Robert W. Gehl
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rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Robert W. Gehl
@rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
150 followers 27 following 1.2K posts
Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, York University.

My latest book, "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle […]

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://aoir.social/@rwg, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
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rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Spotted at the Toronto Pearson airport. #friendsofdesoto will understand...
Two mannequins under a banner that says "moose knuckles"
October 13, 2025 at 1:12 AM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Because we need more #dogsofmastodon, here is Agnes.
A black and brown mutt dog lying on a grey tile floor. The dog's name is Agnes and she is the best dog ever.
October 7, 2025 at 10:27 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Hey, fedi! If you want to buy my book, you can now get the paperback version direct from Oxford and save 30%!

https://moveslowlybuildbridges.com/images/discountBill.png

#moveslowlyandbuildbridges
This is a discount flyer for my new book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges. Use the promotion code AUFLY30 at global.oup.com/academic and save 30% off the paperback version of the book.
August 22, 2025 at 2:03 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
New unboxing vid dropping soon #moveslowlyandbuildbridges
A copy of my book Move Slowly and Build Bridges, on top of a cardboard box full of other copies
August 1, 2025 at 1:14 AM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
I know these days generative AI can just pump out thousands of words, but for a human, it takes a lot more work. This is a tiny window into the process of writing a book: 15GB of data, 22K files, built up over 4 years, and probably over a million words of […]

[Original post on aoir.social]
A screenshot of a file browser showing the properties of a folder on my computer. The folder is "MastodonBook" and the total size of the folder is 15 gigabytes and 22K different files.
May 28, 2025 at 11:38 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Taking in a Pistons game in Canada
Toronto' Scotiabank Arena, home of the Raptors
April 4, 2025 at 11:14 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
I love polysemy
A page for a book called "Globalization Contained" by Hoovestal. The book is about the "global significance of the freight container." The book's website recommends "similar content" for you to consider.
April 2, 2025 at 4:05 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Ok, I really like the New Socialist article arguing that the aesthetics of generative AI is the aesthetic of the postmodern, fascist Right. The article is here: https://newsocialist.org.uk/transmissions/ai-the-new-aesthetics-of-fascism/

But do we really need a […]

[Original post on aoir.social]
A pull quote from an article in the New Socialist. The quote says, "Despite all their absurdist posturing, the right struggles to come to terms with a contradictory world that does not conform to their pre-decided categories." Under that pull quote is a red button that says "Tweet this"
March 28, 2025 at 7:13 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Buy #canadian!
A bottle of Ontario red wine. Will I like it as much as something from California? Probably not. But you know what? Fuck the USA!
March 7, 2025 at 11:22 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Umm... hey, Canadians, why don't you also look for Canadian social media instead of discussing "Buy Canadian" on Facebook?

You know, the company that won't let you read Canadian news?
A screenshot of a New York Times article on the boom in nationalism in Canada, including the observation that Canadians are discussing "buy Canada" on Facebook.
March 4, 2025 at 5:07 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Here's the chapter overview.
I should note that I wrote the title to chapter 2 ("Techlash: How to Vaporize Elon Musk") a long, long time ago. Nice to see things holding up.
The table of contents for the book Move Slowly and Build Bridges. Introduction: On Alternative Social Media 1. Critical Reverse Engineering: How Mastodon Became a Twitter Alternative 2. Techlash: How to Vaporize Elon Musk 3. The Nonstandard Standard: When ActivityPub Met Mastodon 4. Codes of Conduct 5. Rage and Joy: Playvicious, #Fediblock, the BadSpace, and the Politics of Defederation 6. Paying for It: The Fediverse’s Alternative Economies 7. To Finity and Before: Environmentalist Experiments on the Fediverse 8. Threads Conclusion: Caring for It: Putting the Ethics in Ethical Social Media Epilogue: On Godmonsters, or Looking Backward and Forward at Social Media
March 1, 2025 at 10:48 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
I have reached the copyediting phase of the book, with a proof version of the title page as a nice tease of what it will all look like!

