Project account for Encyclia, the bridge that connects ORCID to the Fediverse. Created by @julian.
This is a temporary home – we're just waiting for the next Hollo version, then we'll (probably) move. 🙂
Encyclia was shown as a speed demo at @fediforum on June 7. 🙂 You can find the 5 minute video on Peertube: https://spectra.video/w/tSjP7WnV3pBakD61ccuDH2 or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QipWHAaUEA
In case you've been waiting: the project hasn't been forgotten, @julian is just having a busy few months at the day job since April now. 😓 We'll probably be making more progress again later in the summer!
@M If you're following this account then hopefully you won't miss it! 😀
Alternatively, if you boost our pinned post, you'll receive a Mastodon notification when we edit it to note when the bridge is live.
@M Correct, the bridge is not live yet. See https://encyclia.pub/roadmap#progress for details. In terms of engineering tasks, not much is still missing, but as it happens it's currently my busiest time of the year for work, so progress is slow.
Mastodon profile verification for an @ORCID_Org record is something that Encyclia will be offering! If you have a link to your Mastodon account in the “websites & social links” section of your ORCID record, your Encyclia link will show as verified in the future.
Encyclia will have a 5 minute presentation in the demo session at @fediforum@mastodon.social next week. You can still register if you'd also like to participate!
The video recording of the demo should be available to the public on YouTube and PeerTube (@fediforum@spectra.video) after the event.
We concluded that for Encyclia's specific circumstances, opt-out is the correct decision, based in large part on ORCID's purpose and architecture. This conclusion will not automatically match most other use cases for bridges.
It is possible that there are arguments that I have missed in my analysis (which is documented here: https://encyclia.pub/optin-optout-analysis). If you can think of any, please contact me so I can take them into account.
Assuming no changes, Encyclia will launch as an opt-out bridge.
For the question whether Encyclia's ORCID bridge should be opt-in or opt-out (that is, whether we should bridge ORCID records without their owners' knowledge), I – @julian – will speak personally for a moment.
It is the central design question of Encyclia and one that has been on my mind since I started prototyping the platform. I have put as much thought into it as I am capable of, and I have sought feedback from multiple privacy and safety experts.
Belated follow-up for this poll: the answer distribution is along the lines of expectations. Happily, most people look forward to being findable, but a few of you are apprehensive.
You can already use the “Sign in with ORCID” function at https://encyclia.pub to set up your privacy preferences, choose ActivityPub servers that will be blocked or allowed, or to opt your ORCID record out entirely. Preferences set now will be honored when the bridge goes public.
@owiecc Not yet, but that's a good idea. The cookie-less feature isn't high priority enough to put a ton of polish-time into it, and we generally assume that people who disable cookies in 2025 know what they're doing, but the current architecture should allow for inserting a little message.
Did you know that #Encyclia's “Sign in with ORCID” function (see https://encyclia.pub) can work without cookies?
During a sign-in attempt, it tries to set a session cookie and relies on that if it works. If setting a cookie fails – that is, if you have cookies completely disabled – it falls back to a session ID URL parameter, like in the old days of the web.
We take privacy-first web development so seriously that it wraps back around to being kinda silly. 🤭
Thanks for your feedback on the kinds of ORCID records you'd like to follow! It may influence how Encyclia will try to help you find them.
For the next question, let us flip it around: how do you feel about your own ORCID record being potentially available to follow on the fediverse in the future?
We put some work into the question of what privacy protections may be needed and whether an opt-out model is justified: https://encyclia.pub/optin-optout-analysis
Thank you for 140 follows over the first day! 😯
Here's a question to get warmed up: how are you planning to use Encyclia? Assuming you could follow whatever ORCID record(s) you wanted, which ones are you interested in having in your feed?
Feel free to explain or add other ideas in the replies as well.
New: Fediverse Report 107
This week's news:
- @pixelfed finishes their Kickstarter campaign, raising 138k CAD. The project has expanded significantly in scope, and the team has grown with it as well.
- @encyclia is an upcoming way to connect ORCID (a unique ID for researchers) to the fediverse, allowing you to follow any scientists work, even when they are not on the fediverse.
Thank you for 140 follows over the first day! 😯
Here's a question to get warmed up: how are you planning to use Encyclia? Assuming you could follow whatever ORCID record(s) you wanted, which ones are you interested in having in your feed?
Feel free to explain or add other ideas in the replies as well.
Hello world! 👋
This is Encyclia, a new project to bridge ORCID records into the Fediverse. Our software platform is a work in progress and we'd love to hear your feedback!
Project website: https://encyclia.pub
