from garden/flancian/experimental-social-network.md by @flancian
Experimental Social Network
Welcome to [[boris mann]]'s section of the agora!
We're experimenting with [[Connecting to the Agora]], and what some of the configurations and conventions are. The [[Anagora]] page has my notes and feature requests.
Agora
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The Agora is a distributed knowledge graph and experimental social network.
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As an Agora guest you can currently:
- Navigate the Agora, which is composed of [[nodes]] which aggregate content from many users about the same topic or entity.
- Make use of [[backlinks]] and [[pulled nodes]] to discover relevant content.
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As an Agora user you can:
- Have your content be surfaced to readers at relevant times (when they are visiting a [[node]] for which your content is considered relevant by the community).
- Have relevant content be surfaced to you as you traverse your [[personal knowledge graph]].
- Make use of [[agora actions]].
- Anyone can run an Agora of their own if they so desire. This Agora is [[open source]].
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To [[sign up]] for the Agora, first you need to publish your [[digital garden]] or [[content]] elsewhere online. The Agora doesn't host your data, but rather pulls it from a location you control and renders it for you and other users; it interlinks your data with that of other users as you wish.
- If you know your way around [[git]], [[markdown]] on git is the default format. If you use [[roam]] or a [[roam like]] or you have a notes database, you're almost there. Please refer to agora howto for detailed instructions.
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Whatever participation mechanism you choose, you can either send a [[pull request]] adding yourself to the repository or let an Agora [[maintainer]] know where your [[digital garden]] or [[content]] is, so it can be pulled by the Agora and [[integrated]]. We strive to continuously support new sources and formats. Please send email to signup@anagora.org or tweet at me with:
- The URL for your content.
- Your desired username.
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The Agora wants to be [[maximally inclusive]], but it is in its infancy; it is a [[work in progress]]. If you want to participate and can't, please also send email to signup@anagora.org to let us know.
- Through projects such as [[agora twitter integration]], we hope to make the Agora available to anyone that has access to a social network account.
- If you want to learn more about the [[experimental]] nature of this Agora, please refer to this Hacker News comment.
- If you want to keep up to date with development, consider adding me on Twitter or Mastodon: [[flancian]].
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An Agora is, in its most basic form, a set of useful conventions.
- Useful conventions are made explicit through an Agora's [[CONTRACT]] and the writing of its users.
- You can think of the Agora as a distributed [[sequential wiki]]; an experiment in [[semantic web]] [[applications]].
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An Agora is a [[distributed knowledge graph]] maintained by the users of an experimental [[social network]].
- By [[you]] and [[me]]. Anyone can participate if they are willing.
- Check out [[agora howto]] (users) or [[agora plan]] (developers) if you want to jump in.
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This Agora tries to be a good [[internet citizen]].
- The [[agora protocol]] is openly developed and can be implemented by anyone.
- See also: [[wikilinks everywhere]].
- [[go]] flancia.org/agora
- [[git]] github.com/flancian/agora
- [[server]] github.com/flancian/agora-server
- [[pull]] [[agora editor]] [[agora client]]
- There are [[other agoras]].
An agora, in its broadest sense, is a conceptual space where people attempt to bring an increased level of intentionality, explicitness, and mutual agreement to the principles and protocols for interacting in that space. A further aspect of the idea of an Agora is that it is a space which enables collaboration. In particular, it is a space that allows for collaboration guided by specific shared interests, without requiring the co-consitutients of the agora to be aligned more fully or generally in terms of their intentions, values, etc.
Some topics that the idea of an Agora is related to: [[transparency]] [[decentralized structures]] [[egalitarian principles]] [[judgement]] [[algorithms of interaction]] [[communication]] [[collaboration]] [[knowledge sharing]]
There are (infinitely) many possible variants of how this idea might be implemented in concrete, real-world situations. For example, an agora could be a space that is opened up inside a conversation between two people. Or it could be a collaborative project that is accompanied by specified rules. Or it could be a collective agreement about how to handle certain types of situations.
One variant of the idea of an Agora is a place where personal notes are shared, with the common goal of pooling information and sharing knowledge. One implementation of this idea is https://anagora.org. See also https://flancia.org/go/agora.
The term "Agora" and the basic idea come from [[Flancia]].