Ian Kenway @iankenway@qoto.org

Still slowly migrating over from Twitter, but here’s my #intro post 👋🏽

I work in tech and I’m cofounder of The Riz Test, researching how Muslims are portrayed in Film & TV, and also the Seen on Screen Institute.

I’m conducting research for my part time PhD on how poor representation of Muslims in the Arts has downstream effects on biased algorithms and AI. I speak regularly on the topic at universities, tech & media conferences and sit on the BFI Muslims on Screen Advisory Board. Come say hi!

Thinking of doing a TV piece about Mastodon in the New Year. Who should I talk to?

Mastodon has cracked the top ten social networking apps in the App Store. For context, Signal is at 15.

#COP27 and #COP15 are taking place in the same year and yet are only marginally related. Who’s the bright mind behind naming conventions?

The #Tories devastated the economy with #Brexit and then blew another hole in it by appointing #Truss. Now they're #gaslighting us by blaming #KeyWorkers. #JonathanPie nails ownership back where it belongs.

#ToryBrexitDisaster #GaslightingTories #ToryCostOfGreedCrisis #CostOfLeavingCrisis #SocialistSunday #FBPE @socialistsunday @fbpe

@WEBylines There is huge support for #proportionalrepresenation in the #LabourPartyUK membership. It was part of the 1997 manifesto. We need a constitutional overhaul and PR must be part of it. There are no perfect systems but the forced private coalitions within parties is harmful. Better they were public and officially sanctioned. Better political horse trading transparently between a variety of parties than behind closed doors.

Could the legendary Carl Sagan see into the future?
No, he was just an amazing, brilliant, insightful, human being.
#carlsagan

Earlier today Elon Musk said that my ban was temporary, 45 min later he denied my appeal to reinstate my account and confirmed that I am *permanently* banned. The email I just received says the decision cannot be reversed.
I have never once violated Twitters rules or terms of service. I’ve never had a single tweet flagged, my account was permanently banned with no warning and with no reason, after I reached out to Musk for comment.
#twittermigration #twitterexodus #twitter #tech #news #technews

#NewUsers now above 5000 per hour.

We are now higher than last week's rate. Mastodon is managing this surge so far. Some servers are lagging. Please be patient as systems administrators manage the situation. It may get worse given the Twitter news.

@mastodon.social, @mastodon.lol, @mastodon.online, @mstdn.social, and now @mas.to closed to new user registrations.
Quick Scan - Mastodon Larger Instances >>> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hN-0bNfjaV7UTuLP6eudmXCNNPdeNQoFtbfcqxl4FFQ/edit#gid=0
Fediverse tracker >>> https://mastodon.online/@mastodonusercount@bitcoinhackers.org

#twittermigration

I'm happy that one of the voices I discovered on the birdsite, Annika Brockschmidt, is now posting here!

If you want to read excellent journalism about right-wing extremism and White Christian nationalism, I recommend to follow

@ardenthistorian

Well blimey. A conversation with a friend and a rabbit hole led me to this, possibly the best jazz interpretation of The Look of Love I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot. Theydies and gentlefolk, I give you The Dudley Moore trio 😍

https://youtu.be/DnaNhWd1kuc

An ICU Nurse created this wreath from Diprivan bottles which were used to sedate Covid patients prior to intubating & putting them on respirators - each had a "religious exception" to not be vaccinated. She kept the bottles to create this wreath & make an eye opening statement.

@dotsonapage
@freemo
I'm delighted by all the goodies and benefits I happened into on mine here at qoto. The starting text block is at 64K, which is huge in comparison to most, for example. The description page at https://qoto.org/about/more will give you a rundown, and I think you'll be pleased and surprised by the list of features.

Despite the recent enormous surge in activity and memberships, the server is still speedy (as is the administration). I've had zero trouble with any unpleasant characters lurking about. The management is pro-active in handling issues quickly. The underlying reason for its existence is as a science and science education instance, so there are many intelligent and well-spoken folks about.

Even though there are now over 25,000 users, the admin is reachable and responsive.

Hope you check us out!

Then again such social media companies are not, and have never been, a “public forum”. They are privately owned networks that have a single priority: harvesting profits. Primarily from selling their users’ information to those who which to target them. Everything else is secondary. They have shown that they cannot be trusted in any meaningful sense. We deserve much better.

'Lifelong' Tory Gammon Blasts Jacob Rees-Mogg Over Brexit 'Benefits' On Question Time

Which is nice…

https://apple.news/A2HOMpWaRTcqnJKjtwY_bSw

The temperature overnight dropped to -5 °C and so there was another hard #frost when I woke up as has been the case over the past few days.

The outside of the #windows of the #conservatory were covered with #ice #crystals which had formed an interesting pattern on the #GlassPanes.

#MyWork #MyPhoto #CCBYSA #DSLR #Nikon #D7000 #Autumn

“Cancel culture” is a derogatory term for a demand for greater (or indeed any) accountability. It’s a semantical hemming in of dissent in a bid to preemptively “cancel” politics or arguments or movements with which you disagree. It’s golden rule is that it’s always projection.

It all seems to be going wonderfully well for Twitters Beloved Great Leader Elon Musk, Within the space of a few weeks he has made Twitter a safe space for far right loons and conspiracy theorists, and shut down any dissenting voices. #twitter #elonmusk #mastodon

BBC News - Twitter threatened with EU sanctions over journalists' ban
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63996061

Elon has gone on damage control banning journalists. Any and everything related to me is banned. So much for free speech.