090 #aletsdat
Proposing a new open structure for Datalets, around a set of commitments that invite your feedback and participation.
The previous post outlined a rebase of foundations, and hinted at the set up of a new operating structure. In this draft I am trying to figure out how much structure is actually necessary, sharing my thoughts and ideas on how you could help. But first, let me share an invitation:
We are kicking off on May 4 in Basel with a new format - Hack:Org:X, a founding meeting and a new roundtable series (or Stammtisch, as we say around here) for people who take part in, organize, or just want to improve the scene around hackathons. Sign up for our in-person or virtual events here 🔜 may4basel.dribdat.cc
Beyond that, my plan looks like this:
Opendata.ch is the Swiss chapter (Gemeinnütziger Verein) of Open Knowledge. It is a privilege to serve you on the new board. My base challenge here is to provide a service to the community: through platforms, workshops, accelerators, hackdays. We are interested in other formats and new strategies to broadly include people in data industries and digital policy, and to respond to global issues. But, we also know there is a TON of room for improvement in the formats we have. I would like to see us pour even more open data fuel into the furnace of next-generation tools for civic participation.
DRIBD@ (dri·b·dət) is a tech group and new cooperative (Genossenschaft) to build on dribdat, which extends the wikis and other collaborative tools at Opendata.ch, ONIA, and elsewhere. We aim to improve and provide guidance on platforms, support a wide variety of hackathons, as well as other time-limited collaborative, educational formats. Today we create value through code maintenance, and the caring archival of the outputs of artist, activist, and student communities. The long term vision of this data cooperative may be to establish our collective, mandated, perceived, collaborative time as a new data class.
Aletsdat (alĕtsdä′t) is a legal entity (GmbH) anchored in sustainable values, governed by the cooperative, to support the proactive dissemination of prototypes, code and data that leverages design-by-community. It builds on my decade of freelance work rebooted as a fully employee-owned company. A founding mission of Aletsdat would be to build digital experiences to support DRIBD@ and other open data projects.
Post here or write me a note if you would like to get on board, or have things for us to work on.
