While there is a lot of discussion about new Twitter alternatives and the relevance of journalists and other critical groups of users, the potential of university-based Fediverse instances has hardly been addressed. It is high time for universities to get involved in the Fediverse. This is a call to action.
I’m split on this, on the one hand I think universities should set up instances for official channels of communication. It’s ridiculous to rely on some 3rd party service and it’s algorithm to, say, tell everyone for is cancelled due to weather. It has done costs but makes these communication lines much more resilient.
Yet, extending this instance to staff, let alone students, is a huge can of worms. Bring in charge of moderation and web hosting opens the school up to so so much litigation. They’ll frankly never do that.