Oddbean

Fellow nostriches love freedom tech, hence the love for #nostr. Every step we take builds unto many before it. Within FOSS communities, those foundational steps are the efforts of a larger network. Nostr.world unconferences stand on the shoulders of giants. ... #bitcoin genesis... @fiatjaf shaping Nostr's protocol... The nostr community efforts leading to the Nostr protocol support, expansion, understanding, and adoption... @jack giving supportive grounds and visibility, along with the journey into nostr.world unconferences... An array of volunteers giving nostr.world a real world place for nostriches from across the globe to gather ideas and turn them into real world empowering technologies… #Nostrica allowed us to gather in the midst of the Costa Rican jungle, by the ocean, discovering a bitcoin circular economy. #Nostrasia took us to the contrasting and bustling cities of Tokyo and Hong Kong, where we embraced Wabi Sabi, 1000 cranes, the balance of Yin & Yang... Contrasting places create unique atmospheres for networking and exchanging information. We can compound on each other's efforts and open up the possibilities for new ideas to sprout. Nostr.world has meant immersion into different cultural contexts, emerging with stronger bonds connecting us as humans and freedom lovers.

Nostr does not stand alone as an open protocol. It is not a silo. It has always been an open network. Its foundational principles are a core strength, drawing-in people whom understand and appreciate them: Freedom tech lovers. Those who understand the ethical principles behind bitcoin, encryption, private communication, decentralized identity, self-sovereignty... appreciate nostr's core of freedom of expression with choice and control back in the hands of the individual. #protocolsoverplatforms @jack brought up a good point during Nostrasia's closing remarks; as we look beyond #Nostrasia, nostr.world conferences can encompass more than nostr...diving deeper into a #freedom foundation. To look beyond the Nostr can mean strengthening and forging new community bonds while taking in a 360 view of freedom and the freedom technologies surrounding it. We may discover new avenues for these technologies to interact and support each other, while empowering people across the globe. We can reimagine what it means to be free. Nostr's already shaping new ways of freeing content creators, interacting with the bitcoin network through zaps. Private communication developers, like @simplex are looking into ways of extending each other's network effects by adding value to people’s communication layers. By bridging different technologies with overlapping values and principles, can we help make a stronger support net for freedom? Human beings have fought for their freedom throughout history. As our world evolves, the freedoms we need evolve with us. Technology has opened new doors to individual empowerment, but technology is a tool, guided by the hands of its creators. Technology can be used to free and empower people, but it can also give power to a few who exercise centralized control, often through unethical practices. #Free2FreeFrom List To be free 2: HODL our keys control our social media experience use private decentralized communication + money #bitcoinostr control our data be self sovereign be decentralized get zapped for our content ... To be free from: deplatforming yet able to mute irresponsible data gathering practices people as products honey pots and single points of failure censorship yet able to choose who and what we follow forced centralization without choice algorithms without choice ... What's your #Free2FreeFrom list?

