What I'm up to – February 2025 edition

This post is inspired by Derek Sivers' NOW Page Movement:

People often ask me what I’m doing now. Each time I would type out a reply, describing where I’m at, what I’m focused on, and what I’m not. So earlier this year I added a /now page to my site: sive.rs/now. A simple link. Easy to remember. Easy to type. It’s a nice reminder for myself, when I’m feeling unfocused. A public declaration of priorities.

I first came across the NOW Page Movement thanks to a social post by Jared White, who created his own NOW Page. I thought: I want to do something similar. Not just for others, but especially for myself, as a way to look back at my progress, month after month. So, I'm joining the NOW Page Movement with a twist: sharing monthly updates on my blog and collecting them on my NOW page, so that I can have a quick snapshot of any given month.

What I'm up to – February 2025 edition:

1) ✏️ Writing: The Future is Federated
2) 👩‍💻 Self-Hosting: an Act of Resistance against Big Tech Oligarchs
3) 🇧🇪 Travel / Conferences: FOSDEM '25
4) 🔮 What's Next?

But before we get started:

If you know me IRL or you have been following my work, championing women in film, but haven't heard from me in a while, you may be slightly confused by the following updates, thinking: who is this person? What has she become? That's because last year I fully embraced the Fediverse and the world of free (libre) open source software. Learning to self-host has been my coping mechanism in these dark, chaotic times, my way to rebel against Big Tech. So, I'm still the old Ele you know, just a lot geekier 🤗

✏️ Writing: The Future is Federated

In June 2024 I started the blog The Future is Federated with a simple goal: to introduce the Fediverse (a galaxy of open-source, interconnected social networks) to people not familiar with it. It's been a joy to explore the Fediverse and share my findings with readers of the blog.

The latest post I published - on February 20, 2025 - talks about the microblogging server GoToSocial, which empowers people to easily self-host their own Fediverse instance:

GoToSocial empowers you to have your own home on the Fediverse - with unique controls

An overview of GoToSocial: a fast, lightweight, security-focused server that makes self-hosting on the Fediverse easy

Elena RossiniElena Rossini

👩‍💻 Self-Hosting: an Act of Resistance against Big Tech Oligarchs

How did I react to the shocking results of the 2024 US presidential election? I resolved to learn Linux and begin self-hosting as an act of defiance and resistance to the Broligarchs (Big Tech oligarchs).

The rebellion will be federated — Elena Rossini

This is how I plan to rebel against the tech barons and kleptocrats for the next 4 years: through activism, education and FLOSS

Elena RossiniElena Rossini

In addition to getting rid of all my Big Tech social media accounts (Instagram, Threads, X and LinkedIn even), I began to explore the world of self-hosting FOSS (free, open source software). In December I got a basic virtual private server (VPS) and installed YunoHost on it (which empowers anyone to easily self-host).

I'm currently the proud admin of my GoToSocial (microblogging) and Pixelfed (photos) instances.

I never really felt comfortable uploading my photos to Instagram. Now that I have my own self-hosted Pixelfed instance (the Fediverse's answer to Instagram), I am starting to share my photography again. You can check my photos here:

All my social media links can be found on my LinkStack (which is also self-hosted):

Elena Rossini

Elena Rossini

🇧🇪 Travel / Conferences: FOSDEM '25

In early February I attended my very first FOSDEM (Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting). This was my first conference in 5 years – since Covid and becoming a mom.

I went to FOSDEM specifically to watch presentations from the Social Web track... and had an EPIC time.

It's hard to put into words how moving and special it is to be in the same space as the creators of the ActivityPub protocol and most Fediverse software. The sense of camaraderie was palpable - this community is truly the best.

🔮 What's Next?

🎥 I'm doing pre-production for a 5-minute video that promotes the Fediverse (to people not familiar with it). Target release date: end of March 2025. This is my return to filmmaking (after a veeeery long hiatus)! The ideal plan is to then do a video series that introduces various Fediverse software – based on my articles from The Future is Federated. One video a month would be grand.

✏️ upcoming articles for The Future is Federated will discuss PeerTube (the Fediverse's answer to YouTube) and the Friends plugin that allows people to turn their federated WordPress sites into a Mastodon instance.

As you can see, I'm super passionate about the Fediverse and wish more people would know about it – and join it. As Jason Koebler of 404 Media eloquently said: "Decentralized Social Media Is the Only Alternative to the Tech Oligarchy."

Elena

👫 Follow me on Mastodon and Pixelfed. All my other social media links are available here.
📽️ If you'd like to support my work, you could buy or rent my documentary The Illusionists on the globalization of beauty. Watch the opening on Vimeo:

💌 If you'd like to say hi, my contact information is here