From ActivityPub to Open Web Ideas

BobWP:
Well, we are here for a second time, within probably a week or so, introducing another new host to the Do the Woo team. And this one actually came by a different way of just, oh, let’s have you plug into one of the shows. Matthias, who is the founder of the Activity Pub Plugin, has been doing some work on Do the Woo—some excellent work. We had him on, he did a guest post on how to get on the Fediverse and various things. And the more I thought about it, people know that if they spend too much time with me, I’m probably going to end up asking them to be a host or something.

And so what we decided to do is we’re starting a whole new show, which is this show called Open Web Conversations, and we’ll be moving Dave Locke’s show, Emerging Tech, into this show instead because it really fits more of what he’s been talking about and who he’s talking to. And then I thought, well, wouldn’t it be really cool once a month to have a show around the Fediverse, really exploring not only the WordPress-y stuff but outside, because I think that will give people a better grasp of what the Fediverse really is than just being in the WordPress bubble. So I’m going to welcome Matthias.

Matthias:
Thanks a lot, and I’m very excited.

BobWP:
Yeah, this is going to be good. And I’ll probably actually learn a lot too, which will be even greater.

Matthias:
And the funny thing is that my first podcasting experience, I think back in 2007, was a podcast called The Open Web Podcast.

BobWP:
So…

Matthias:
That brings everything together—really perfect.

BobWP:
Full circle. That’s what, yeah, it always happens. Before, I just wanted you to talk a little bit about what you foresee the show being, but before we do that, for the people that don’t know you, why don’t you give a little bit of background on what you’ve done and what you are doing right now around the Open Web?

Matthias:
So I’ll try to start at the beginning and keep it short anyway. So I fell in love with the internet in the late nineties and was so impressed with what you could do—that you would be able to host your own little island on the internet and talk about whatever you want and share whatever you want. That was even more true during the Web 2.0 phase. So I stumbled upon b2, the predecessor of WordPress, and this was an amazing, simple little PHP tool that allowed you to write and share your thoughts with the internet. During the shift to the social networks, I tried to find ways to keep blogging relevant. And that’s where WordPress comes together with all of my Fediverse, Indie Web, and Open Web work. I tried different protocols or ideas and combined them with WordPress to have the best of both worlds: to have all these social interactions you have with social media while still being able to host your own little island on the internet. That was my intention with all of that. And luckily, Automattic saw the potential in Activity Hubs, so I can do that full-time now.

BobWP:
Yeah, very cool. Well, I’m excited for it too. I think there are a lot of people who will appreciate, like I said, not only learning how it works within WordPress but also the bigger picture. So give me an idea—we’re kind of doing a short little podcast here to introduce you—but what you foresee with the show you’ll be doing once a month, kind of more of a general synopsis of what you hope to do and who you might hope to talk to, the kinds of people.

Matthias:
So as you said, I think it would make no sense to limit it to only WordPress because that is still a very small community. But in the best case, you can always make the connection to WordPress because it’s federated, it’s open. So I would love to at least invite everyone who is working on WordPress and the broader Fediverse or Indie Web ideas to talk with them about their experience so far. Maybe to share some difficulties you face when trying to bring a content management system to a broader social network. And I would also love to discuss the general ideas with folks who are actively working on that. So it’s not only about Activity Pub and Mastodon—there are a lot of other social networks like BlueSky and Nostr, for example. So I would love to hear different opinions on the different social networks and where the pros are, where you should be, what you could ignore—something like that.

BobWP:
Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s going to be cool. And we’ve said it several times—I think that we’ve done this with a couple of other shows, trying to reach outside of WordPress, and it usually always ties into WordPress somewhere. And Dave’s show is exactly that. He’s talking about AI and crypto and all these different things, and it always wraps back into it in one way or another. But yeah, I feel really strong about our listeners starting to hear things outside the bubble that are still relevant and connect with WordPress in one way or another. I’m going to save up all the good stuff for this monthly show. In the meantime, where’s one or two of the best places to reach out to you or actually connect?

Matthias:
I would say my blog, but it is in German, so maybe it’s better to find me on Mastodon.social because I’m posting mostly in English there. So it’s my last name on Mastodon.social.

BobWP:
Alrighty. Well, and your last name—I always try to sneak…

Matthias:
Yeah, try to…

BobWP:
…pronounce it, not say that because I know I’m going to bumble over it. So say it nice and clearly so I can remember it.

Matthias:
Okay, it’s Pfefferle.

BobWP:
Okay, I’m going to cut out this little segment and put it somewhere as audio so I always remember that. And then play it anytime I have to say it. Yeah. Or I could just, when I say your name, I could just have you say the last part.

Matthias:
Yeah, you need a buzzer where you can simply push a button.

BobWP:
Yeah. Yeah. Now you got an idea for me here. Anyway, well, great. Welcome to the team. And I’m looking forward to it every month. We will hopefully have the very first show in January.

Matthias:
Yeah, I hope so too. And thanks a lot for the idea and the invitation and your interest in the Fediverse. That’s awesome.

BobWP:
Yeah. Yeah. You got me more intrigued as you did things on the side. I’ve always been on the edge, and I thought, I’ve got to get into this more. And I think it’s an important piece that a lot of people should be aware of and maybe hopefully get into more themselves. So thank you very much.

Matthias:
Thank you.