{"id":1894,"date":"2018-04-12T08:16:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T08:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dgen.net\/0\/?page_id=1894"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:21:19","slug":"constellation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/constellation\/","title":{"rendered":"Constellations: the guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-830x467.jpg 830w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-230x129.jpg 230w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cl8-blog-2026-05-10.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Constellations<\/strong> are an invitation-only social directories. They are a place where people can connect, share what they are interested in, get a sense of who&#8217;s working on what, and keep loosely in touch without the noise of the open social media platforms.  They are currently run by Gavin in his &#8216;spare time&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What can I join \/ live Constellations?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<style>\n.dg1cl-grid{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;width:100%;border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:0;border:1px solid #2a4f6a;border-radius:8px;overflow:hidden;background:#1e3d59;margin:1.25rem 0}\n.dg1cl-grid thead tr{background:#1e3a5f}\n.dg1cl-grid thead th{font-size:10px;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#f0f3f6;font-weight:500;padding:.6rem .9rem;text-align:left;border-right:1px solid #2a4f6a;border-bottom:1px solid #2a4f6a}\n.dg1cl-grid thead th:last-child{border-right:none}\n.dg1cl-grid tbody tr:nth-child(even){background:#1a3650}\n.dg1cl-grid tbody tr:hover{background:#253d52}\n.dg1cl-grid tbody td{padding:.7rem .9rem;font-size:14px;color:#eee;border-right:1px solid #2a4f6a;border-bottom:1px solid #2a4f6a;vertical-align:top;line-height:1.55}\n.dg1cl-grid tbody tr:last-child td{border-bottom:none}\n.dg1cl-grid tbody td:last-child{border-right:none}\n.dg1cl-name{font-weight:600;color:#e8edf2;display:block;margin-bottom:.2rem}\n.dg1cl-url{font-size:13px;color:#ff004c !important;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:none}\n.dg1cl-url:hover{color:#7a1830 !important;text-decoration:underline}\n.dg1cl-grid a{color:#!important;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:none}\n.dg1cl-grid a:hover{text-decoration:underline}\n.dg1cl-badge{display:inline-block;font-size:10px;font-weight:600;letter-spacing:.05em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:2px 9px;border-radius:20px;white-space:nowrap}\n.dg1cl-badge.invite{background:#1e3a5f;color:#8fa8be;border:1px solid #2a4f6a}\n.dg1cl-badge.experiment{background:#2d1f3a;color:#9FFF;border:1px solid #4a2d6a}\n<\/style>\n\n<table class=\"dg1cl-grid\">\n  <thead>\n    <tr>\n      <th style=\"width:120px\">Constellation<\/th>\n      <th>Description<\/th>\n      <th>Access<\/th>\n    <\/tr>\n  <\/thead>\n  <tbody>\n    <tr>\n      <td>\n        <span class=\"dg1cl-name\">Dgen<\/span>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/d.cl8.io\" class=\"dg1cl-url\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">d.cl8.io<\/a>\n      <\/td>\n      <td>Gavin&#8217;s personal network* &#8211; the original Constellation. People working across data, policy, climate, technology, arts and culture.<\/td>\n      <td><span class=\"dg1cl-badge invite\">Invite only<\/span><\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n    <tr>\n      <td>\n        <span class=\"dg1cl-name\">EMF Camp<\/span>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/emfcamp.cl8.io\" class=\"dg1cl-url\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emfcamp.cl8.io<\/a>\n      <\/td>\n      <td>An experiment at one of the best events in the world &#8211; connecting the amazing <a href=\"http:\/\/emfcamp.org\" class=\"dg1cl-url\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EMF<\/a> community. Open to EMF Camp attendees and alumni.<\/td>\n      <td><span class=\"dg1cl-badge experiment\">Experimental<\/span><\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n    <tr>\n      <td>\n        <span class=\"dg1cl-name\">Norma<\/span>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/norma.cl8.io\" class=\"dg1cl-url\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">norma.cl8.io<\/a>\n      <\/td>\n      <td>An experiment connecting data and AI professionals looking to meet, share and collaborate. Open to those interested.<\/td>\n      <td><span class=\"dg1cl-badge expert\">Expert Network<\/span><\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n      <tr>\n      <td>\n        <span class=\"dg1cl-name\">Icebreaker One<\/span>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/ib1.io\" class=\"dg1cl-url\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ib1.io<\/a>\n      <\/td>\n      <td>An expert community for those working on climate change, sustainable finance, energy, water and data. Open to anyone to apply.<\/td>\n      <td><span class=\"dg1cl-badge expert\">Expert Network<\/span><\/td>\n    <\/tr>\n  <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*NB: the Dgen Constellation is invite-only, but feel free to ping me if you&#8217;d like to join. If you&#8217;re reading this it&#8217;s quite likely we know each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By joining any Constellation you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/d.cl8.io\/terms\">Code of Conduct<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/d.cl8.io\/terms#privacy\">Privacy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/d.cl8.io\/terms\">Terms<\/a> to keep everyone clear and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To learn more about <em>why<\/em> Constellations exists, read some of my thinking in this <a href=\"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/2026\/05\/12\/constellation\/\">introduction post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> Less noise, more signal: a quick note on what it isn&#8217;t<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Constellation is a <em>social directory<\/em> and a way to connect. It&#8217;s not a &#8216;social network&#8217; where you can interact with, &#8216;like&#8217;, comment on things: that&#8217;s already out there and all over the place. In some Constellations there may be a link to a Signal group on the home page, if members want that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s also not a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool, nor is it tracking your data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We all have enough noise already so it&#8217;s quiet by design. If you use it once a year to find someone interesting, then we&#8217;ve succeeded. I originally built it for me, to help me better understand what my friends were interested in (we all lose track over the years).