Federated open source tools for community groups

@Yasuaki Kudo if 'federated open source tools for community groups' existed then they could potentially cut a lot of 'middle people' out of the chain and provide numerous benefits to suppliers and customers ...

@Oli SB yes and this is a sweet spot for cooperatives! The technology is more democratized by the day - with ChatGPT and all it is easier than ever to program our own systems. If we also add the cooperative and mindset in which we treat this as a happy public festival, we can create zero-middlemen systems 😄.

I want to invest my efforts to such systems because even if we don't get paid directly by developing and running such systems, we will be also its user - our cooperative will offer our own services through the matching system and will get contracts 😄😄

@Ivana this is a great point. User research is key. Once we have surveyed the existing tools and worked out what's already out there... and what might be be possible, a survey of user needs with existing community groups would be essential before building anything. Maybe we could even kick that off sooner rather than later...

@Yasuaki Kudo you lost me here! Is "FederalSystemX" an existing thing, or is this a proposal / new idea...?

@Ivana this is a great example of how the 'app' we're imagining could be used - I like the 'CrowdEverything' concept. I will add notes on this to the Doc :)

@mike_hales thanks a lot for this. 2 is a critical point which the proposal did not make clear, so I have expanded on the 'ease of use' point to make it clear what types of skills should be required to install the app on a server... (removing references to Wordpress):

Ease of use - be simple to install (on a server) so that anyone with basic web admin skills can install the ‘app’ and run a node - i.e. anyone who is comfortable setting up a domain via DNS and able to set up a database and host code on a server and add plugins via the GUI, not only those with SysAdmin skills

Plus, I've added in a point about moderation, because you're right, this is a different thing:

Accommodates easy moderation / community facilitation, so that anyone without tech skills can host and manage a group, once it is set up (installed on a server)

Thanks everyone for such great feedback on this - and all the comments in the Doc, which I have tried to incorporate ... let's keep sharing idea, it's so much easier and more rewarding to do this together :)

So far, my big discoveries from this are https://gebiedonline.nl (which seems to be exactly what we're aiming for - but isn't open source or federated) and https://movim.eu/ (which doesn’t offer the local communities tools but does have a lot of other useful functionality and is open source and federated so could be a contender for building on / alongside...)

TBC - in Cooperation!

Oli

@Oli SB sorry just an imaginary system😅 - I was thinking how we could realistically develop something useful while minimizing cost and commitment.

How can we create an engaging and fun environment in which people can rapidly experiment something together and let things evolve naturally?

Then I imagined what it might look like 😄

Great discussion. Im involved in apiece of work currently which is all about digital exclusion, and I'm learning a lot about the issues involved. So, while I'm a supporter of using the tech to enable and empower communities, I just want to put down a marker to make clear that it needs to be done with great care, cognisant of the significant numbers of people who will not be actively participating through digital tools and platforms.

> comfortable setting up a domain via DNS and able to set up a database and host code on a server and add plugins via the GUI

Doesn’t describe me, for example (the DNS and code hosting parts) %-/ This still sounds the wrong side of geek to me. Let’s be as plain as we can about about how open ‘open app’ systems in fact can be? There are gatekeepers, skill barriers and differences of life orientation that end up being informal regimes of power if we’re not VERY careful. good luck.