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4 days agoHow are C-level execs going to justify the bloated AI budget if they cannot point to a research study now? Actual research takes time they don’t have as the 1st quarter is almost over.
How will the researchers get more grant money to spend on inefficient transform models if they have to waste time and resources conducting peer reviewed study? I need my name on 10 papers this year or I’ll lose my faculty position.
Better yet, why not have AI draft a self report form and email it out to all of the students in my department and publish the results of that as research? I’m a genius.
-Yu
/s
The Allure of the Fediverse and the Challenges of ActivityPub Implementation
The fediverse—a decentralized social web powered by protocols like ActivityPub—is an exciting space to explore. If you’re considering building the next great federated app, connected to platforms like Mastodon, Lemmy, Pixelfed, and more, you might be tempted to implement ActivityPub from scratch. While this approach offers total control, it’s a daunting task due to the complexity of the standards involved.
The Challenge: Data Modeling with ActivityStreams & JSON-LD
At its core, ActivityPub relies on ActivityStreams 2.0 vocabulary and JSON-LD syntax. This combination introduces significant complexity:
Understanding ActivityStreams Vocabulary:
You need to model actions and objects (e.g., posts as
NoteorArticle, profiles asPersonorOrganization, and actions likeCreate,Follow,Like,Announce) using the precise terms defined in the specification.JSON-LD Specifics:
JSON-LD has unique rules that complicate direct JSON manipulation:
// No name property { "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", "type": "Note", "content": "…"} // Equivalent to: { "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", "type": "Note", "name": [], "content": "…"}// Single value { "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", "type": "Note", "content": "Hello"} // Equivalent to: { "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", "type": "Note", "content": ["Hello"]}// Embedded object { "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", "type": "Announce", "actor": { "type": "Person", "id": "http://sally.example.org/", "name": "Sally" }, "object": { "type": "Arrive", "id": "https://sally.example.com/arrive", /* ... */ } } // Equivalent to: { "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", "type": "Announce", "actor": "http://sally.example.org/", "object": "https://sally.example.com/arrive" }Fedify: Simplifying ActivityPub Development
Fedify, a TypeScript framework, abstracts the complexity of ActivityPub development. It handles the heavy lifting, allowing you to focus on what makes your app unique.
Example Code with Fedify
Fedify simplifies federation logic:
// Handle follow federation.on(Follow, async (ctx, follow) => { // Implement follow logic }); // Handle post activity federation.on(Create, async (ctx, activity) => { // Implement post activity logic });Web Interface and Logs
When running your app:
Logs example:
Conclusion
Building a federated app with ActivityPub is challenging, but tools like Fedify make the process manageable. By abstracting away the complexity of JSON-LD and ActivityStreams, Fedify allows developers to focus on creating innovative applications for the fediverse.