"The Role of Open Source Attention and Housing Crisis in Shaping Collective Sensemaking"

"The Role of Open Source Attention and Housing Crisis in Shaping Collective Sensemaking"

Introduction:
In today's platform-centric digital landscape, user annotations are locked across data siloes, limiting their potential for collective sensemaking. Inspired by the principles of decentralization and open source software movements, Open Source Attention (OSA) presents a socio-technical framework aimed at freeing human attention from platform control. By creating a decentralized ecosystem for stigmergic markers, OSA empowers maker-centric communities to engage in collective sensemaking.

Understanding Stigmergic Communication:
Stigmergic communication is a concept where the environment acts as a distributed memory, with modifications left by others serving as cybernetic feedback. There are two types of modifications: sematectonic stigmergy, which directly alters the environment state, and stigmergic markers, which serve as signaling cues without directly modifying content. Stigmergic markers, such as likes, annotations, and hyperlinking of text, are valuable indicators of epistemic value in the quest for collective sensemaking.

Moving from Exploitation to Empowerment:
OSA aims to transform the current attention economy by shifting from the exploitation of attention to supporting users' intentions. Similar to the open source software movement, OSA seeks to "free" stigmergic markers, starting from basic hypertext primitives like emotional valence, bi-directional links, span highlighting, semantic categorization, and textual annotation. By creating interoperable protocols and storage for stigmergic primitives, OSA allows data from diverse personal knowledge management (PKM) apps to contribute to collective sensemaking efforts.

Challenges and Opportunities:
One of the key challenges for OSA is competing with massive, well-established platforms in the quest for global-scale sensemaking. However, by following the "protocols, not platforms" approach, OSA can bootstrap existing PKM growth for collective knowledge management (CKM). This approach enables the sharing of data across diverse PKM apps, fostering collaboration in sensemaking efforts.

Connecting to the Housing Crisis:
The housing crisis in cities like San Francisco is a result of various factors, including height limits, rent control, and a formidable permitting process. These regulations stem from tenant, environmental, and preservationist movements that have shaped the urban landscape over decades. As young adults and affluent retirees move into urban cores, immigrants and the less affluent are pushed out. The concept of lifetime employment has also faded, with job security now relying on weak ties within a network of companies.

The Role of Social Density:
The rise of social networking and the migration of tech workers to cities have transformed both the culture of San Francisco and the technology industry. Consumer web and mobile products thrive on social density, with critical mass in analog spaces acting as a seed for digital success. San Francisco's progressivism prioritizes protection of the environment, architectural heritage, neighborhoods, diversity, and overall quality of life. However, this has led to a lack of affordable housing, with building permits being discretionary rather than as-of-right.

Actionable Advice:

1. Foster Collaboration: Embrace interoperable protocols and storage for stigmergic markers, enabling collaboration across diverse PKM apps and fostering collective sensemaking efforts.
2. Advocate for Elastic Housing Supply: Push for more elastic housing supply in cities to make living affordable for a larger portion of the population, allowing them to find jobs and contribute to the local economy.
3. Embrace Open Source Principles: Encourage the adoption of open source principles in various domains, not just software development, to empower communities and promote collective sensemaking.

Conclusion:
Open Source Attention (OSA) presents a socio-technical framework aimed at freeing human attention from platform control and empowering maker-centric communities in collective sensemaking efforts. By incorporating open source principles and fostering collaboration, we can address challenges like the housing crisis and create a more inclusive and empowered society.