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# System prepended metadata

title: Design Pattern for Decentralization

---

Design Pattern for Decentralization
===

## Community Call #1

### Participants:
Gerben
Jan
Eileen
Georgia

### Notes:

Signal&Whatsapp: three step indicator: sent, delivered, read/displayed.

States may depend on architecture; with centralised/federated systems a simple concept of ‘I am online’ exists.

Note in hindsight: May we need separate pattern library sections for different architectures? E.g. federated, peer-to-peer, multi-protocol (e.g. bluetooth+wlan+internet), …

Mastodon/Diaspora: not synchronous conversation
does not have status

Custom settings for Github etc. "Currently on vacation."

Signal/WhatsApp: no! mobile always on anyway. but read/unread

→ you just want to know if it’s being read or not

whether or not I'm connected to server/peers

Maniverse! local/online indicators.

privacy? people don't want to disclose whether or not their are online/available?

online/offline still relevant in game scenarios (Steam, Discord)

Slack: remote work example

context matters!

"online" puts social pressure on you!
-> option to pretend to be offline is a common&useful feature.

notifications are also distraction.
"silent messages" you as a sender can decide whether things are silent or not
(think of email flag for priority!)

goal: I'm available (or not!) -- abandon online/offline

people use multiple apps, depending on desired properties for the occasion. (perhaps don’t try to accomodate all contexts in one app)

social norms emerging from protocols, e.g. email is silent, SMS is noisy (confusing if people do not adhere to these expectations, e.g. are woken up by an email)

cultural context/conventions

email address more visible than phone number

case of documenting protests in an offline network
important: *someone* has it. it's about back-up rather that sync/copy.

smart interfaces to indicate peers & copies?
e.g. Bitcoin payments
confirmation comes after a while

Beaker Browser indicates number of peers
-> nudges you to seed the website also, when it's 0 peers

Jan: simple sign-up post (decisions & write-up). publish on opensource.com 

Gerben: so many different scenarios with so many different things. consider clearly separating "what you should do" vs. "how you should do it"!