Unconferences don't happen without people. Both those interested in being part of the event, and those giving their time to making it happen. Many hands have helped in the past two journeys... Nostr feels like a constant Work-In-Progress, nostr.world unconferences are no different. At every leg of the journey, we learn where to improve and how to make your overall experience better. Wherever nostr.world goes next should encourage enriching cultural experiences as we join like-minded individuals shaping freedom technologies in challenging landscapes. Nostr.world is on a natural path toward more openness. As we look into improving our processes and creating clearer paths for you to get involved, it is a good time to thank all those who participated and helped make Nostrasia a reality...many more than I mention here. Please know that your contributions always make a difference, and they always guide us on the paths forward. 5 elements of Nostrasia 1. Programming What is a conference without strong programming attuned to current developments within FOSS communities? A community wide effort, led by @ROCKSTAR , and supported by so many others. Thank you to all who suggested topics and to every speaker who took up the mic to let your voice be heard. A computer programmer by heart and trade, @ROCKSTAR's background gives him the inner know-how of the kind of agenda programming happening, as nostr grows. He knows the faces behind nostr clients, but you may not know his face. He cares deeply about privacy, so when you see him, he's often shielded behind his hat, dark glasses and bandana. He'll be leading the way for an open community-built-agenda for the next unconference. 🙌 2. Permanence Programming must reach the audience through AV and have a permanent home in nostr.world's library. What is also permanent, aside from his love of cats 🐱, is @ExFrog's friendly face and clear strong voice guiding you through the process of setting up your talk. As he puts it: "Want to do an unscheduled demo of an ASIC miner in the middle of the jungle?" He's got your back. He's also the reason why you can watch and replay the best moments, along with everyone who has helped with AV, including @Playfullscreen @Reverend Hodl @ae9de68f Have a favorite talk? https://www.youtube.com/@nostrasia 3. Connections Unconferences connect people, not just within the conference, but within #nostr. @Marce helps connect people through her social media and @NostReport skills matched with a little #unmarketing magic (term coined by @vrod ) for the @thenostrworld nostr. Special thanks to @Derek Ross for keeping watch in virtual, @mads and @roya ୨୧ for support. Thank you to everyone who shared or commented on nostrasia. 🤙 4. Design We live in a world filled to the brim with creativity. We see it in the nostr protocol and its many clients, each catering to their niche audiences in hopes of encouraging deeper human connections. The glue between those connections is often the job of design. We see it in UX/UI improvements. We see it in the possibilities of shaping details at conferences. We get it in that "aha" moment where you understand why something was built and why it matters. Design can create an atmosphere so conversations can happen. Its many mediums from websites to t-shirts can build bonds and tell stories. It can represent ideas in simple ways so people can understand and identify with their meaning. I'm hoping we can expand on building bridges between art, music, education, and freedom. What could improve your nostr.world experience? What elements did you love at #nostrica and #nostrasia? Special thanks to @bitpopart, @manlikekweks, Mr. E ( @vrod @jb55) and @NoGood ✌️, you remind me of the importance of having clearer ways to embrace community talent. I'm looking forward to adding the contributions you gave us unto nostr.world. Grateful for the time you took for #nostrasia. Thank you to @sopipip and @fibonacci who remind me of the sharing of knowledge across generations. Some of the planning and items designed for these unconferences need to become open assets so anyone can have a foundation to design their own meetups. 5. Reality Bringing it all together. Logistics is a complex process, bringing together a wide range of elements in need of two forces: - A 360 view @mcshane brings in discernment and an eye for detail, as well as an atmosphere of support and encouragement when and where it is most needed. -An on-the-ground force @gillian @Sherry Misa & @Stakeoftheart were the leaders on the ground, bringing volunteers together for numerous tasks, but also encouraging local culture and paying attention to the long to-do-list. hugs. Forever grateful for @jack's continued support, idea generation and example toward a free, open, and decentralized future. 🤙🫂

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the organization and success of #nostrasia and for making nostr.world possible. The immense effort involved in orchestrating such an event is commendable, and I'm thankful for having had the chance to participate. A key expectation for me was to delve deeper into and connect with the Japanese Nostr community. Unfortunately, despite being in the same vicinity, a sense of connection was missing. The language barrier and cultural differences seemed to be significant obstacles. I struggled to follow the Japanese talks and couldn't engage with the Japanese attendees as I had envisioned. This highlighted the need for more inclusive and accessible communication strategies in future gatherings. While much about the event was praiseworthy, there are aspects I wish were different. The format, dominated by numerous stage presentations and hallway interactions, was commendable, yet I believe an ideal unconference strikes a balance between these formats. The structure of having many speakers and an audience primarily in a listening role hindered the potential for deeper, personal connections. As a speaker on the first day, I was approached for conversations about Nostr, which were enriching, but somewhat sporadic and unstructured. This dynamic, where a few are seen as heroes imparting wisdom to an audience, doesn’t quite resonate with the collaborative and egalitarian ethos of the Nostr community. We avoided the pitfalls of corporate booths and sales pitches, but there’s still potential to enhance our approach. For future events, I propose reducing the number of talks and panels. An alternative could be pre-recording talks for online viewing, allowing us to utilize in-person time for more meaningful, facilitated networking. Open Spaces and similar models offer guidance on this, involving active facilitators and opportunities for attendees to propose discussion topics and participate in smaller, focused group conversations. This format emphasizes personal connections over mere information sharing, utilizing various room sizes for more inclusive and effective discussions. This isn't to diminish the achievements of the Nostr.world team or the value of Nostrica and Nostrasia. Both events were extraordinary, offering immense learning opportunities and a platform for networking. Yet, there's always room for improvement, particularly in fostering more inclusive and impactful interactions. Aspiration Tech’s guide on creating participatory events is a valuable resource in this regard: Aspiration Tech's Participatory Event Guide https://aspirationtech.org/papers/creating_participatory_events The goal is to enhance the value of our gatherings by deepening the connections within our diverse community.

