Move Slowly and Build Bridges

Resources

Research for Move Slowly and Build Bridges began in earnest in 2021. I wrote about the process on my research blog -- indeed, I wasn't sure what the project would end up being! Eventually, I focused on Mastodon and the fediverse due to my longstanding interest in alternative social media.

Interview research

I did many interviews for the book, talking to fediverse developers, admins, moderators, and members. Here are some posts specific about that process:

• Interview Workflow
• I'm Mashing That Subscribe Button

Presentations

I've also given quite a few presentations based on research for the book. You can see some of them here, and if you hit "Presenter Mode", you can read a transcript:

• The Fediverse: What it is, why I study it, and why you should, too (University of Muenster)
• From Codes of Conduct to the Digital Covenant (University of Bremen)
• Seeking Just Governance in Community-Run Social Media (York)

And here's a presentation I gave to Continuing Education students at York that sums things up pretty well.

Op-eds and commentary

Over the years I've written or been interviewed about Mastodon and the fediverse. Here's a few examples:

• Elon Musk’s stance on free speech doesn’t include competition to Twitter (Toronto Star)
• Twitter Users Have Caused a Mastodon Meltdown (Wired)
• Decentralised social media offers an alternative to big tech platforms like X and Meta. How does it work? (The Conversation Podcast)

Academic Publications

I've published academic articles that relate to the book, both solo and in collaboration with other scholars.

• Can This Platform Survive? Governance Challenges for the Fediverse
• Shifting your research from X to Mastodon? Here’s what you need to know
• The digital covenant: non-centralized platform governance on the mastodon social network
• Rethinking the “social” in “social media”: Insights into topology, abstraction, and scale on the Mastodon social network
• The Case for Alternative Social Media