Hiraeth and Hashtags: Building a Bilingual Community on the Fediverse

Explore the journey of building and sustaining a bilingual Welsh-English community on the Fediverse. Reflect on the cultural and linguistic motivations behind the service, the challenges of promoting Welsh language use in digital spaces, and the practicalities of moderation, onboarding, and community cohesion in a decentralised environment.Delve into the ways hashtags and local news help foster engagement, while also addressing the tension between global platforms and local relevance. By highlighting the unique role of toot.wales in supporting a vibrant, inclusive Welsh-speaking online space, the talk hopes to offer insights for others nurturing regional or linguistic communities on the Fediverse.