There's a social reading platform called @bookwyrm which is an alternative to Amazon's Goodreads. BookWyrm is part of the Fediverse, and BookWyrm accounts can be followed from Mastodon etc. You can find out more at:
They are currently trying to get BookWyrm translated into more languages, so that more readers can use it. If you speak a language other than English, you can help translate at:
I would like to endorse other minor web apps in the #Fediverse, but most of them are full of UI glitches, are incomplete and downright buggy looking odd things.
From my designer point of view #Mastodon and #Pixelfed are the only effective ones, because they speak to people who are used to proper visual design language (read: Non-nerds, non-engineers, the regular people and design oriented people).
Things like #BookWyrm, #Lemmy, #Friendica and newer niche apps cause reactions like: "What is this?", they look like back end is fine but nobody is in charge of the design and the UI has no direction whatsoever. It's the general culprit in the programming world: A back end developer thinks everything is fine when we add a CSS framework and that's that.
If we just get the UI right everywhere, we get more people to the #Fediverse. I just wish there was more #CSS/design people willing to contribute. #UI#UIDesign
Bookwyrm might be a good place to collect all kinds of academic reviews in an open space aka the #Fediverse. One could even automate things, or invite for review texts through Mastodon or email (with a Python script translating the different categories). Maybe the academic instance would need a slightly different design, without ratings, and cover images being less prominent. Yet there's potential.
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Social bookmarking is a novel use case for #ActivityPub and I’m super excited about it. I heckin’ love links and lists! I wanna use them for everything.
Things like #Bookwyrm are cool, but it’s not what I want. I just wanna link the thing. Books, films, podcasts, articles, songs.., they’re all just resource recommendations which can be encapsulated by links.
Thanks to @raffomania and @eb for the indirect prompts leading to this article mixing their ideas with my own.
I'm always looking for new and innovative wasy to excuse my book hoarding.
I hadn't realised I could use the 'I'll die someday so nothing matters' angle...😜😂
It's great to see so many new people joining various services.
Let's talk about some terminology to help you -- don't worry, we will keep it simple.
The #fediverse is a word used a lot. Basically, it is a way for lots of social servers to talk to each other and share posts. Like email, we are all on different email servers, but they all communicate.
When you join the fediverse, you pick a server to join. Some servers cater for niche topics. Don't worry, they still talk with the fediverse, but it means your server has people with the same interests as you. Other servers are more general.
There are various server types. Here are a few examples:
#Mastodon -- very popular; similar to Twitter. You can post messages, attach images, reply, like, share (called boosting)
#Calckey -- similar to Mastodon, but has some extra features (example, text formatting)
#Akkoma and #Misskey are also similar to Twitter but more niche
#Pixelfed is a phenomenal alternative to #Instagram. You will feel very at home there.
Importantly, all these servers talk to each other. So, if you are using Mastodon you can follow someone on Pixelfed and Lemmy and Calckey, all from your one account -- and interact with them too. How great is that?
There are NO computer algorithms in the fediverse to force content on to you. You only see posts from people you follow. So follow lots of people; you can unfollow later.
Do an #introduction post to let people know about you. Use the hashtag '#introduction' to allow others to browse collective posts and maybe follow you.
You will see I have used the # a lot here. Hashtags help others find similar posts. Use them for key topics in your post.
Don't be afraid to ask for help if you are not sure.
1/ One part of the #Fediverse which I think is still criminally underutilized is #BookWyrm . I, too, created an account months ago, only to ignore it for a long time. But now I'm finally making strides in indexing my library, and I want to share what I have learned about making this process as smoothly as possible.
First, of course, you will need your own BookWyrm account - the following website can help you with choosing an appropriate instance (as with Mastodon and other Fediverse platforms, there are multiple instances to choose from).
If I'm peeking into an #ActivityPub instance, show me its preferred UI form.
..on mastodon.social, show me the #Mastodon
UI.
..on calckey.social, show me the #Calckey UI
..on bookwyrm.social, show me the #Bookwyrm UI.
..on mitra.social, show me the #Mitra UI.
..on pixelfed.social, show me the #Pixelfed UI.
(..on bluesky.social, show me the #Bluesky UI.)
Argh, putting completely aside the “owned by Amazon” problem, Goodreads these days is just miserable software—slow, clunky UX, just ate a book review.
So… is #bookwyrm shaping up? Are there other alternatives? Ideally needs “would like to read” that is fast and easy to add to, and sharing out of reviews. Bonus for “read X books a year” goal.
🌟 Explore BookWyrm: A Decentralized Social Network for Readers! 📚 Join the preview of https://SFBA.club, our Bay Area-focused community. Share reviews, connect over local authors, and help shape a space where bibliophiles unite in their love for reading. #BookWyrm#SFBAclub#PreviewLaunch#BayAreaReads
Join Bookwyrm - The Federated Library Thing for book lovers (joinbookwyrm.com)
To all #readers and lovers of #books (and here there is a sea!) I point out the federated...