Bravo to and for an amazing four days of open social web conversations in Vancouver! How many tech conferences present brilliant talks that feature the kelp forest and artisanal cheese as metaphors for a community of developers? Thank you and for rooting us in such powerful narratives and images.
For , we were there to launch the Open Social Awards which will be awarded at PublicSpaces in Amsterdam, June 4-6. Through our partnership with likeminded Dutch colleagues at and , we’ll be co-presenting The Next Socials program track at this gathering.
This past weekend, we had a chance to meet and exchange ideas with the developer folks who are building the future of an alternative internet – open, distributed, interoperable and portable. The promise of the internet giving everyone a voice had been broken by the ever more rapacious grind of VC culture, profit-at-all-cost motivation, and the ultimate enshittification of the entire system. Well, if you are discouraged by Big Tech, despair no more. The crowd at ATmosphere 2026 tripled over last year’s gathering, welcomed a lively community of science communicators on ATProto, like-minded friends from and , and attracted a few of us traditional media types and policy makers. Not enough of the latter, but a start.
I, for one, was encouraged by the tenacity, the commitment and the sheer intelligence of so many of the people in Vancouver: the inspiring , the Eurosky team – , , and the prolific Sebastian Vogelsang, the gang from Canada’s own ATProto offering – Gander, from Germ, and so many more who have pioneered the ecosystem: and from , from , and from and now , and telling us about the Resonant Computing Manifesto.
This community of developers, Founders, entrepreneurs and thought leaders gathered in very palpable optimism and enthusiasm. Recent court decisions against Meta and Google, as well as the determined push for digital sovereignty in Europe and Canada, point to a wedge that may open the way for a better internet, and for public interest tech.
New_ Public participated in a terrific Funder-Founder session where developers got feedback on their product pitches from funders. No shortage of ideas and problems to solve in the ATmosphere!
Despite the considerable challenges in combating Big Tech, the ATmosphere conference demonstrated the collective will of over 450 participants to defend in the words of Anuj Ahooja...
“people, not platforms.”
Team Gander
Mike Masnick and Alex Komoroske
Blaine Cook and Ben Waldman
Rudy Fraser, Blacksky
Erin Kissane