without the big FB
—> This is more of an outline/notes than anything right now.
–> separate post on why you shouldn’t rely on FB for connecting to humans
handy links: set up a free WordPress site; Slack; Free CMS hosting; paid CMS hosting; free versions of well-known CMSs?)
Other alternatives discussed: Reddit, Discord, Google Docs, Twitch, Google classrooms
Not discussed: “social media” alternatives to FB (e.g. Diaspora)
what this post covers (turn into sentences, parallel/good list, etc.)
- why connect with classmates outside class?
- what specific tasks or connection functions do we want?
- what functions are best accomplished without technology?
- what technology supports the other functions?
- people over tech
- reasons why not FB – excludes lots of people: numbers, people who think differently or who are explorer/non-traditional types, demographics of interest to artists; of course many ethical, political, and psychological health reasons covered extensively elsewhere.
- why use FB – easy, maybe you love FB and really only want to work with FB people, there are probably some people who only use FB and they might even be nice. You can certainly do something else in addition to a FB post.
- Not “FB replacements”, but real systems designed to specialize in one area. FB is trying to do everything – do you really think that’s ever going to go well
- What if you’re more serious than your classmates?
- What if you’re less serious than your classmates?
[research to-do list: these will turn into content/summaries, maybe annotated links
The 10 Best Facebook Group Alternatives Your Members Will Love
Facebook alternatives 2021 – social networks that won’t sell your data (not sure ‘social’ part is primary here; this article may not be very relevant)
12 Best Google Docs Alternatives – started looking into collaboration tools; Google Docs isn’t my focus here, this may be a totally different topic/article. Included because I want to read it, and also because it’s possible there’s something better for collaboration OR because a single collectively-editable document might be an interesting alternative OR because it might be possible to make a one-page document into a publicly shareable/linkable announcement
]
people over tech
- people won’t just show up (except for prestige/professional rep reason) unless a) you have a brilliant plan, or, better, you have even a _trivial_ personal connection with them. One small convo. Water cooler effect.
- Many people come to improv and other groups because they want a fuller life, connection with others, creative exploration – and they know they need to meet and talk to others. They are interested! They just need to get a positive feeling from you.
The alternatives
[for each – penetration, classification, functions of interest]
Set up a free WordPress site at WordPress.org
[link to my freebie at hyla561367931.wordpress.com/] [can you set up a site through a phone]
They also offer professional hosting at WordPress.com – one can set up a site for free then migrate to a paid option.
[are there free trials at established WP hosts: Bluehost (no), DreamHost, SiteGround – these three are recommended by WordPress.
My own site (here) is WordPress with the Unos Publisher theme, hosted on a shared hosting plan through Pair.com. The main drawback of this system is that I occasionally need to update my WordPress installation for security fixes, and there’s a risk that I’ll need to update the theme (Unos Publisher) and its dependencies. A “managed” WordPress account — other people being in charge of the WordPress updates — would help some with this, but at least some companies won’t keep the theme updated, and there’s always a chance that their update will not work with my non-updated theme, so I couldn’t just set-and-forget it.
Users share content which can be up-voted or down-voted.
The website is divided into many many sub-forums, called Subreddits. Doesn’t have features like friending. Users do not have to join using their real names and adding an email address is optional.