Agora Plan

• a [[plan]].
  • #pull [[agora]]

Introduction

The [[Agora]] is a project with a large [[scope]], so it takes a minute to explain what it's all about, and what the vision this plan tries to advance is.

If you'd like a quick introduction to the Agora as of mid 2021, please check out [[go/agora-slides]].

You can also refer to [[go/agora]], that is the documentation in the [[root repository]] currently hosted on [[github]].

What this node is for

This node is used as a project planning page for the [[Agora]] implementation you're likely reading this in now: https://anagora.org pull.

As you might know by now, an Agora is a beast with multiple legs:

• A [[knowledge graph]]. This is the heart of the [[Agora]]. It is kept in the [[go/agora]] repo, and includes pointers to other repositories.
• A web server and associated client code, which the [[flancia collective]] runs on https://anagora.org pull. It is kept in the [[go/agora-server]] repo.
• A set of bridges to connect other platforms to the [[agora]], and the Agora to to [[other platforms]]. These are kept in the [[go/agora-bridge]] repository.

This node might deal with development of any and all of them. We will try to list past major developments below, but this node will try to also be [[future focused]].

Next

• [[agora]]
  • new users are trickling into the community, although the signup process is still manual; need to ship the repo api in [[agora bridge]] to improve the sinup flow.
  • considering [[logseq]] and [[tiddlywiki]] as recommended web clients.
• [[agora server]]
  • looking better than six months ago, but needs work
  • [[better parsing]]
    • blocks [[auto push]]?
      • perhaps not for inline (same line) pushes
• [[agora bridge]]
  • need to have [[agora twitter bot]] call out to [[repo api]] to store nodes per-user
  • need to have [[agora mastodon bot]] automatically respond to toots with [[patterns]] from followers
• [[patterns everywhere]]
  • new name for [[wikilinks everywhere]], [[vera]] leading
• [[flancia]]
  • need to work more on [[building bridges]]
  • [[flancia collective]]
    • need to explore [[governance]]
    • [[vera]] started [[flancia social impact]]

Previously

• On [[2021-11-06]]:
  • Lots have happened. I gave up trying to maintain this for a while, instead using my journals and a transitive subset of the [[Agora]] to document the development process.
  • See [[flancia collective]], [[agora discuss]], [[journals]].
• On [[2021-01-30]]
  • onboarded [[enki]]
  • [[nodes]] are now color coded:
    • [[dark violet]] for the [[primary node]], that is, any subnodes that match the wikilink you're at most precisely.
    • [[dark grey]] for [[pulled]] and [[pushed]] nodes and subnodes.
• On [[2020-01-02]] I implemented [[jump]]
  • I said: "I'll implement the action and a 'jump'/ dialog always available in the Agora, perhaps replacing search in the [[toolbar]]."
  • Done!
  • Q: is 'go to' better than jump? I don't think so, and it could be confusing due to go links. But unsure.
• On [[2020-01-01]] I fixed node titles.
• On [[2020-12-29]] I pushed a quick patch that upranks all my subnodes, as some top subnodes in relatively popular nodes had formatting issues / were distracting. I intend this to be temporary; better ranking and formatting fixes are coming.
• On [[2020-12-27]] I released [[agora 0.5.6]] with [[pull]] support, better db code, caching... quite a bit :)
• On [[2020-12-20]] I worked [[agora 0.5.5]], which adds simple [[hypothes.is]] integration.
  • Fixed the fact that [[back]] [[links]] didn't work in non-existent nodes (even when there are backlinks, that is).
  • Prepared CSS/html for pull, push, forward links.
• On [[2020-12-04]] I released [[agora 0.5.4]], with some improvements:
  • New data model (digital gardens are not subtree'd in the main [[agora repository]] anymore, stay wholly independent)
  • Index page is now just another node, subnodes can be contributed by users.
• On [[2020-11-29]] I integrated the first community contribution ever.
• On [[2020-11-27]] I fixed some bugs, like wikilinks with periods on their names not working.
• On [[2020-11-22]] implemented count of subnodes in user pages.
  • Added some amount of go links support: anagora.org/go/go now works :), points to the URL with [[go]] in anagora.org/node/go.
• On [[2020-11-17]] implemented [[latest]].
• On [[2020-11-16]] I implemented [[agora fuzzy matching]] and full text search, adopted a div based layout, improved the CSS, improved user pages.
• On [[2020-11-15]] I implemented dark mode (press on 'theme' on the top right corner to switch dark <-> light).
• On [[2020-11-14]] I released [[agora 0.5.1]].

