[Freedombox-discuss] UK [redecentralize] FLOSS4P2P: Call for Participation

Wed Feb 18 10:19:14 UTC 2015

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Freedombox advocates are invited to A 2-day London workshop, at Fab
Lab London, from the 16th to the 17th of March 2015.  The gathering is
for FLOSS projects that are building infrastructure for peer
production and organization, with a focus on distributed platforms.
Scholarships to attend are offered to grassroots communities.

** Context **

We know that the Internet was originally decentralized, with protocols
and services built by hackers. However, with the arrival of the
celebrated Web 2.0, centralization and corporations proprietary
platforms seem to have taken over. Moreover, this centralized
structure is used by governments to increase surveillance (following
Snowden’s revelations), to blackout internet whenever it is needed
(e.g. Egypt, Syria, or San Francisco’s BART) or to choke annoying
activist organizations (such as Wikileaks).

On the other hand, in the last few years we have seen the emergence of
Internet-enabled collaborative communities building shared libre/ open
resources. Commons-based Peer to Peer Production (CBPP) is rapidly
growing: not just for software and encyclopedias, but also for
information (OpenStreetMap, Wikihow), hardware (FabLabs, Open Source
Ecology), accommodation (Couchsurfing) and currency (Bitcoin,
Altcoins).

In the last few years, it has become clear to many that it is not
enough to develop free/libre/open source (FLOSS) alternatives, but we
also need to re-decentralize the Internet. Many initiatives are being
undertaken under this premise (e.g. Ethereum, Diaspora, OwnCloud,
MediaGoblin, Sandstorm). These new software tools may also be useful
to boost CBPP communities further. In this workshop, we will gather
those working around the decentralized FLOSS that could help CBPP/P2P
communities. Hackers, academics, activists and interested stakeholders
are welcome.

**When**

March 16-17th 2015

**Where**

Fab Lab London

http://fablablondon.org

**Call for Proposals**

We welcome proposals for:

    Lightning talks (2m-5m): summarise your idea & receive feedback

    Show & Tell presentations (20m): explain your project/tech/
    research

    Tutorials on software tools (1h)

Please email: lu.yang at surrey.ac.uk with your idea/proposals.

The workshop will have both presentations and unconference-style
participatory dynamics for finding points of collaboration and
extraction of conclusions.

** Topics **

    Focus on FLOSS software with some of the following features:

        Social: communication

            e.g. social-networking, microblogging, reworked email

        Social: collaboration

            e.g. wikis, pads, wave, shared file hosting, multimedia
            repositories

        Alternative to proprietary choices
        Federated / Distributed / Interoperable
        Open Standards
        Secure / Encrypted
        Encouraging Peer Production communities
        Encouraging the construction/maintenance of Commons

    Potential cases for discussion:

        Diaspora (federated social network)
        Wave (federated real-time collaboration)
        Lorea (federated social network)
        DarkWallet (distributed wallet & social network)
        Ethereum (P2P infrastructure)
        MaidSafe (P2P infrastructure)
        Sandstorm.io (facilitates federated sw)
        Mailpile (encripted email)
        MediaGoblin (federated multimedia repository)
        OwnCloud (file hosting)

        … (your case)

** Scholarships **

There are a few scholarships for potential participants who wish to
attend the event. The scholarship will cover participant’s travel and
subsistence cost, up to €400. If you are interested in applying for
the scholarship, please email: lu.yang at surrey.ac.uk before 28
February 2015, with a paragraph stating why you think your FLOSS is
relevant, plus a short bio. Priority will be given to those with low
resources, innovative FLOSS within the topics of the call, and being
a grassroot community.

** More **