• 0 Posts
  • 4 Comments
Joined 6 days ago
Cake day: February 27th, 2025
  • green@feddit.nltoTechnology@lemmy.world•Big Tech Wants You Trapped. The Open Web Sets You FreeEnglish
    1·
    5 minutes ago

    You make an excellent point, and I’ve never thought about it this way before.

    Devs are not newbie friendly at all. We were all noobs at some point and (if we’re being honest) remember the excruciating pain it took to become versed. Most people are not going to go through this, so FOSS naturally loses a lot of non-tech talent (including UX).

    What I didn’t think about is that there really isn’t a way for UX people to contribute at all. GitHub Issues, at most, allows for people to make feature-requests - but beyond that it’s just not viable.

    For example, I am a UX designer and would like to contribute or iterate a layout. My demonstration includes several images and a video. First off, where do I do this? I could use GitHub Issues, but this is an extremely painful process that is likely far removed from my normal workflow. I could use YouTube, and then link on GitHub issues - but then I have to jump through several annoying hoops for a still sub-optimal workflow.

    Git itself also has worked very poorly with binary files (png jpg mp3 wav…) until the recent advent of git-lfs. Binary iteration using base git is just a non-starter.

    I am shocked to say it, but I cannot think of any development UI that is actually decent for non-tech people. If anyone does FOSS UX, and I am wrong about the tooling, please correct me.

  • green@feddit.nltoTechnology@lemmy.world•Big Tech Wants You Trapped. The Open Web Sets You FreeEnglish
    1·
    16 hours ago

    Mastodon seems to be in a weird middle that a lot of community platforms fall into. There are a lot of memes (way too many honestly) but they are political memes. I would imagine this is because a lot of people are genuinely worried about their future, but do not want to risk their life nor come off as “cringe”.

    This is not surprising, given that we are living in extraordinary times, but it is frustrating. I would like for intelligent and practical people to come together and talk about solutions - but we’ve generally been reactionary. You want good and spicy meem - but we’ve generally be reactionary. Like I said, its frustrating.

  • green@feddit.nltoTechnology@lemmy.world•Big Tech Wants You Trapped. The Open Web Sets You FreeEnglish
    15·
    16 hours ago

    I agree with the sentiment of this post. In fact, I was trapped (and extremely discontent) on Facebook for the first half of my digital-life; before finding open-source - and the rest is history.

    I am afraid that we are not doing nearly enough however. This (like most things in this world) is a multilayered issue with no quick-fix, but the core of it is that many (and I mean MANY) of us are tech illiterate. Worse so, even more of us are math illiterate.

    This generally means that most cannot cope with the current world we live in, and are experiencing extreme levels of inertia. I was here at one point, so I know how difficult this transition is.

    An open web existing (on its own) won’t do much - its the culture that needs to change. We need to be equipped to think, fight, and adapt - or our spaces won’t survive. We are in a constant arms race with bad actors and ALL OF US need to be capable to win this fight. When the bots come to Lemmy (and they will), are most of us prepared to handle filter-lists, run servers, and potentially create a web-of-trust? I doubt this.

    I would really like to see a return to real-life communication for most things (as humans are, from birth, well adapted to this) and the open-web only be used for automation and coordination. I think the most freedom comes from stability and the internet (in general) just does not offer that.