What the eff is gemini?

 

I've been talking about gemini a bunch today, but I haven't really explained, and there are a bunch of new people here who've never seen this stuff before, so let me explain.

 

(If you're reading this post on Gemini, this probably isn't for you. I'm posting it here because here is where I will post things moving forward. Feel free to yell at me.)

 

Gemini is an attempt to reimagine a world wide web that is smaller (the the smallpunk/small things manifesto sense), that is able to be understood, that cannot spy on you, that is human centric. It's a protocol (that is, a way for software to talk to other software), and a network (that is, a bunch of computers), and a hypermedia web (you know, a collection of files that link to one another, like the internet that you're used to), all of which are designed to be small, simple, and easy to understand.

 

Lots of other people have explained this better than I will:

 

Gemini on Wikipedia

An interview with Solderpunk about the inspiration and the creation of Gemini!

Official Gemini FAQ

 

So what's the big deal?

 

The big deal is that the modern internet sucks. It started as something to share knowledge, and quickly became a platform for survielance and exploitation. Gemini was designed with the knowledge of how the promise of the web was stolen from us, and designed to be something apart from that, and immune to the ways the first web failed. It isn't a replacement for the modern web, it's just a small weird corner where we can make things and tell stories and find a community.

 

It is playful. Embrace it.

 

Small Things

 

I've written at length about why we need to reject things that were designed to extract profit at the expense of all us. I called this idea The Small Things Manifesto. Other folks have been calling it smallpunk.

 

The Small Things Manifesto

 

Gemini is the web reimagined through the lens of human scale anticapitalism.

 

Great, how do I join in?

 

Well, that part is kind of complicated. I use a browser called LaGrange. I'm using a server called GemServ. On mobile, I use Buran.

 

I'm working on a guide to reading and writing on gemini for non-technical users, but that will come at another time. Until then, take a look at Yesterweb Cities.

 

Lagrange

Gemserv

yesterclub cities

 

 

What the eff is gemini? was published on 2022-11-07