fediverse.space awarded NGI Zero grant

My project fediverse.space is an interactive map of the fediverse. The fediverse, or “federated universe”, is the set of social media servers, hosted by individuals across the globe, forming a libre and more democratic alternative to traditional social media.

I’m proud to say that this project was recently awarded a grant from the NGI Zero Discovery project. NGI Zero Discovery, funded by the European Commission, works towards creating an open, trustworthy, and reliable internet for all by funding R&D projects that improve search and discovery:

Search should not be a gatekeeper, a black box or a privacy nightmare. If the internet is the equivalent of a global brain, we need creativity and diversity in the pathways across that brain to unlock its true potential. Search and discovery are basic human needs for humans of all ages, and we would like to put powerful new technology in the hands of future generations as building blocks for a fair and democratic society and an open economy that benefits all.

Thanks to this funding, I have been able to spend this summer bringing fediverse.space to its full potential. The initial proof-of-concept has been rewritten to be far more reliable, performant, and extendable. In addition, it now supports far more of the server implementations seen across the fediverse. There’s still more to come — follow the project on Mastodon to stay up-to-date!