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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en-US" xml:lang="en-US" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Uses This / Robert W Gehl</title> <link href="/stylesheets/screen.css" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="/feed.atom" rel="alternate" title="Uses This" type="application/atom+xml"> <link href="https://wafer.baby/@d" rel="me"> <link href="https://usesthis.com/interviews/robert.w.gehl/" rel="canonical" itemprop="url"> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, shrink-to-fit=no"> <meta name="description" content="A nerdy collection of interviews asking a random selection of people all about the tools and techniques they're using to get things done"> <meta name="author" content="Daniel Bogan"> <meta name="keywords" content="interview, setup, linux, professor"> <meta property="og:url" content="https://usesthis.com/interviews/robert.w.gehl/"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <meta property="og:title" content="Uses This / Robert W Gehl"> <meta property="og:description" content="Professor (Communication and Media Studies)"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://usesthis.com/images/interviews/robert.w.gehl.jpg"> </head> <body> <header id="masthead"> <h1><a href="/" title="The latest interviews.">Uses <span>This</span></a></h1> <p id="description">1288 interviews since 2009</p> </header> <nav id="control"> <ul> <li><a href="/" title="The latest interviews.">Interviews</a></li> <li><a href="/categories/" title="All of the interview categories.">Categories</a></li> <li><a href="/about/" title="General site information and FAQ.">About</a></li> </ul> </nav> <main> <article class="h-entry" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article"> <header> <figure> <img src="/images/interviews/robert.w.gehl/portrait.jpg" width="500" height="335" class="portrait u-photo" alt="A picture of Robert W Gehl" itemprop="image"> </figure> </figure> <h2 class="p-name" itemprop="headline">Robert W Gehl</h2> <p class="summary p-job-title">Professor (Communication and Media Studies)</p> <p class="details"> <time datetime="2024-08-29" class="dt-published" itemprop="datePublished" content="2024-08-29">August 29, 2024</time> in <a href="/categories/linux/" title="All the linux interviews." class="p-category">linux</a>, <a href="/categories/professor/" title="All the professor interviews." class="p-category">professor</a> </header> <div class="e-content" itemprop="articleBody"> <h3>Who are you, and what do you do?</h3> <p>I'm Robert W. Gehl. I'm a professor in <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/laps/cmds/" title="The media studies group at York University.">Communication and Media Studies</a> at York University in Toronto, Canada. My full title is pretty long: Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice. I'm affiliated with a research program called <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/research/connected-minds/" title="A group at York University studying the interplay between humans and intelligent technology.">Connected Minds</a>, and I am also an alumnus of the <a href="https://www.fulbright.ca/" title="A US/Canadian joint education program.">Fulbright program</a> -- I had a research chair position at the University of Calgary.</p> <p>I'm the author of several books. My first one is <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/882779130" title="Robert's book about corporate social media."><em>Reverse Engineering Social Media</em></a>, which is a criticism of corporate social media (and won the Association of Internet Researchers book award). Then I wrote <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/1045796910" title="Robert's book about the dark web."><em>Weaving the Dark Web</em></a>, which is an exploration of dark web cultures and was published by MIT in 2018. My latest book is also from MIT. It's called <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/1286684156" title="Robert's book about propaganda and disinformation."><em>Social Engineering</em></a>, and was co-authored in 2022 with Sean Lawson. That book takes a historical look at manipulative communication -- propaganda, disinformation, and hacker con artistry.</p> <p>I'm currently working on a new book, <em>Move Slowly and Build Bridges</em>, which should come out with Oxford University Press. That book focuses on <a href="https://mastodon.social/about" title="A decentralised social network.">Mastodon</a> and the <a href="https://fedi.garden/" title="A curated list of friendly Mastodon instances.">fediverse</a>.</p> <p>I also blog at <a href="https://fossacademic.tech/" title="Robert's weblog about FOSS in academia.">FOSS Academic</a>, where I talk about my writing and engage in Internet criticism.</p> <h3>What hardware do you use?</h3> <p>The short answer is: whatever runs Linux! I'm pretty agnostic about hardware beyond that. I am pretty happy to purchase a used laptop, put Linux on it, and do my work. I regularly use a laptop until its hardware is worn out -- and often even longer, replacing parts as best I can. I do my best to keep computers out of landfills.</p> <p>I do have some fondness for two laptops I've owned, though. One was a <a href="https://support.hp.com/za-en/drivers/compaq-presario-f700-notebook-pc-series/3548233" title="A 15.4 inch PC laptop.">Compaq Presario F700</a>, which was the <a href="https://fossacademic.tech/2020/12/15/FOSS-Journey.html" title="Robert's post about starting out with Linux.">first computer I ever installed Linux on</a> (back in 2006 or so). And another was a <a href="https://system76.com/laptops/galago" title="A 14 inch PC laptop.">System 76 Galago Pro 3</a>, which was the best computer I ever owned. It was light, the keyboard was great, and it was sturdy.</p> <p>These days, however, I tend to run Dell computers because my university has a contract with them and I get a budget to purchase one, and Dell does support Linux reasonably well. I'm typing this on a <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20190913000816/https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/xps-15-9530" title="A 15.6 inch PC laptop.">Dell XPS 15</a>. It's ok, I suppose.</p> <p>I currently have a home media server, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi" title="A single-board hackable computer.">Raspberry Pi 4</a>.</p> <p>I also only use phones I can side-load free and open source <a href="https://f-droid.org/" title="An open source app store for Android.">F-Droid</a> apps onto.</p> <h3>And what software?