TL; DR: mostly trying to clarify and perhaps resurrect the original topic... Although I (accidentally!) caused this thread to take off in the direction of "blind community" and now "blind culture", I've mostly kept out of the ensuing discussion. However, I'd like to jump back in, if only to clarify and perhaps resurrect the original topic... Let's begin with some things that Kyle said: > Yet one more reason I am not a member of most blind communities. That "expensive technology" never should have been so expensive. Gouging at its worst. ... > ... There is a "blind community" and possibly a "blind culture" as well, but it's a fabrication of governments and marketing firms, not a real community that has grown organically. I certainly agree that many blind-related products are hideously expensive, making them unaffordable by most individuals. So, they are often purchased (if at all) by organizations: employers, government agencies, non-profits, etc. The reasons for the high prices are varied, including small markets, IP protections, and excessive profits. Kickbacks (etc) may also be part of the process. This isn't limited to blind-related products, of course. For example, many medical products have similar issues. There are a couple of promising ways to get around this situation, if one is trying to produce economical products for the blind. One approach involves Open Source development: this tends to dance around the IP protections, given that there's nobody around worth taking to court. Another tactic is based on producing items that are of interest to both sighted and visually handicapped people. This expands the potential market and can thus amortize development costs over larger product runs. I'd also agree that governments and marketing firms have had a role in promoting the notions of "blind community" and perhaps "blind culture". Various non-profits have also played a big part in this. In many cases, their motivations are well intentioned; in others, not so much... However, this isn't the whole story. To pick just one example, this mailing list (like several others that I know about) wasn't fabricated by governments or marketing firms. Rather, it's a "real community that has grown organically". So, this brings me back to my original question: > I wonder what Twitter alternatives (could) exist for blind users. Obviously, there are mailing lists (such as this one :-), but these mostly appear to be quite specialized, eg: > > babamm@xxxxxxxxx > blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > raspberry-vi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > seeingwithsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > However, I'm wondering if there might be any Fediverse sites or forums that might serve a more general audience. Comments, clues, suggestions? The Good News about this specialization is that it tends to keep the discussions focused. Although "Linux for blind general discussion" can (and does!) wander off into various topics, the participants are mostly blind Linux users. So, for example, the list isn't going to be appealing (or even particularly relevant) to most iOS, macOS, or Windows users. The Bad News, however, is that a given topic might cross OS (or other) boundaries. The current thread is a good example: there's nothing particularly Linux-specific about my original post, let alone the ensuing discussion. So, I wonder whether there should be a place for wide-ranging discussions of blind-related topics. This could be a Fediverse site, an online forum, or even a wiki of some sort. Obviously, there are problems that emerge when you start trying to create a large online community. Clay Shirky has spoken and written quite a bit about this; in particular, I'd recommend reading "A Group is Its Own Worst Enemy" (https://gwern.net/docs/technology/2005-shirky-agroupisitsownworstenemy.pdf). That said, there are numerous examples of successful large-scale online communities. For example, I regularly browse Hacker News, look things up in Wikipedia, skim occasional Facebook groups, etc. So, I (still) wonder if it might be useful to have a broader channel for discussion of blind-related issues. And if so, what form should it take? Comments, clues, suggestions? - Rich Morin _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list