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your profile<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you join, you set up a <strong>Profile<\/strong> with your name, and optional information (a short bio, a photo, your location, links to your personal sites and social media accounts). You can add tags that describe what you do, what you&#8217;re interested in, and things you&#8217;d like to connect around. Everything is editable any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can make your profile <strong>visible<\/strong> to other members or <strong>hidden<\/strong> if you&#8217;d rather. Hidden profiles still exist (you can still search for other visible people or yourself, and you still appear to the admin), but you don&#8217;t show up to other members in the directory or any visualisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your profiles should only reveal contact details that are <strong>already public<\/strong> (e.g. link to your website, LinkedIn, Mastodon, etc). No tracking cookies are used (there&#8217;s only a session cookie for your login).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tags<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tags<\/strong> are the connective tissue of constellations. For example, by adding &#8220;open data&#8221;, &#8220;dogs&#8221;, &#8220;being a parent&#8221;, &#8220;sculpture&#8221;, &#8220;fish and chips&#8221; tags can be used to connect with anyone else with the same tag. As you type it will autocomplete to suggests existing tags, so you can join an existing tag trend rather than starting a new one. Any new tags you create get added to the shared vocabulary for everyone else. The admin has the ability to merge tags if\/when things get too complicated\/messy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some tags are <strong>Special<\/strong>. They will show up in a distinct colour to mark something special, specific groups, project, or invitations. If you have one, you&#8217;ll see it styled differently on your profile and you can add it to your profile if you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finding people<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The member<strong> Directory<\/strong> is the main view on the left of the screen. You can search by name, organisation, or tag, and combine filters. For example, people tagged with &#8220;open data&#8221; AND\/OR &#8220;policy&#8221;. There&#8217;s also an <strong>open to work<\/strong> filter for any members who&#8217;ve flagged that they&#8217;re available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your account: visible, hidden, paused or deleted<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can manage your account at any time through the website or via the link at the bottom of any email sent. You can <em>pause your account<\/em> (which stops notifications), <em>hide your profile<\/em> temporarily, or <em>delete the whole account<\/em> permanently. Deleting removes your profile and tags from the directory permanently (you can reapply to join, but it won&#8217;t have your old data).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What if I am in more than one Constellation?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, you can connect your profiles across Constellations. Just log into the one you&#8217;d like to be the Master and click that button on your profile. Then log into the one you want to sync from the Master and click the &#8220;Link&#8221; button from your profile edit page, enter the URL of the Master Constellation and it&#8217;ll guide you through the rest.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Constellation (visualisation)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\" src=\"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-300x160.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8319 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-1024x545.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-830x442.jpg 830w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-230x122.jpg 230w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-350x186.jpg 350w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612-480x256.jpg 480w, https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dgen-Constellation-20260612.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Linked from the menu, the <strong>Constellation<\/strong> is a live visualisation based on members who have made themselves visible. Each member appears a stars and is connected to others by their shared tags: the closer two members are clustered the more tags they share. You can toggle their photos on, scale node size, and adjust the &#8216;reach&#8217; of connections to see denser or sparser groupings. Switch into <strong>Tag mode<\/strong> to view the same map with tags as the nodes instead of members (which can get quite busy). It&#8217;s a useful way to spot who you might want to connect with.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Events (optional)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Members <strong>may<\/strong> get invited (this can <em>only<\/em> be done by the admin) to <strong>events<\/strong> like salon evenings, a meet-up, co-bidding, or just for a constellation coffee and a chat. Event all have a date, time, and location (which may be online or in-person). You can RSVP <strong>yes<\/strong>, <strong>no<\/strong>, or <strong>maybe<\/strong> straight from the home page. Some events may have two date options and you can mark your availability for one or both: the <em>admin<\/em> sees the breakdown and finalises a date when there&#8217;s a clear direction. You&#8217;ll get an email when an event is open for RSVPs and you can change your response any time before the event happens. The tool shouldn&#8217;t add more noise &#8211; it&#8217;s designed to do as little as possible to aid connections and then get out of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Feed (optional)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If it&#8217;s enabled, the menu will have a <strong>Feed<\/strong>, which is an aggregated stream of posts from members who have linked their <a href=\"https:\/\/broadside.dgen.net\/\">Broadside<\/a> bindery. It&#8217;s a single place to see what <strong><em>people in the constellation<\/em><\/strong> are writing about across their social media feeds (e.g. Mastodon, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, others tbc). You can filter by platform, and a condensed version appears on the home page so you can glance at what&#8217;s new without leaving the directory: clicking through takes you straight to the social media platform in question. Its purpose it to help reduce the noise and help tune into people you want to connect with. We&#8217;re exploring how this might best work (e.g. filtering on tags). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Constellations are an invitation-only social directories. They are a place where people can connect, share what they are interested in, get a sense of who&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1894","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PfJFK3-uy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1894"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8386,"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1894\/revisions\/8386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}