Ben Pate 🀘🏻

Ben Pate 🀘🏻's avatar
Ben Pate 🀘🏻
benpate_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink
npub17gq5...8hhz
Howdy! I'm the nerd who's building #Emissary - an ActivityPub server for building custom social applications on the Fediverse. My first app on this platform is a music sharing server for indie bands, called #Bandwagon. And now I'm also working on #Atlas, a social mapping server for adding Federated annotations to places in the real world. If you'd like to talk about any of my projects, feel free to DM me here, or on Signal (@benpate.5280) Emissary: https://emissary.dev Bandwagon.fm: https://bandwagon.fm Atlas: https://github.com/EmissarySocial/atlas GitHub: https://github.com/benpate
I just signed up for the #FediForum "Un-Workshop" coming up in March. Who else is planning to sign in? πŸ™‹β€β™€οΈπŸ™‹β€β™‚οΈπŸ™‹β€β™€οΈπŸ™‹β€β™‚οΈπŸ™‹β€β™€οΈπŸ™‹β€β™‚οΈ "Growing the Open Social Web" was already on my bingo card for 2026. I have my own ideas, but I'm more excited to hear what others have to say. If we blame misinformation on social media for the trouble in our democracies, then growing the #Fediverse (responsibly) may be our best path forward.
It's live. I've just released my final software update for 2025, which includes 100% fidelity account migrations between #Bandwagon servers. This long-overdue enhancement means that everyone can take their identity to any other #Emissary server on the #Fediverse. EVERYTHING moves with you.. music uploads, album sales, everything. And, your followers are forwarded to your new address. There's plenty more, including a 2025 recap, and some plans for 2026 here:
Oi #Fediverse.. Check out this 2min walkthrough of #Emissary's upcoming data migration tool. It's the last big feature I'm delivering in 2025. It uses the "LOLA" data portability spec to transfer account data from one server (like Bandwagon.fm) to a new one (like bandwagon.your-band-here.biz) No CSV files required. Just authenticate and approve, and everything just moves. There's tons more to do, but I'm confident this will be live by Christmas. 🀘🏻
Do you know of a community that could use their own Federated mapping server? Please DM me. In six weeks, I've made TONS of progress on Atlas Maps, and I'm confident with real people using it in the field. So I spent this morning reaching out to a handful of integrators and consultants, but I can't find everyone. Please help me reach out to the activists, builders, and organizers you know who need to map local events in their communities. Who should I contact next?
I'm so happy with the progress on #Atlas.. ESPECIALLY considering that it's been just over 3 weeks since the initial concept. Here's a live, working demo of where we are: This is just a silly city guide of some spots around Boulder, Colorado. Please don't take the content seriously. But do look at what a federated map could do out in the world. It's time to start working up use cases. And, if you're inspired to join the party, I'd love to have your help :)
I'm excited to show off #Atlas - a social mapping server for the #Fediverse. In about two weeks, we've gone from crazy on I70 to a fledgling app that lets me annotate any location on the globe and share it over #ActivityPub There's still a lot to do. But there's enough here for me to ask for your help. I would love to hear what you think of this short video, and to start talking to everyone out there who's interested in making maps on the Fediverse.
Pspsps #Fediverse I'm collecting info for a Federated #Map server. Something that would let people share info and comment on what's going on at specific places out in the world. There are lots of ways this might be useful to our community, so I've written a super-rough-draft spec on my website. Just like #Bandwagon, this app would sit on top of #Emissary so most of this is already built. We just need to connect the dots. #AskFedi #FediHelp