubiquitous (attention to) Language" relates to business complexity where Strategic design models answer "What software are we building? Why are we building it?", then technical complexity is tackled by Tactical design models that answer "How do we build and connect software for long-term changeability?", and finally there is a social complexity angle where - in this diagram - Visual collaborative modeling is used to answer "Who work and create value together? Who else do we need to align understanding with?"

In the diagram above “software” can be replaced with fediverse or federated software and “business complexity” with social network complexity (where it comes to integrating domain-specific solutions from autonomous parties in the decentralized developer ecosystem).

The current fediverse developer ecosystem represents a technosphere that not only does not give due attention to Strategic design (along a shared vision for the “Future of Social networking”), but also has very weak grasp of the social complexity that exists within our ecosystem, which hinders formation of a healthy substrate and grassroots standardization process that solves the decentralization paradox.

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