Note: If you came here for all my links, get them on axbom.com/find. To get in touch with me, use my email address: per@axbom.se.
Hello,
It's nice to see you here. In case we haven't met, my name is Per and I live in Sweden. My upbringing is a bit choppy and I'd moved house more than twenty times by the age of 21. And lived on three continents.
Today my family-life in a small house on the countryside is more calm and settled, allowing me time to reflect on my ongoing contributions in the world of digital development.
I've been working with computers and digital services for several decades now. Since the late 1990s I have been writing and sharing a great deal of my content and learnings for free online.
Sharing, collaborating and growing in an open, online environment is a strong passion of mine. But the current private strongholds of the world wide web make it hard to be independent and control your own content. They also make it hard to work in a way that is inclusive, equitable and attentive to human wellbeing
I want to stay true to my values and beliefs. For this reason I am avoiding digital communication platforms that use algorithms to control what I see and pay attention to. In my work and research I have seen how much harm they contribute to, how they exploit content that others create, and how they exclude people who are already discriminated.
My ability to refuse the platforms is a privilege. But it would also be very easy to stay. Avoiding them, or leaving them altogether, is a clear removal of my endorsement. Staying would suggest I still believe they are necessary for participation in online discourse. I don't.
My content is much more open and available than it would be on a private platform behind a login. But ironically, the way the web works today, this can make it harder to find. My hope is that you will still find interest in my writing and teachings. This is why I'm sharing how to read and subscribe to the things I produce.
If you simply want to read as I publish new articles, talks and guides, these are the two blogs I publish on:
There is at least one new article per month on each publication, and I strive to publish more often. Not all articles are written in both languages, but I am always keen to hear when anyone would appreciate translation. While I write mostly about digital ethics and human rights in the online space, some articles will be more personal or philosophical.
Visiting a website to see if there is something new can appear impractical. This issue was solved many years ago with something called an RSS feed. It allows you to subscribe to new content from many blogs and news sites and be updated when something new is published. You can then read them all in one place. Some people use an RSS reader for this. Feedreader Online is an example of one such tool for reading RSS feeds. It is free to use.
I've been running a newsletter on and off for more than a decade. A new issue is sent out once a month. The structure is usually the same: First a personal introduction where I comment on current affairs, followed by a large selection of links to articles and news related to digital ethics and online human rights.
The current incarnation of the newsletter is called The Edge of Digital Ethics.
Note: If I have published a new article, those links will be included as well. This means that the newsletter is one additional way of staying up-to-date with my blogs. Also, I have a Swedish newsletter as well.
I formally regard all of my interactions online as social media, the blogs and newsletter included. The world wide web is social by nature if you let it be. The term "social media" may however bring more to mind a space where you follow each other and write shorter posts for others to like and share.
The social space where you will find me being more active and present is Mastodon. This is really many different online hangouts, with the winning feature of letting all the hangouts talk to each other through a standardised and open connection. My personal Mastodon space is tiny, but you can join spaces like mastodon.technology, fosstodon.org, mastodon.design, freeradical.zone or mastodon.se (Swedish) and still follow me and anyone else on Mastodon hangouts across the world.
If you're not yet on Mastodon and are curious to learn more, I've written A Brief Mastodon Guide for Social Media Worriers. Everything on Mastodon is chronological, and there are no ads or algorithms.
I have recently started experimenting with the concept of monthly supporters. People have asked me over the years how they can support my work. The more of an activist I become within digital ethics, the more I feel this could help me help others even more.
With a certain level of support I can spend more time producing content that is useful for promoting safety on the web through improved privacy, integrity and control. And teach design that is attentive to wellbeing.
I've set up the supporter tier so that supporters can contribute any amount that works for them. The idea is still to keep publishing my content as broadly and freely available as possible. I am thankful just for your consideration.
What are your thoughts upon reading this? I'm always curious. Even if I get a lot of email and am not always able to answer promptly, I always read what you write.
Also, thank you for reading. Your time is valuable and it means a lot to me that you gave me some of yours.
Take care,
Per Axbom