[Flow Funding] IRC Meeting log - 16 March 2013

[Alexandre Hannud Abdo]

Ni!

Hi everyone,

I'm really sorry I could not participate in the meeting although I did
confirm the time was good for me and had it scheduled in my calendar.

I'll try to respond below to the questions and concerns that were
raised, I'll try to put in some extra effort so hopefully this will be
as useful as me being there =)

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[2013-03-16 17:04:38] <TSB_UK> Ok, could each of you share a little bit
about yourselves  (name, country and interests)?


Ale, Brazil.

In the context of flow funding I'm particularly interested in art and
activism.

I think from these areas come ideas that would find a harder time going
through other channels, not only because of their nature but even mostly
because of the anti-bureaucracy attitude from those involved.

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[2013-03-16 17:09:07] <TSB_UK> Could you share some of your flow funding
recent activities, describing opportunities and challenges identified so
far?


I have been talking to people who are planning their own projects, not
necessarily related to Wikimedia, and provoking them to think how to
incorporate a free knowledge perspective in them.

One project is a photographer who is preparing to crowd fund a project
to bike the whole of Brazil and create a photo book about bikers and
bike culture around the country.

Good news is I already convinced him to release part of the material as
CC-BY-SA, and I haven't even told him that I have money from Flow
Funding yet.

Another group I'm talking to organizes a collaborative urban art
festival in downtown São Paulo, some of them are considering having
their artwork establish a conversation with the Wikimedia projects.
Perhaps something similar to what people have been doing with QR-Codes
in museums and monuments, but more provoking/creative/artsy.

Finally, I'm getting this feeling that there is some deep power in using
Flow Funding to seduce crowd funded cultural projects towards free
knowledge. It may carry some issues and must be done with care, but at
the very least crowd funding sites are a good place to look for
opportunities.

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[2013-03-16 17:25:01] <TSB_UK> What kind of projects have no chance in
GAC or in IEG?


I think more in terms of what kind of people and contexts have no chance
getting through the GAC.

I don't think there are specific projects the GAC would outright refuse,
but there are people who would not or do not have the skills or time to
take their chances in a more lengthy and bureaucratic process.

And I partly hope that after getting resources and familiarity from the
Flow Funding these people will start seeing the GAC as a possibility.

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[2013-03-16 17:29:34] <TSB_UK> And what is everyone's opinion on the
discussion about flow funders being more reactive than proactive
(waiting for proponents to submit ideas instead of proactively
identifying new projects)?


I think it seems so but it ain't so.

It is much quicker to make a reactive approach visible. Proactive things
are happening but they surface at a slower pace.

In any case, the best route, which I'm taking, is combining both.

Look for projects ourselves, but have a landing page that others can
pass around to get to you.

I recently started mine, you can check it out here (in Portuguese):

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Solstag/Fluxo

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Regarding conflicts of interest, I share Lila's difficulties.

It is very natural for us to get involved in the projects we want to fund.

One advantage of Flow Funding is to get people who are farther away from
the movement, and those people need guidance more than others.

So it even sounds counterproductive that we don't get involved.

So I think it is one thing to propose the project or get financially
rewarded for it, and another thing to simply provide guidance.

And also the conflict rule cannot be too broad, since the ideal flow
funder has extensive knowledge of outreach he will necessarily be at the
epicenter of free culture movements and it is very very unlikely that
projects will not be somewhat related to friends.

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Regarding the progress of the flow, I agree we need some more time and
new members won't solve the slow pace of it.

The Flow Funding process took a long time to get approved and in motion.

Once it did, it was a very different moment in our lives than when we
first volunteered.

For me, it took a long while before I could actually dedicate any time
to Flow Funding at all.

Still today I'm reluctant about even joining the mailing list, but I'll
take the risk and ask TSB to add me now =)

(please still reply to this thread with me copied as it may take a while
until he adds!)

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Thanks for reading all the way to down here ;D

Hugs,

ale
.~´