I have put a lot of thought into deliberately shifting¹ metaphors², often in the context of the #indieweb³. One goal is to replace use of violent or divisive metaphors with actively constructive, cooperative, or joyful alternatives, like:

* gardening/farming e.g. digital garden⁴
* biology/ecology/nature e.g. digital ecosystem⁵
* cooking/baking e.g. eat your own cooking⁶
* toolmaking, clothing making, other useful crafts e.g. sew what you want⁷
* music, dancing, painting, and other expressive crafts e.g. remixing⁸
* travel, navigation, maps e.g. information superhighway⁹
* games, sports, running, e.g. surfing the net¹⁰

Some of these areas are well developed (sports metaphors), others are obvious or emergent from various IndieWeb efforts like our principles¹¹, and others could use brainstorming and experimentation.

Thoughts and words, whether spoken or written, influence each other in reinforcement feedback loops. Consciously choosing one can impact the other and vice versa.

Especially in messages to others or our even future selves, words and metaphors communicate and reinforce our values and thus merit care in their invention¹² and usage.

What are metaphors you have found constructive, cooperative, or joyful?

References:

¹ https://tantek.com/2023/132/t1/agenda-gardening-metaphors
² https://tantek.com/2023/023/t3/
³ https://tantek.com/2023/022/t1/indieweb-eat-what-you-cook
⁴ https://indieweb.org/digital_garden
⁵ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_ecosystem
⁶ https://indieweb.org/cook_what_you_want
⁷ https://indieweb.org/events/2020-08-19-hwc-west-coast#sewing
⁸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix_culture#Analog_era
⁹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_superhighway
¹⁰ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_metaphors#Functional_metaphors
¹¹ https://indieweb.org/principles
¹² https://tantek.com/2024/180/b1/responsible-inventing

This is post 24 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts

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