Long term technologies, waiting in the background
By @edent
· technology · 12 comments · 400 words · read ~372 times.
Once in a while, there is a disaster. Phone lines go out, the Internet breaks down, and mobiles don't work0. Then the Ham Radio Operators save the day.
Amateur radio is one of those things I'm only vaguely aware of. It chugs along in the background unnoticed. It doesn't follow the fashion of today's industry, nor does it chase growth at all costs. It is an open standard, run by a decentralised group of people rather than a corporation, and it favours relentless practicality rather than KPIs.
I love technologies like this.
The recent stratospheric rise in popularity of the QR Code is a example of where these long-term technologies work well.
I've been banging on about QR codes for over a decade - while marketers sneered and tech companies tried to usurp, QR codes kept chugging away in the background. When the pandemic hit, and people needed a way to scan in to venues or present a vaccine certificate, QR codes were ready. They were an open standard, completely decentralised, relentlessly practical, and battle tested. They were rolled out in a variety of situations.
Every contender who has come at them with a proprietary barcode has failed. And because people have had a chance to get used to QR codes, they're not seen as weird any more.
They are boring magic. Decentralised and free.
The Fediverse is similar. It powers Mastodon and other social networks. At the moment, proprietary networks like Twitter are dying and new networks like BlueSky are in their ascendency. But BSky will eventually get bought out by cryptoloons, or will shit the bed in some other spectacular fashion.
The Fediverse will have been rumbling on the the background. Slowly gathering momentum. Waiting for an implosion or emergency.
There are various other technologies like this. Built in to the fabric of online society, quietly ploughing their own furrow, increasing resilience, despite being unfashionable.
What technologies do you think are waiting to be rediscovered in times of change?
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Sounds like fun! ↩︎
Ian Oliver says:
I am personally hoping that RSS begins to be widely adopted, used and consumed again. It avoids so many of the pitfalls of social media - tracking, non-privacy, algorithms/reccommended content/endless scroll. The Fediverse does address many of these things, of course, but RSS is still different, and for some things, better.
Being able to mark items as 'read' is great, and completing your unread items avoids the feeling of an endless river of content that you dip in and out of. Reading via RSS is more like subscribing to podcasts (apart from the obvious technology overlap) - you can 'pause' where you want, then pick up where you left off. You can see exactly where you are (number of unread items), linger on the things you want to read, and skip/mark as read the ones you don't. I've been reading content via RSS for around 20 years and I see no reason to stop, probably less so these days. It's a beautiful experience.
All the while being entirely open, free, standards-based, interoperable, and we had it first.
As I understand things, there is still a huge, unseen 'underbelly' of the web that uses and relies on RSS. But I would love for it to come back into the public consciousness and limelight like it was never able to achieve in the past.
Keith Nasman says:
I think LoRA is right up there. $50 or less devices to communicate a few miles. Match that up with mesh networking and encryption and you've got your decentralized emergency communication. Check out https://www.lilygo.cc or https://heltec.org for some units.
@blog not exactly a technology, but in line with the theme decentralization, I think #cooperatives could come back in a big way.
Alex White says:
RSS. The forgotten hero of the web. Decentralised, open. Browsers shamefully abandoned it, but others have stepped in with standalone clients.
I can follow people and catch up without missing their thoughts. I don’t see ads etc unless I choose too by visiting the sites directly. I can see what I’ve read and what I haven’t.
RSS is probably my favourite thing about the web
I once sat in on the Exeter HAM Saturday radio club and it was such joy
Tales of Brittany Ferry cancellations, someone's bats in a barn they were trying to convert, and a story about a tree
Loved the rules of it all
@Edent You're sick of hearing me say it, but 'traditional' (DVB) broadcasting (either via terrestrial, cable or satellite), and copper phone lines.
@skylar @Edent I'll add AM/FM radio to that! I find it so cool that you can get a radio from decades back and it'll work immediately.
@Edent I wouldn't trust a bunch of Amateur Radio operators to deal with an emergency, they'd be too busy arguing with themselves who's doing what, how to do it and complaining about medical problems intertwined with casual racism.
Source: I am one.
@Edent I don't think open-ness of protocol is enough. It also has to be easy to integrate with. E.g. XMPP was too fussy and abstract.
@Edent someone else mentioned LoRA… it currently has a lack of penetration but it’s the type of thing that could be *huge* if picked up by a major phone manufacturer. They’re all distracted by shiny “messages through space” tech right now but mesh-capable phones would be something else entirely.
Become a radio ham for fun and company. Set up a few LORA nodes. Get a basic understanding of APRS / packet switches. Host a Bulletin Board. Get practice with nets and handling group calls on Simplex. Hope no apocalypse makes those skills useful!
You could get your M7 (foundation license) with your eyes closed. Or at least after checking out a couple of mock papers. It’s multiple choice, if you don’t pass I’ll pay the examination fee for you (£35) and your call sign will be for life 😉 …G5DOC
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