</h3> <p>As I write about in my FOSS Academic blog, I'm trying to live the <a href="https://fossacademic.tech/tags/fald.html" title="Robert's posts about FOSS life.">"FOSS Academic Lifestyle Dream,"</a> which means using free and open source software as much as possible to do my academic work.</p> <p>At the heart of it all is Linux. That's the secret sauce -- I can put Linux on old hardware and it will live for years and years.</p> <p>After trying out many different flavors of Linux, I've mainly settled on <a href="https://kde.org/" title="A graphical environment for *nix operating systems.">KDE</a> running on <a href="https://manjaro.org/" title="A Linux distribution.">Manjaro</a>. What I like about Manjaro is that I don't need to do full system upgrades -- since it relies on <a href="https://archlinux.org/" title="A Linux distro.">Arch Linux</a>, it's a "rolling" set up, which runs for years without problems. And I find KDE to be the right blend of customizability and stability -- once I get my desktop set up, it stays that way.</p> <p>Browser-wise: I use <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/" title="A cross-platform open-source web browser.">Firefox</a> -- I've used it since the early days. I use <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070322094547/http://www.thunderbird.net:80/" title="An open-source cross-platform mail client.">Thunderbird</a> as an email and calendar client.</p> <p>For my academic work, it all starts with the mighty <a href="https://www.zotero.org/" title="A research tool.">Zotero</a>, which is a bibliography and citation manager. I run just about <em>everything</em> through it: notes on books and articles, notes on presentations, and notes on websites. In fact, Zotero is really valuable as an archiver of the web, taking snapshots of websites via its Firefox add-on. I have ~30,000 items in there, spanning the past 18 years of my career. I'll recommend Zotero to anyone who will listen. Seriously, don't get me started...</p> <p>Zotero is being pushed aside just a little bit though, by <a href="https://zettlr.com/" title="A note-taking application.">Zettlr</a>, a Markdown-enabled editor. I'm increasingly taking notes in Zettlr, using it to synthesize multiple sources and as a research journal. I do this because note-taking in Zotero tends to be very item-centric, which is to say tied to a specific citation. Zettlr, on the other hand, allows for a bit more synthesis of multiple items into short drafts.</p> <p>When I need to write up documents, it's <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/" title="A free, open-source productivity suit.">LibreOffice</a> Writer time. LibreOffice Writer integrates extremely well with Zotero, so I can cite sources very quickly (which is so essential to the writing process -- I don't want to break the flow of writing by having to deal with the rudiments of citation). Plus, its interface is the same as it was the day it started -- I don't have to figure out how to do things. I just get things done.</p> <p>When I need to share documents, manage calendars, set appointments, or do video chats, I use my own <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nextcloud" title="A self-hosted file syncing service.">Nextcloud</a> server. The server keeps my computers in sync, enables me to collaborate with others, and can even be a viable substitute for Zoom via its <a href="https://nextcloud.com/talk/" title="A self-hosted voice/video service.">Talk add-on</a>. I can also do on-the-fly Markdown editing in it through a web browser.</p> <p>I also should give a shout-out to <a href="https://jellyfin.org/" title="A self-hosted media server.">Jellyfin</a>, which is home media server software. I run that on the aforementioned Raspberry Pi. When I toss in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WireGuard" title="Open-source VPN software.">WireGuard</a> (an easy way to self-host a VPN), I can stream my music and videos anywhere in the world. On my phone, I use the F-Droid app <a href="https://github.com/jmshrv/finamp" title="An open source Android music app for Jellyfin.">FinAmp</a> to stream from my library.</p> <p>And one last shout-out goes to <a href="https://pi-hole.net/" title="Linux-based ad blocking software.">Pi-Hole</a>, which is a self-hosted DNS server with ad-blocking built in. When I run that over WireGuard, I get ad-blocking wherever I am in the world. I gave my family access to it so they could block intrusive internet trackers.</p> <h3>What would be your dream setup?</h3> <p>I kinda feel like I'm livin' the dream. I think we're living in a really exciting time, when it comes to FOSS: those of us with technical-know how can host software like Nextcloud (or social media software, like Mastodon) for our friends and family, allowing us to get away from corporate software.</p> <p>For example, Sean Lawson and I wrote <em>Social Engineering</em> using my Nextcloud instance and a shared Zotero libraries. And with Linux, I can extend the life of old hardware. I can't remember the last time I used a Mac or Windows machine.</p> <p>But I will say that I want this dream for others. I advocate that universities stop using software from Microsoft, Google, Adobe, and Zoom. As I <a href="https://fossacademic.tech/2023/11/10/HowUniversitiesLostIT.html" title="Robert's post about FOSS and universities.">wrote about in my blog</a>, I think universities have lost their edge in developing knowledge about computing. They outsource everything to a few big US companies, and so students and faculty become mere clients to those companies. I'd rather see universities do more self-hosting with FOSS tools so people can have the chance to push past slick interfaces and get into how these things work.</p> <p>I also think the stakes are even higher now that those same big companies are monitoring what we do in order to train AI. We academics may be training machines that will replace us. That is a bit of a nightmare.</p> </div> </article> </main> <footer> <form id="search" method="get" action="https://duckduckgo.com/"> <label><strong>Search:</strong> <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="MacBook Pro"> </label> <input type="hidden" name="sites" value="usesthis.com"> <input type="submit" value="Go"> </form> <p>You can keep track of new interviews by <a href="/feed.atom" title="The Atom feed for the site.">subscribing to the feed</a>.</p> <p>Unless otherwise noted, everything is available via the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" title="The BY-SA Creative Commons licence.">Attribution-Share Alike</a> licence.</p> <p>Last updated November 30, 2024.</p> </footer> </body> </html>