Danica Swanson

@danicaswanson

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I wrote about why I think system conditions matter more than individual performance in producing quality writing, and why CLPs (conversational liquidity providers) on FC are underserved. Inspired by "Quality is Systemic," a great blog post by Jacob Kaplan-Moss, and by the members of the Return On Attention group chat. https://paragraph.xyz/@danicaswanson/quality-writing-is-systemic

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Good discussion here that's worth quote-casting. :) I've gotten in the habit of clicking back through every quoted cast to trace all the discussion-river-tributaries back to the original cast. Sometimes this takes me 4 or 5 threads back, and I've found some great discussions (and new people to follow!) that way that I probably never would've seen in my feed otherwise.

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Just stumbled upon this treasure trove of well-curated readings, videos, and course syllabi on "attention activism." Love that there's a group called Friends of Attention. One of my (unpublished) writing projects focuses on philosophy of attention, so I'm excited to dig into this list. I've been looking for something like it for a long time. One thing I didn't see on this list that I'd add is a piece on The Order of the Third Bird from The New Yorker (second link). https://friendsofattention.net/attention_trove http://newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/06/the-battle-for-attention

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My 10-week class in grant writing starts tomorrow. I plan to keep one slot open to take contract copy editing work (DC me if interested), but otherwise the class will be my top priority for the next few months as I prepare for a career transition that I hope can sustain me into my "retirement" years even in the face of AI job losses. I expect the workload to be heavy enough that there will be a drop in the time I spend on Farcaster, and no new essays from me for quite awhile. Or maybe my casts will just contain fewer words and more art, since much of my word-slinging energy will be consumed elsewhere. The more AI slop art I see, the more I want to share images from my digital collection of century-old book illustrations, architectural drawings, and other public domain art. So we'll see. In any case, if I'm slower-than-usual to respond to notifs and DCs in the coming weeks, this is why.

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Mood. "Viola: she pined in thought." by Wm. Heath Robinson, 1908

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It's a really good day for me on Farcaster when I get to read both a hifi thread from @matthewb AND a backyard-project thread from @trigs. My favorite way to learn is to just listen to smart people talk about what they enjoy, and take notes. https://warpcast.com/matthewb/0xa96ababc https://warpcast.com/trigs/0x07aa3b1d

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Time for a thank you to @wanderloots.eth for the nudge he gave me last week to check out Obsidian again. I'm using it daily now. I tried /obsidian many times before, loved it, and wanted to migrate... but my old habits were deeply ingrained. I struggled to get it integrated into my workflow. But this time it clicked for me -- for both notes and long-form writing. I successfully imported my entire Notion workspace (5+ years of work) into Obsidian in just a few clicks (as seen in Cal's video linked in the cast I quoted). Next I'll tackle exporting 13 years of my Scrivener files and importing into Obsidian. That will be a bigger project, but doable. @trigs and I also tried the Relay plugin for our collab work. Thanks again for your patience and persistence, Cal. :)

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"I might even go so far as to recommend that artists abandon web platforms (except as places to chit-chat and waste time) and instead focus on revitalizing older, IRL spaces where the weight of art has an impact." ~ @tombeck.eth I understand this view. I don't think I'd go quite that far myself, but Tom makes some great points here. I do share the frustration I'm seeing in my feed lately about the dismal prospects for those who practice art forms. It's also worth noting that one reason I spend a lot of time online is that every attempt I've made to build, join, or co-create a suitable IRL retreat space for my own art (for two decades!) has failed, for a long list of reasons. In the US, the deck is pretty heavily stacked against artists. I don't have answers. But when the chips are down, I'll always side with the artists.

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I think this depends more on the specifics of the small group than the number of members. I'd say group chats of *any* size need responsible stewardship and (human) moderation if they expect to hold people's attention over time. That's especially true if the goal is to create a space that feels safe enough for deep dives. If I were starting a small group "from scratch" and wanted a ballpark figure to start with? Maybe 15 or 20. Still, this is heavily context-dependent. Some groups would be untenable with 10; others might be manageable with 40, or even 50. A few things to consider: - How well do the members know and trust each other? - What kind of posting cadence do you expect? - Are lurkers welcome, or is there an expectation that everyone will post? - Do you plan to discuss controversial topics regularly? Et cetera.

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Been waiting eagerly for this one! My favorite frame of all. Love the bookmarking feature and the quick-find list of related patterns.

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I vote yes. Rebrand to Farcaster and drop Warpcast, for exactly the reasons mentioned here. When I talk about Farcaster with anyone who's not a crypto nerd, I only say Farcaster. Too confusing otherwise. Also, I *think* of this place as just "Farcaster."

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I think I've been frames-v2-pilled. I mean, I already like and use frames, but... something else clicked into place for me as I've been following the frame project @huugo.eth is working on for A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander. Now I can't stop thinking about project ideas using v2 frames to focus on writing-as-art-form: quotes of the day, editorial style guides, curated selections of essays or convos on a theme, etc. So many ideas, so little free time to implement them. But even if I did have time, it would be a stretch to call me a coder. I can handle basic HTML and CSS *maybe*, but I'm ill-prepared for anything else. (Yes, there's AI, but my skills are pretty basic there too). I'm also starting a grant writing class in a few days, and that will take priority until mid-June. I don't expect to have time for any new side-projects for months. What an inconvenient time to get nerd-sniped. But I can't stop thinking about frame ideas!

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Have I mentioned lately how much I appreciate these glossary terms and how clearly they're defined? 💜

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"...any good event planner knows that "good conversations" don't just happen naturally. There has to be an environment that encourages it..." Great thread here started by @trigs, who is one of the most thoughtful and skilled community-builders I've seen on FC. We're lucky to have him here doing this kind of work.

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I'm stewarding a Farcaster-native think tank + conversation hub to explore creator funding issues from a systems perspective.

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🎯 I'm reminded of "The Hacker Milieu as Gift Culture," "The Hacker Ethic," and other writings from open-source culture that make a case for funding creative work in ways that decouple financial incentives from performance. Especially for trusted devs, creators, CLPs, etc., in the Farconomy whose previous work is already known in the ecosystem and respected for its quality, I think this makes a great deal of sense. Let them choose their new projects out of intrinsic motivation, and just send them crypto at a level that covers their basic needs so they can focus their full attention on the work. That's it. No performance metrics, no grant applications, no strings attached. https://warpcast.com/dwr.eth/0xb82b1c23

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"What I have forgotten as a writer is less about how to write and more about how to slow down and digest and edit and add and let it all percolate before hitting publish." ~ Kathryn Vercillo

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Mood. (Art: "Old Woman Dwells" by Arthur Rackham)

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This example reminds me of why I appreciate the @paragraph feature that automatically pulls in the comments made on Farcaster. New readers who discover an older Paragraph post can read the old comment threads, click through to casts made more than a year ago, and (ideally) help spark further interest in the work.

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Every once in awhile I discover a new-to-me piece of dark ambient-drone music with a low-frequency bass element that entrances me enough that I put it on repeat for hours. Here's the latest. Listening to this makes me grateful for my subwoofer. Still wish I lived in a space where I could set up a vibroacoustic lounge with tactile transducers, though. Hopefully someday... https://slitheringblackrecords.bandcamp.com/track/death-on-cassette-lake-of-rancid-dreams

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