| | 17 | * Contracted software development: includes website, collaborative democracy software, server maintenance '''$5,000''' |
| | 18 | * Coordination staff: Two, part-time organizing positions for 1 year '''$60,000''' |
| | 19 | * Travel: includes fees and travel/accommodation to outreach events as well as travel/accommodation for 6 major Techie Congress events in Paris (April), Mexico (May), Detroit (June), Palestine (October), India (December), and Dakar (January 2011) '''$8,000''' |
| | 20 | * Equipment: ongoing costs for rentals and purchases at events '''$4,000''' |
| | 21 | * Advertising and networking '''$3,000''' |
| 30 | | Seminar |
| | 35 | |
| | 36 | Our proposed seminar for the Thematic Social Forum on Alternatives highlights a crucial aspect of our movement today: the Internet. With over a billion people engaging in a collective activity, today's Internet is one of humanity's largest social movements, reflecting the kind of social interaction and collective achievement activists like us struggle for world-wide: fundamentally collaborative, democratic and based almost entirely on tools and software that has been produced collaboratively, developed by large, democratic communities and distributed freely. It is truly international and resilient against constant attempts to control its direction and curtail its positive growth. |
| | 37 | |
| | 38 | '''Seminar Description''' |
| | 39 | Politically progressive techies from all over the globe will gather together to develop a set of "principles" describing our responsibilities and rights to our movement and the responsibilities and rights it has towards us. Our goal is to publish and distribute these principles through our networks and submit them as a document produced by the Social Forum process. On that basis, we will begin to build the kind of relationships inside the movement that will move us all forward. |
| | 40 | |
| | 41 | '''Logistics''' |
| | 42 | The main session will be a collaboration between Seminar attendees and international participants via the internet. Using a internet-connected laptop and web browser, small groups of 3 - 4 will work face-to-face in a larger, collaborative session. For 2 hours, 10-15 minutes for an introduction, 45 minutes for a collaborative online session, 30 minutes for review and global discussion, and 30 minutes for local discussion and wrap up. Materials needed that can be provided by seminar organizers include enough laptops (supplied by participants or rented) for all groups, projector, microphone, camera, and speakers. Requested support from forum organizers: internet connection. |
| 43 | | == Outreach Events Proposals == |
| 44 | | |
| 45 | | In this gathering, activists will join together to examine and discuss one of the largest, most important and powerful human movement in recent history. |
| 46 | | |
| 47 | | With over a billion people engaging in a collective activity, today's Internet is one of humanity's largest social movements, reflecting the kind of social interaction and collective achievement activists like us struggle for world-wide: fundamentally collaborative, democratic and based almost entirely on tools and software that has been produced collaboratively, developed by large, democratic communities and distributed freely. It is truly international and resilient against constant attempts to control its direction and curtail its positive growth. |
| 48 | | |
| 49 | | Even more inspiring, the Internet has grown in this progressive way against considerable relentless opposition by powerful forces that don't want a "better world" for most of us. As such, it represents one of the progressive movement's most significant and important victories. |
| 50 | | |
| 51 | | In this gathering, we seek to collaboratively write an Internet Justice Bill of Rights. Modeled after our successful workshop at the US Social Forum, we will break the audience into groups of 4 - 5 people. Each group will speak with one voice via a "scribe" who will be tasked with entering the group's proposed rights of the group into a web-based system. A dynamic, projected display of the current state of the Bill of Rights is visible to all. |
| 52 | | |
| 53 | | All ideas belong to the group: any group can edit any Right, whether they wrote the original version or not All revisions of a given Right are stored, but only the most recent edit is projected to the group as a whole. The group which creates a new version of a right automatically endorses that right, but otherwise holds no special connection to it. |
| 54 | | |
| 55 | | Each group also has the ability to endorse any Right that seems worthy. When a Right is edited, existing endorsements are cleared, which requires solicitation of new endorsements for the new version. Rights with more endorsers float to the top, while the rights with fewer endorsers sink to the bottom of the projected list. |
| 56 | | |
| 57 | | To keep the Bill of Rights to a manageable, concise size, only 10 rights can exist at a given time. If 10 rights already exist, the only way to add a new idea to the Bill is to edit an existing right, which requires engaging other groups in a dialog to ensure an adequate number of re-endorsements. |
| 58 | | |
| 59 | | The goal of the session is to examine, through interactive collaboration: |
| 60 | | |
| 61 | | * what the Internet really means for us and our movements; |
| 62 | | * how it models the society we are struggling for; |
| 63 | | * how the way we've developed it serves as a model for how to develop that just society; |
| 64 | | * and finally how we as progressive activists can work inside the Internet to broaden its positive impact and protect the gains we and it have made. |
| | 49 | == Local outreach events == |
| | 88 | |
| | 89 | == Techie Congress Description == |
| | 90 | In this gathering, "techies" (the progressive movement's technologists) will join together to examine and discuss strategies for growing one of the largest, most important and powerful human movement in recent history. |
| | 91 | |
| | 92 | With over a billion people engaging in a collective activity, today's Internet is one of humanity's largest social movements, reflecting the kind of social interaction and collective achievement activists like us struggle for world-wide: fundamentally collaborative, democratic and based almost entirely on tools and software that has been produced collaboratively, developed by large, democratic communities and distributed freely. It is truly international and resilient against constant attempts to control its direction and curtail its positive growth. Techies have been fundamental to this movement and will continue to play an increasingly important role in the progress of humanity. |
| | 93 | |
| | 94 | Even more inspiring, the Internet has grown in this progressive way against considerable relentless opposition by powerful forces that don't want a "better world" for most of us. As such, it represents one of the progressive movement's most significant and important victories. An international Techie Congress seeks to strategize against this growing opposition. |
| | 95 | |
| | 96 | In this gathering, we seek to hold an open space for technologists to collaborate on a set of "principles" for organizing the Internet. Modeled after the Collaborative Democracy Workshop at the first US Social Forum, this event integrates virtual participation with organized in-person events in local venues. At each location, the audience breaks into groups of 4 - 5 people. Each group will speak with one voice via a "scribe" who will be tasked with entering the group's proposals into a web-based system. A dynamic, projected display of the current state of the document is viewable by participants in the room and anyone in the world with access to our website. |
| | 97 | |
| | 98 | All ideas belong to the group: any group can edit any proposal, whether they wrote the original version or not. All revisions of a given proposal are stored, but only the most recent edit is projected to the group as a whole. The group which creates a new version automatically endorses that right, but otherwise holds no special connection to it. |
| | 99 | |
| | 100 | Each group also has the ability to endorse any proposal that seems worthy. When a proposal is edited, existing endorsements are cleared, which requires solicitation of new endorsements for the new version. Proposals with more endorsers float to the top, while the proposals with fewer endorsers sink to the bottom of the projected list. |
| | 101 | |
| | 102 | To keep the document direct and concise, only 10 distinct proposals can exist at a given time. If 10 proposals already exist, the only way to add a new idea to the document is to edit an existing idea, which requires engaging other groups in a dialog to ensure an adequate number of re-endorsements. |
