Abstract

Poster - Splinter Outreach

Astronomy in the Fediverse: Science communication on the microblogging platform Mastodon is showcasing the potential of ActivityPub-powered new social media

Schuh
Göttingen

The Fediverse is a decentralized social network built on the ActivityPub protocol where a multitude of services, running on myriads of instances (independent servers), federate with each other and enable connections between any of their users, not unlike e-mail. The micro-blogging platform Mastodon, the photo-sharing platform Pixelfed and the video-sharing platform Peertube are among the best-known Fediverse services. Mastodon in particular, which has recently been recognized as a digital public good by the UN, offers a rather charming alternative for what was once "Academic Twitter". By outlining how astronomers and astronomy organizations can successfully engage in the Fediverse conversation, this poster hopes to invite conference participants to explore the new social media dimension that is the Fediverse.