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New: A Conceptual Model of ATProto and ActivityPub

You might want to know a little bit more about how #Bluesky and #atproto works, without needing to know all the technical details. This is a high level overview of how to think about how atproto works, and how it differs from #ActivityPub.

It is also a reflection on the concepts of decentralisation and federation, and what they bring to both the #fediverse and the #atmosphere

Read at: fediversereport.com/a-conceptu…

One of the main subjects of discussion recently has been whether Bluesky is decentralised and if it is federated. I think answering these questions requires a clarity on how ATProto differs conceptually from ActivityPub. Decentralisation and federation are valued for how they impact power structures, but there are multiple ways to build other power structures in open social networks. A bit of the summary at the top, since that might help during reading: The conceptual model of ActivityPub resembles that of email: independent servers sending messages to each other. The conceptual model of ATProto resembles that of the web: independent sites publish data, and indexers aggregate this data into different views and apps.

A conceptual model of ATProto and ActivityPub

If you were to design an open social networking protocol, what would that look like? Which metaphors and comparisons would you use to get a general idea of how the network functions? And what would you answer if people ask if your network is decentra…
fediversereport.com
#activitypub #fediverse #bluesky #atmosphere #atproto
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