#bookstodon
The title page of a book. The book is titled "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media." Published by Oxford University Press.
March 1, 2025 at 7:42 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Welp. Even if they lose badly to Denver, Sickos still gotta watch the Detroit Pistons.
At the center is the red white and blue Detroit Pistons logo. On either side is a man with a five-o-clock shadow and a t-shirt that says "Sickos." The man is looking through a window at the logo. He is saying "Yes... ha ha ha YES"
March 1, 2025 at 3:19 AM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Day 53 of our journey. We were worried when the confirmation request failed to arrive at dawn, but we later rejoiced when we received it at noon. Once again, the Washington Post did not fail us.
An email inbox showing a 'Confirmation required to continue' email from the Washington Post. The Post is asking me to confirm that I want to keep receiving their daily newsletters. They've been emailing daily for about a month. I have not responded one way or another... yet they just keep emailing."
February 25, 2025 at 5:41 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
more confirmation emails

bring them to me
An email inbox showing "Confirmation required to continue" emails from the Washington Post. The Post is asking me to confirm that I want to keep receiving their daily newsletters. They've been emailing daily for about a month. I have not responded one way or another... yet they just keep emailing.
February 22, 2025 at 5:13 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
they. just. keep. coming.
A screenshot of a Thunderbird email inbox, with six "Confirmation Required to continue" emails from the Washington Post, appearing once a day for 9 days.
February 15, 2025 at 7:01 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Google maps as I see it in Canada.

Stop using Google.
A screenshot of Google maps, focusing on the Gulf of Mexico, but in parentheses it says "Gulf of America." Stop using Google stuff now.
February 11, 2025 at 3:30 AM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
[uspol]

spinning it so hard I get vertigo
Fox News's homepage, with a headline story, "Canada blinks, President Trump delays tariffs on northern neighbor for at least 30 days"
February 3, 2025 at 11:32 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
A phishing scam on my fedi?

No way, y'all.

#fediblock
A account called bytebro#mastodonapp.uk sending a "Onedrive" link in a comment totally unrelated to my original post.
January 20, 2025 at 4:47 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
[uspol]

Here are the leaders of the standing committees in the US House of Representatives.

Now *that's* what I call representation!
A composite picture of all the leaders of the standing committees in the US House of Representatives. They are Agriculture: Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania Appropriations: Tom Cole of Oklahoma Armed Services: Mike Rogers of Alabama Budget: Jodey Arrington of Texas Education: Tim Wahlberg of Michigan Energy: Brett Guthrie of Kentucky Ethics: Michael Guest of Mississippi Financial Services: French Hill of Arkansas Foreign Affairs: Brian Mast of Florida Homeland Security: Mark Green of Tennessee House Administration: Bryan Steil of Wisconsin Judiciary: Jim Jordan of Ohio Natural Resources: Bruce Westerman of Arkansas Oversight and Accountability: James Comer of Kentucky Rules: Foxx Science, Space, and Technology: Brian Babin of Texas Small Business: Roger Williams of Texas Transportation and Infrastructure: Sam Graves of Missouri Veterans' Affairs: Mike Bost of Illinois Ways and Means: Jason Smith of Missouri
January 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Trying something using Regex.

Pray for Mojo.
A screenshot from The Simpsons. Mojo the Monkey is laying in a distressed state. A man holds a computer, where Mojo has typed "Pray for Mojo."
December 13, 2024 at 8:24 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
[uspol]

current mood
It's a depiction of the opening scene of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, where Gregor Samsa awakens to find himself a giant 'vermin.' Here he is depicted as a beetle, lying on its back on a bed. While the story is a sad tale of a man so consumed with propriety that his first thought is, "I'm going to be late for work!", this image has an incongruous caption: "Oh Hell Yes," it says on the top. "Oh Fuck Yes" on the bottom. I take this to mean that such a transformation for some folks would result in a sense of relief -- I *don't* have to go in to work, or participate in a callous and uncaring society. I've been thinking about this image quite a bit lately.
November 10, 2024 at 5:10 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Aggie says, "Tummyrubs are therapeutic."

#dogsofmastodon
A black and brown dog lying on a blue couch. She is yawning
November 6, 2024 at 9:33 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
A screenshot of a part of a transcript of an ad. It says, "I'm Pamela Harris and I approve this message." It also says, "This ad was transcribed using Artificial Intelligence. Please excuse any errors."
October 21, 2024 at 12:15 PM
rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Gearing up to watch Detroit Basketball.
It's the Sickos meme, where a frazzled man is looking through a window and saying "yes... ha ha ha ha yes!." He's wearing a black longsleeved shirt that says "sickos." He is watching the Detroit Pistons logo.
October 13, 2024 at 11:51 PM