Sam Liebeskind

The goal shouldn’t be to recreate offline governance, online, after a period of trial-and-error. Internet-native organizations can’t and shouldn’t operate like geographic governments because they don’t face the same constraints. Once online governance models evolve past a certain point, they should be both different from and superior to offline... See more

I’ve taken to accepting that I’m messing up all kinds of things, and mainly just try to have fun with my little friend. To the extent that I have a strategy, it’s basically:

Spend lots of (phone-free) time with her

Show her that the world is a fun and fascinating place

Encourage her to reason from first principles

Don’t interrupt her when she’s focused... See more

Sometimes it can feel like the online spaces you spend time in are working against you, pushing you toward things that their owners value instead of what you value—and harnessing your energy to fuel the very things you hate. Like me, you probably know the feeling of spending too much time gorging on digital junk food, wasting precious moments of... See more

The pattern is the same for X and for Threads and for everywhere, because the incentive is the same everywhere. A platform that has accumulated an audience has a choice: let brands reach that audience for free, or charge them for the privilege. No publicly traded company will choose the first option indefinitely, because the second option is where... See more

Local journalism, no matter what form it’s in, truly does contribute to the fabric of a community. You’re not going to find too many large market sources of news reporting on your local city council or the high school basketball scores. Things like that might sound silly to a lot of people but truly are important to small communities... Keeps us... See more

"Social bonds were reinforced during disasters, and that people overwhelmingly devoted their energies toward the good of the community rather than just themselves" (p.52) - sarajevo war example, post 9/11, trapped miners examples..."Disasters create a community of sufferers that allows individuals to experience an immensely reassuring connecting to

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At the same time, local journalism is not always a pure civic good. It has historically excluded, demonized, and marginalized communities of color, poorer neighborhoods, and immigrant populations (Bedingfield and Forde, 2021). Local media often chases subscribers in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods while applying “if it bleeds it leads” logic in its... See more