What I noticed is the spirit of collaboration. Seeing the people you know from online and noticing they are the same in real life is refreshing 🫂💜 I think this is the biggest power. To colloberate, earn together some sats (because earning is important, we still can’t pay with kisses at the grocery store, we always say in the Netherlands) But this feeling we want to really help/ build together is the power from Nostr on this moment. I am happy I could work with Nostr.build, @The Fishcake🐶🐾 @nandan (who I met at the unconference gonna help me sharing my art in Mumbai) @yutaro who I just met in Bangkok, working together on a japanese webshop. @Jakk Goodday introducing me to the amazing Thai Nostr community and I am now gonna help @suntoshi with Badgestr. This spirit feels like when I met older entrepreneurs in my early days starting my own business who were helping me. Now I understand why they did it, we just see ourself in this energy of wanna create things. We are all one 🫂💜 Stay humble and enjoy life.

+1 This was my first event of any kind and I’m surprised how well it went on just with volunteer organization. At the same time, I felt we didn’t really connect with the Japanese community nor made enough effort to get more Japanese people at the venue. This is not to put a blame on anyone at all - you all did amazing work! I found the 1-1 conversations and group chats to be most valuable despite some great talks as well. Would have been cool to focus on specific topics and have group discussions of some sort to kick around ideas to overcome various challenges. Overall fantastic event!

Thank you, @rabble , for the insights into your #Nostrasia experience. Turning passive listeners into active participants at unconferences may be an answer to shaping more interesting in-depth discussions, helping bridge cultural gaps, and some #unmarketing consumer research. Many builders in the nostr community choose to protect people by not gathering data, nor selling it off to advertisers. This shapes a caring community working on improving their products for the people who use them, instead of for advertisers. We are likely to see many benefits to that choice, including a focus on building creative tools empowering the individual. Not gathering data creates a need to think of alternative avenues on what can improve our experience of nostr products and services, what is drawing people in, and what keeps us in nostr. #Nostr may exist in cyberspace, and many people offer product and service improvement ideas and suggestions within nostr... but when we get to share both space and time, like in conferences, there is no telling what idea may sprout from bringing people who care about similar principles and open protocols. If we can go a step further, not only bringing people together, but bringing them together as active participants, not just silent listeners, the overall conference experience is likely to be much more engaging and enriching. As nostr breaks away from the traditional ways of platforms and their traditional marketing channels, why shouldn't conferences too? Open Space methodologies and Aspiration Tech guidelines have many practical ideas and examples. They help blur the lines between the traditional "speaker" and "listener" roles, creating interactive atmospheres to learn from one another. For example, ahead of the event, participants work on shaping a specific, yet flexible list of topics. This looks similar to what @ROCKSTAR will be guiding, ahead of the next nostr.world unconference, through GitHub projects. You will be able to suggest topics in the open. Then, at the start of a conference, participants gather in small groups, for a few minutes, to each jot down questions on their topics of interest (in post-its). Each question is read out loud and gets assigned a time slot in its specific session at the conference. If too many questions are received, similar ones can be grouped and questions can be prioritized. As a leader in your topic area, you get to learn what people care about, their pain points, their ideas and suggestions... and share your knowledge with them in unconference-style sessions. Having these kinds of "unconference-style" sessions is something that may seem new and not everyone may want to adopt. But, for everyone who wants to try, could we have labels for "conference-style" and "unconference-style” in the GitHub projects area, once it is ready, so speakers can choose whether they want to try something different? @ROCKSTAR

I think also the synergy between both fields will make a lot happen. (I already experience this here) As a creative you have ideas but only programmers can make it work. But they need design/UI. We both need each other to create. ☯️ But its all about this positive energy what is going on. The most valuable thing we have in life is time and you just want to share it with amazing people. 🙏 Have a lovely day💜🫂

Yuge thank you to @elidy and team openly and in the background putting together a conference thousands of miles away for a thousand people. I ashamedly backed out of my commitment to attend, and regret not making it work. I have never before been excited about watching a conference remotely on multiple days. Thank you to the amazing speakers, and the AV team for making the remote connection possible @ExFrog @Reverend Hodl From #nostrica I recall the breakout sessions being a great way to communicate in a positive and informing nostr way. I hope we can do these again in the future.

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