Summary
On the process of platform migration, near and far and the strategies thereof, as begun by One Free Community (OFC) under the DJ1 collaborative grant.
We recognize that we are not the first to undertake this initiative, but we believe we are uniquely positioned to build and share a framework for documenting and sharing these discoveries to empower our members, our networks, and other online initiatives.
We are slowly working on a document which will outline the three levels of consideration for this project.
Ethos
To connect online is to depend on platforms and tools that transcend geographic distance, but these resources are neither static nor politically neutral. Limitations ebb and flow because we typically reappropriate tools for community-building that might otherwise have been designed for commerce, entertainment, or military purposes. Gathering ethically in online spaces necessitates a repeated and ongoing reconsiliation between the values of gathered members and the intentions, scope, and profit of the institutions who control these resources. Those gathered may only find power in this dynamic if they have the will and capacity to break away from resources that become inaccessible, expensive, or hostile to their interests.
Our name for this project is a play on the name of one of the most obvious and ambivalent resource providers in online spaces today, but it is also a visceral metaphor for unwanted, unneeded bloat (more below under MOTIVATION). It is often easier to start small and build strategies gradually than to assume one can achieve sustainable independence all at once.
We at OFC recognize that we are not the first to undertake such an initiative, and we don’t claim to equal the expertise of others who are positioned to do this work from within software development or security, but we believe we are uniquely positioned to build, document, and share an outsider framework that can empower our members, our networks, and similar initiatives.
Read more on our Ethos Document: Not posted yet. Link will be added here when launched.
Future Plans will be announced as we create them. Check back soon for more.
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