Writings and rehearsals by Nathan Schneider

Category: Posts

  • Clearing my desk: On using screens intentionally

    Clearing my desk: On using screens intentionally

    What follows are some notes about how I use screens, which I am bothering to write because I increasingly notice how my habits diverge from those of people around me. I have not bothered to validate the effectiveness of these practices in any statistical or otherwise scientific way. But people do frequently ask about my…

  • What would happen if we won?

    What would happen if we won?

    We don’t ask this question nearly enough. Part of a plea (at Princeton last week) for designing online governance for an internet full of #GovernableSpaces. Thanks for the photo by Liz Barry.

  • “Coterminous with geopolitics”

    “Coterminous with geopolitics”

    The politics of our online spaces have become coterminous with geopolitics. After Donald Trump left the presidency, he did the obvious next thing: he became a sysadmin. Get the whole book, free and open access: https://ntnsndr.in/govbook

  • Reddit and lost causes

    As Reddit goes public, remember that so much of its success comes from the extent to which it enabled #GovernableSpaces among its users. Why another IPO and not an #exittocommunity? See the library of examples at https://e2c.how/library

  • “If words wept, this screen would be leaking.

    “If words wept, this screen would be leaking.” My colleague Nabil Echchaibi on Gaza and the unspeakable in Social Text: https://socialtextjournal.org/periscope_article/this-is-a-scream-and-i-dare-you-to-publish-it/

  • Social media elimination fantasies

    It is striking that a plurality of my students’ homework this week involves fantasies of abruptly ending social media. The assignment was to plot a world takeover.

  • Snow fort

    Snow fort

    Take this, NIMBYs.

  • Assumptions in code

    Assumptions in code

    When you try to write code that breaks prevailing assumptions, you realize just how deeply embedded those assumptions are. Here’s a bit from #GovernableSpaces on one of my attempts to code my way out of “implicit feudalism.” Get the book: ntnsndr.in/govbook

  • “What if democracy is not what we are after but the path to something else?”

    “What if democracy is not what we are after but the path to something else?”

    Zizi Papacharissi in #GovernableSpaces. Read it now: https://nathanschneider.info/govbook/

  • Governable Spaces on KGNU radio

    Governable Spaces on KGNU radio

    “Democracy is in crisis – and what is missing from the conversation is the crisis of democracy of everyday life online.” I’m proud as always to be featured on KGNU, Boulder’s community radio station: https://kgnu.org/shows/connections/03-08-2024