sammy gwilym

programmer + illustrator. One half of worm-blossom. Working on peer-to-peer storage, macro systems, and comics. 🏳️‍⚧️

worm-blossom: https://worm-blossom.org
Willow protocol: https://willowprotocol.org
My site: https://gwil.garden
Pronouns: she/her

Last Notes

2026-09-11 22:07:05 UTC

https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w37 “hinged”
This week, Aljoscha details his Sufficiently Good Media Formats. Sammy has several theories. And links, music, and contributions from friends of the site.
Illustration contributed from https://youjung-noh.com/
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/117/254/679/797/052/365/original/be23ba005ee574aa.png

2026-08-28 14:31:32 UTC

https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w35
This week, Sammy argues that always-online peers are more than just servers, okay? Aljoscha has a lot on his plate. And we have shout-outs for improvements to the Willow test vectors and Sneakerweb.
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/117/173/616/157/167/506/original/f99c20185aa91f7e.png

2026-08-21 16:36:57 UTC

https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w34
This week we announce Pillow, our collaboration with @npub1a2z…v48a! Sammy tells us what it's all about (and there’s a video). Aljoscha details his WTP deliberations. And the pandas share what they've been listening to.
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/117/134/473/139/729/157/original/bb4742f935eee7d3.png

2026-07-24 14:32:14 UTC

https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w30
This week, Aljoscha is really on holiday! So Sammy takes a maximalist approach to decorating the place, Emmy returns for a guest article, and there are shout-outs, reviews, and a good link. Mm-hmm.
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/975/438/000/330/999/original/b011e38693de3e2d.jpeg

2026-07-16 05:13:26 UTC

8yo: Why couldn’t Einstein build a wall?
Me: I don’t know, why couldn’t he build a wall?
8yo: Because he only had *ein* *stein*.
Me: Ha, good one.
Me: … so you know who Einstein is?
8yo: yeah he’s the guy who tried to make a robot out of dead people

2026-07-14 09:54:28 UTC

- reply

imo ‘local-first’ has always felt like a gentrification of p2p

2026-07-11 05:47:09 UTC

https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w28
This week, Sammy and Aljoscha are at DWeb camp, and leave updates to @npub10hr…hhla and @npub1fm9…k240. We even get a guest comic from @npub1urx…v0z4!
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/899/763/275/666/621/original/26666d55dfc98819.jpeg

2026-07-09 22:01:06 UTC

thank you to the girl who came to our demo table tonight to deliver us a sneakerweb file named piss.snk
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/892/268/372/599/105/original/c5c1dc3db0cf6a39.png

2026-07-08 13:56:57 UTC

https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/884/702/307/673/986/original/e5b3146b633c8150.jpeg

2026-07-08 07:25:32 UTC

not leaving this spot until we have taught them all how to torrent
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/883/163/196/036/368/original/ab72140d1273c804.jpeg

2026-07-04 17:03:01 UTC

working on my willow talk while I can hear my 8yo son in the next room inciting a debate between three adults over whether there can be more than one mewtwo

2026-07-04 06:51:51 UTC

https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w27
This week, we release the sneakerweb. Sammy has travelled to Berlin for DWeb camp. Less remarkably, Aljoscha is also in Berlin.
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/860/381/508/097/166/original/efe852c2fce6f7a7.png

2026-02-27 12:28:02 UTC

- reply

It doesn’t have to be federated tiktok either, there’s a slower-paced format that takes advantage of the richness of video waiting out there somewhere

2026-02-08 12:04:30 UTC

lesson learnt
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/034/913/590/334/540/original/f0e94e5fbf622b8e.png

2026-02-03 14:24:42 UTC

https://spectra.video/w/7hsRkrevhuTyV1q1qxkPjM
"Centralised systems were designed with the best of intentions, but were turned against us anyway. And peer-to-peer systems will be exactly the same.
How do we make the next generation of protocols more difficult to weaponise?”
Here’s a clean recording of my #FOSDEM talk “Willow - Protocols for an uncertain future”. This talk was a real labour of love, hope you enjoy it!!!

2026-01-26 11:51:06 UTC

This Sunday at #FOSDEM’26!
Centralised systems were designed with the best of intentions, but were turned against us anyway. And peer-to-peer systems will be exactly the same.
How do we make the next generation of protocols more difficult to weaponise?
This is the lens which I’ll use to look at Willow (https://willowprotocol.org), a family of publicly-funded, open source peer-to-peer protocols. Join me for a presentation of drawings, music, and insight gained from working in p2p for the past six years.
https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/CVGZAV-willow/
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/961/250/634/412/911/original/f9844e35594891a1.jpeg

2024-08-22 23:15:38 UTC

“Every piece of technology contains complex ontological, epistemological, and cosmological assumptions that engineers rarely question. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, and VKontakte in Russia are all based on the same model and the same set of assumptions. The ontological assumption is that society consists of individuals that are like atoms, and you can know the relation between these social atoms by putting a line between two dots, as in graph theory. These assumptions come to dominate our understanding of social relations and social formations, and an engineer would never doubt this or suggest that it’s a fabrication. But from the perspective of anthropology, a society could never emerge from individuals—individuals would already have been eaten by a tiger or a wolf. A society can only begin with groups. It is only with modern individualism that we came to understand society as being composed of atoms. This is only one assumption among many made by the engineers who design our technology.”
https://www.e-flux.com/journal/136/538400/the-call-of-the-unknown-in-art-and-cosmotechnics/