Ludovision is a lightweight, client-side tool that streams and displays real-time images uploaded to the Bluesky social media platform via its firehose. Designed as a proof of concept, Ludovision highlights the fragility of privacy through obscurity and serves as a reminder of the digital footprints we leave behind online.
- Real-Time Streaming: Scroll infinitely through images and videos uploaded to Bluesky in real-time.
- Video Support: Watch videos directly in the feed and gallery with HTML5 native controls.
- Interactive Viewer: Click any image or video to view it in a larger modal with profile access.
- Enhanced Gallery View: Browse a user's complete media collection with automatic pagination and continuous navigation.
- Media Type Filtering: Toggle images and videos independently to customize your viewing experience.
- Lazy Loading: Media loads only when scrolled into view, optimizing bandwidth and performance.
- Intelligent Navigation: When reaching the end of loaded content, more is automatically fetched.
- Media Deduplication: Smart filtering prevents duplicate content from appearing in galleries.
- Error Recovery: User-friendly error handling with automatic retries and clear feedback.
- No Server Required: Runs entirely client-side for full transparency.
- Zero Tracking: No data collection or analytics of any kind.
- No External Dependencies: Self-contained with no remote code loading.
Ludovision connects directly to the Bluesky firehose API and processes public image and video data to display it in a simple, scrollable interface. Videos are detected from app.bsky.embed.video embeds and streamed using HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) with native HTML5 video players. It leverages minimal JavaScript to provide functionality without requiring any external dependencies or backend server.
The project is named Ludovision as a nod to A Clockwork Orange's Ludovico Technique—a scene where the protagonist is subjected to aversion therapy. Similarly, scrolling through this unfiltered firehose of images serves as a vivid reminder of how public and permanent our online actions are.
Ludovision was built to:
- Demonstrate how easy it is to aggregate and parse public data.
- Raise awareness of the digital footprints we leave behind on social platforms.
- Explore the concept of privacy through obscurity and its inherent fragility.
This project is an experiment and is not intended for production use or deployment in a live environment.
Ludovision is a tool for exploring publicly available data and does not:
- Store any data locally or remotely.
- Track user activity in any form.
- Interact with any servers by default other than the Bluesky firehose
- Ludovision will accept an auth token for Gallery view. This will identify your activity with Bluesky servers when using Gallery view only. Use caution.
To use Ludovision locally, clone the repository and open the index.html file in your browser.
‼️ I HIGHLY recommend opening this file in Private Browsing Mode or Incognito.
- A modern browser (tested on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari).
- Access to the Bluesky firehose API.
- (Optional) A Bluesky auth pair for enabling the full gallery view.
QUICK START: No installation is required. Download the zip, decompress, and open index.html (preferrably in a private window). That's it.
- Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/msitarzewski/ludovision.git
- Open the project folder:
cd ludovision - Launch the tool by opening
index.htmlin your browser:open index.html
- Optional:
Modify default image size, token, etc.
cp settings-dist.js settings.js
To enable the full gallery view of an image owner's account:
-
Locate the
bsky_identifierandbsky_appPasswordvariables in the settings.js file (see above). -
Replace null with your Bluesky identifier and App Password.
const bsky_identifier = null; const bsky_appPassword = null;
Note: see https://bsky.app/settings/app-passwords for more details
-
Save the changes and reload the file in your browser.
`CANCEL` to be redirected to Bluesky
Note: You can override this warning in settings.js
Images and videos stream in real time from the firehose. Videos display with a play button overlay. We use a lazy loading technique to show only the media you've scrolled to or that have already appeared in the viewport. This saves a ton of bandwidth and makes the experience snappy.
You can adjust the media preview size in the header from between 32px and 512px on the fly. You can set a default value in settings.js, otherwise it's 128px.
You can also filter media types in the settings panel - toggle images and videos on/off independently.
The header also shows status. Today that's simply the number of media items that have been loaded into the feed.
Click any image or video to open the Feed modal.
Videos auto-play when the modal opens. You can control whether they start muted in the settings panel (default: muted).
View Profile to open Bluesky to the user's profile page
If Bluesky authentication is enabled, you can also click View Gallery to see the rest of the media in the user's profile.
Note: You can use the space bar to launch the Gallery View. ESC will close the current modal
Click any image or video to view.
Close (or ESC) to close the modal
View Profile to open Bluesky to the user's profile page
Note: You can use the space bar to launch the Gallery Media Modal with the first item. ESC will close the current modal.
L/R Arrows and W/D keys navigate the media while in Gallery Media Mode. When you reach the end of loaded items, Ludovision automatically fetches more from the user's profile. If no more media is available, navigation loops back to the first item.
Close (or ESC) to close the modal
When browsing through a gallery with arrow keys, Ludovision automatically loads more media when you reach the end of the currently loaded set. If no more content is available from the user's profile, navigation will loop back to the first item.
Media is loaded only when it's about to enter your viewport, saving bandwidth and improving performance. Videos use preload="none" to minimize data usage.
The gallery automatically filters out duplicate content, ensuring you don't see the same images or videos multiple times.
Videos automatically pause when they leave the viewport to conserve resources. When you close a modal or navigate away from a video, it's properly stopped and unloaded to free memory.
Toggle images and videos on/off independently in the settings panel. Choose to view only images, only videos, or both.
A subtle loading indicator appears when fetching more content, replacing the full-screen dimming effect for a less intrusive experience.
If an error occurs while loading media, you'll see a user-friendly message with the option to retry.
- Enhance the interface for better usability.
- Add filters to categorize or exclude specific content.
- Expand support for additional social media APIs (as appropriate).
- Raise awareness about digital privacy and security through further experiments.
This project is intended for educational and awareness purposes only. Respect platform terms of service and user privacy when using or replicating this project.
This project is licensed under the Unlicense.