Signups

• [[pen-coded]]: https://github.com/KGBicheno/KGB_Agora
• [[luciana]]: https://github.com/malfattti/garden
• [[arghzero]]
• [[dr_kvj]]: https://github.com/drkvj/agora
• [[jonathan-the-utopian]]
• [[enkiv2]]: http://www.lord-enki.net/medium-backup/
• what about all of the ones licensed appropriately listed in [[kasper zutterman]]'s [[second brain]] list? https://github.com/KasperZutterman/Second-Brain
  • Discussing with [[armengolaltayo]]
• See also [[digital gardeners]]
• [[iplumb3r]]
  • This seems to be in [[topincs]] format, investigate.
• [[houshuang]]
• [[joelchan86]]
• [[tilda]]
• [[binnyva]]
• [[jakeisnt]]
  • [[blocked]] on [[org mode]]
• TomCassidy
  • It's a public roam graph: https://roamresearch.com/#/app/Learn2020zettelkasten
• [[metasj]] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sj/! pull
  • First user actually using a wiki!

Integrations

• [[agora-go-links-integration]]
• [[agora twitter integration]]
• [[agora-youtube-integration]]
• [[agora hypothesis integration]]
• [[roam2agora]]
• [[agora vscode]]
• [[wikilinks everywhere]]

Next

• all http mentions should be auto linked, not only some: https://twitter.com/notverapetrova/status/1346258737204400128 pull
  • Worked around this, but I should probably send an upstream PR to [[bleach]]
• try rendering notes with [[marko]], see if it's a bit more forgiving with list indentation and other kinks that seem common.
• add support for org mode gardens
  • signup by [[jakeisnt]] is blocked on this: https://github.com/jakeisnt/wiki
  • signup by [[karlicoss]] is blocked on this: https://github.com/karlicoss/exobrain.git
  • this might be enough to unlock basic [[logseq]] support?
  • [[orgparse]] might be useful
  • [[pandoc]] supports org
• I should make node [[0.5.6]] work
• graph the whole Agora -- sounds fun!
• Implement pull and push.
  • Define divs for 'pulled' and 'pushed' sections
  • Write functions that return [[pull]] and [[push]] entities in each subnode
• Make more links default to node instead of subnode.
  • For example those in latest, those in user pages.
  • Might require 'upranking'.
• set up [[agora]] hot spare in [[dorcas]], this is an experiment but I already find it very useful so I don't want to not have it available for a while if there's a server failure
• add monitoring -- [[munin]] or something more modern? [[prometheus]]?
• Implement /node/foo/selector as more resilient/uniform alternative to /subnode.
• Implement user upranking/pinning.
  • Perhaps nodes visited from a user scope uprank subnodes by that user?
• https://twitter.com/s5bug/status/1334686375275163652 pull?s=09
• Provide a link (GET) for the search for '[ ]', useful for [[do]].
• Add better backlinks, showing some context.
• Make the site header be marked as an actual header (div with a class, etc.); Google seems to think it's part of the site text (it's showing up in results).
• Fix markdown list formatting issue with different tab widths.
• add footer.
• Implement preview-on-hover?
• Implement "around the Agora".
• add /latest or some other chronological view
• User profiles: perhaps just note [[flancian]] as written by user [[flancian]]? Unsure.
  • [[s5bug]] suggested using [[README]] in gardens for this. Makes sense.
• Make the index be just another note [[ding-levery]].
• Improve backlinks: show snippets as well as just the link.
• Improve pull loop to also support arbitrary hooks, like that needed to implement [[agora go links integration]].
• Multi user improvements:
  • Better sorting (right now all my notes show up at the top, doesn't make sense).
  • Ability to "zoom into" a user, to navigate just their garden for a while.
  • Perhaps ability to "uprank" users, pinning their notes to the top of any sorting order.
  • Perhaps sort+uprank can be integrated?
  • usernames could have a 'pin' emoji that upranks all their posts?
• Implement search (full text).
• Add support for media serving (useful for pictures of [[ocell]]).
  • assets/foo end up at node/assets/foo; just adding a handler for node/assets/ seems like it could be enough.
  • It would conflict with a node named 'assets' though, so perhaps it's not ideal.
  • Perhaps it'd be better to just serve images/media as subnodes?
• Add monitoring/alerting.

