Calum Mackervoy
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calummackervoy.bsky.social
Calum Mackervoy
@calummackervoy.bsky.social
8 followers 10 following 24 posts
Freelance developer, agitate in co-operatives. Interested in the semantic web & in social technics. I like writing & making games, too. More info on https://calum.mackervoy.com/
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calummackervoy.bsky.social
"Hype studies", a conference in Barcelona which took place last year, organised by a group of researchers exploring hype as a force that acts in the world.

This slide depicts the cycle of hype.

hypestudies.org/conference
A computer monitor displaying the presentation slide titled: "what hype does". The centre of the slide is a statue of the Buddha, a hover car is photoshopped to be in the palm of his hand. Around him is the cycle of hype: 1. Uncertainty 2. Storytelling & Simplification 3. Legitimacy, Trust 4. Excitement & Fomo 5. Sense of Belonging 6. Attention, Investment 7. Acceleration, Commitment 8. Normalises Power 9. Disillusionment, Renewal 10. Uncertainty (we have returned to step 1) Each point on the cycle is connected by arrows, and each arrow has some more text which denotes some phenomena associated with each transition. 1. Uncertainty becomes simplification with exaggeration 2. Simplification becomes trust with the illusion of understanding 3. Trust becomes fomo with the myth of progress, and faith 4. Fomo becomes a sense of belonging with inclusion/exclusion and the silencing of alternatives 5. Sense of belonging becomes investment with media attention and urgency to act 6. Investment becomes commitment with the misallocation of resources and mainstream investment 7. Commitment normalises power with "unavoidable futures and desire" 8. Disillusionment and renewal is characteristed by an undermining of trust in science 9. And we return to the beginning of the cycle with "purge, loss and concentration"
February 10, 2026 at 10:13 AM
calummackervoy.bsky.social
The result is that Johnny Cash might send you to listen to Queens Of The Stone Age before Elvis Presley.

The image is from https://
music-map.com/, built on Gnoosic. It's a map of taste, I suppose.
A screenshot from the music-map site. Text is allayed on the page canvas, Johnny Cash (the search term) is in the centre. Queens of the Stone Age appears close to Johnny Cash, representing a high score. Many other artists are nearby, including the Foo Fighters, Kyuss and Fu manchu. Elvis Presely is on the map, towards the periphery where some artists like Neil Young and Ray Charles are also featured.
February 6, 2026 at 8:29 AM
calummackervoy.bsky.social
A concerning graph. Since 2020 the number of Stack Overflow questions asked has been declining rapidly, and in 2026 the count is near levels from the early 2000s.

data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflo...
The graph plots a rapid rise of Stack Overflow questions leading up to the 2010s, then a slight decline until just after 2020.
February 3, 2026 at 11:40 AM
calummackervoy.bsky.social
Tor Snowflake is a plugin which runs in your browser and helps people to circumvent censorship in countries where Tor is blocked (an increasingly common occurrence in our surveillance-obsessed world)

snowflake.torproject.org
A pink snowflake icon transfixed over a square grid, with a large purple background
January 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM
calummackervoy.bsky.social
If you're ever misled into thinking there is a lack of whimsy or variety on the web, just have a browse on Neocities: neocities.org/browse
Image is separated into two halves to emphasise the difference between: "DIY Web Revival!", which features bright colours and happy cartoon characters, contrasted with "professional moden internet" which is black-and-white and features a solitary, dejected doggo. The professional moden Internet lists our grievances with site design: 1. Approve these cookies so we can protect your data we stole 2. No gifs allowed! 3. constant autoplay sponsored ads 4. CSS used to reset elements back to flat and boring look 5. $500 million VC to make the Todo app from a tutorial 6. literally just a blank white site 7. Sorrky... your license expired 8. ISSUE #481: Docker Build UI Gem Install failed on Client NPM CI 9. Site has amazin uptime but only person to talk to is the verified M&Ms account 10. Customisation options: light, or dark DIY web revival lists: 1. Literally every inch is crammed with joy. "hi! hihi hi!!!" 2. Well defined borders help you navigate 3. Entire site is 940KB, can just be reuploaded somewhere else 4. Sparkly! 5. Guestbooks, status updates, forums 6. Thousands of friends 7. "I made this for no reason other than that it is beautiful" 8. Palatial maze for the eyes
December 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM