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Hey scientists!

How do you go about building and sustaining networks these days? In particular, I'm interested in how to build functional interdisciplinary working groups, across institutions.

Seems like the best place at the moment is LinkedIn, but it seems like it's just about ripe for enshittification (similarly with BlueSky).

Mastodon doesn't really have the tools (e.g. groups). Slack and other things are also walled gardens. Matrix might be cool, but I suspect it's going to be a struggle to get people on to it..

E-lists are a potential option, but they get messy above a certain point, and the moderation tools are weak. And also just .. ew.

Any other suggestions?

The terrible circumstances around the deaths of Betsy Harakawa and her husband Gene Hackman is a sad reminder of the difficulty of being a caretaker and the risk of being isolated.

The fact that she died on February 11 and that no one noticed anything or checked up on them until February 26 is the most shocking thing to me.

Social isolation is a real issue that can have dire consequences.

latimes.com/world-nation/story

FILE - Actor Gene Hackman arrives with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, for the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
Los Angeles Times · His wife dead, an ailing Gene Hackman found himself alone in house for days, authorities believeBy Nathan Solis

So how do you put "social" back in
"social network"?

Well, you develop the social features more...instead of making a follow just the click of a button make it a journey.

Example of what I'm thinking of:

"You just followed Alice for 7 days. Are you happy with your follow?

We see that you engaged x times liking and y times boosting their posts. You posted z amount of comments. These are the ones with most interactions: [list of interactions]"