FLOSS4P2P: distributed FLOSS for communities (London, March) - Wiki-research-l

18 Feb 2015

*FLOSS4P2P: Call for Participation*

A 2-day London workshop in March, gathering *FLOSS projects* that are
building software 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(a)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(a)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 **