Some day:

• When you update a node on a [[person]], said person gets a notification (they can opt out).
• Support [[Roam]], [[Athens]], [[org-roam]] digital gardens.
• Twitter integration -> [[agora twitter integration]]
  • Ask [[ding levery]].
• Automatic [[actions]] -> [[agora action]]s -> [[agora action]]
  • [[tweet]] block tweets the block (exactly once, etc.).
• [[go links]] integration -> [[agora go links integration]]
  • If the first block of [[foo]] is a URL, anagora.org/go/foo just redirect there.
  • Could also work as an action: [[go]] target URL.

Feature requests

• [[pull]] [[feature requests]]

History

• fix bug: backlinks should be shown even in yet non-existent nodes, such as [[deceased]].
• Clean up stale journal pages which don't follow [[iso 8601]].
• Add config.py file with things such as paths.
• Add user handler: /u
  • /u/flancian -> all nodes by flancian
  • /node/flancia/u/flancian -> flancia by flancian
  • Also added @flancian. Shorter is better, and it's a common convention.
  • perhaps /g/ for groups later? or /s/ for stoa.
• Add 'link to this note'.
  • Now called subnode.
  • Subnode rendering is ready, just need to add links.
  • Perhaps I need to fix subnode paths; right now they are the actual filename. It'd be better if there was at least possible to specify the filename base (no extension) and have the right file be resolve, a la nodes.
• add some search support -- a simple textbox + GET?
  • Probably want to use [[flask-wtf]] for this: https://hackersandslackers.com/flask-wtforms-forms/
• better css
  • Add '[[dark mode]]' to the Agora, I like this kind of scheme: https://twitter.com/ablueaeshna/status/1323439284272222208 pull/photo/1
  • added switching by button
  • Make subnodes/notes look like notes instead of using clunky <hr /> everywhere. Move to divs, etc.
• Improve the [[index]].
• Implement [[agora fuzzy matching]].
  • Done
  • but backlinks don't work in some cases, like http://dev.anagora.org/node/abstract%20fairy pull.
  • Probably not worth fixing that right now as it only triggers for nodes that are not canonical, perhaps better to just redirect to a canonical node.
  • could help with disambiguation and acronym expansion

flancia plan

• I have a wider plan. I call it [[flancia]].
  • Flancia is an [[open collective]] that tries to execute an open plan: to support cooperative projects of [[public utility]] and [[improve the world]] for others.
  • I intend to dedicate most of my [[free time]] and [[surplus resources]] to it.
  • The plan includes a crucial step, which is to write a roadmap to [[Flancia]] with [[you]].
  • Flancia is a kind of [[eutopia]]; in particular a [[protopia]]. It is a place that doesn't exist, yet has both contact points with the [[real world]] and some [[good]] qualities. The working [[hypothesis]] is that it could actually be built through the iterative application of [[cooperative]], [[rational]], [[optimistic]], [[compassionate]] thinking.
  • My current thinking along the aforementioned lines leads me to want to focus my free time in two ways:
    • Engaging in [[philanthropy]] within my means.
    • Promoting and building [[tools]] for the advancement of knowledge and cooperation.
  • Because of the above I'm building an [[Agora]]: a goal-oriented [[experimenta]] [[social network]] specialized in [[problem solving]].
    • You are probably reading this in some version of it right now.
    • The Agora, at its most basic and general, is a protocol: [[Agora Protocol]].
      • I believe [[wikilinks everywhere]], an [[MVP]] or application of the protocol, might have some potential to improve the health of the internet.
    • This plan used to include developing [[palimpsest]], perhaps a generally interesting feature that might in time help bootstrap the Agora; but I know believe [[hypothes.is]] or [[memex]] are essentially the same thing, and the Agora should interop with them and complement them if at all possible.
  • My plan also includes by default every pro-social action which makes aspects of my [[identity]] which I consider ethically sound and constructive available to others for judgment, cooperation or communication. In other words, I try to be fully open :)
    • My current attitude towards the world is to try to do the best that I can regardless of my personal limitations in [[skill]] and [[knowledge]]; being open about both my plan and my limitations is an important part of my identity, as I believe openness as a social attitude results in interactions conducive to optimal mutual understanding and cooperation.
    • I practice [[open ethics]] and [[open source]].
    • See also: [[contract]].
• I practice [[open ethics]].
  • I keep a log of my [[meditations]]. It is this [[agora]].
  • With your help I'd like to build many [[stoas]].