An #openweb organic intellectual,technologist and part of the #OMN
There’s an old rot in the heart of European tech policy – and it’s not just from the corporate lobbies. It’s also sprouting from the well-funded, #NGO-flavoured corners of what should have been grassroots. A contradiction that tells us everything we need to know about how broken the current #EU #mainstreaming crew and paths are. … Continue reading Composting the EU Tech Mess: From #NLnet to #Eurostack
With the hard shift to the right in US tech, Europe can no longer afford to sit idly by in tech development. The myth of neutrality has always been a convenient lie—if we don’t actively counterbalance this shift, we risk watching the #FOSS and #openweb movements collapse, taking with them a core pillar of our … Continue reading #NLnet #EU #NGI #NGIzero – Will we get it right this time?
User-Operated Internet Fund “Software is eating the world. Maybe the world ought to consider biting back” let’s talk about the #geekproblem by looking at https://nlnet.nl/useroperated/ With the focus on “Individual autonomy” it gets off to a bad start as the WWW/internet is a group project, made up of meany different groups of people. The is … Continue reading The problem we face with funding – nlnet
The big question need to be highlighted: where will pressure for meaningful regulation of #dotcons algorithmic monopolies actually come from? Right now, it’s hard to see. Lawmakers generally have a poor grasp of the real problems, decades behind on both the tech and its corrosive social consequences. Most legislation we get is either pre-packaged by … Continue reading Where’s the Resistance to Algorithmic Monopolies?
It’s good to see events like #NGIFORUM2025 as it’s trying to be on the path of the #Fediverse and the wider #openweb reboot which are real forces for social good, messy, hopeful, and grounded in decades of grassroots digital culture, which we do need to support. BUT we also need to speak honestly, as these … Continue reading NGIFORUM2025 is timidly touching sense
In the sprouting landscape of #openweb infrastructure, it’s not just code that gets ignored, it’s the possibility of change itself. Projects like #makeinghistory, part of the wider Open Media Network (#OMN), aren’t asking for much. They’re not flashy. They’re not political in the #mainstreaming sense. They just quietly build the back-end tools that allow people … Continue reading The wall of funding silence
Dear Michiel, At this point, it’s hard not to notice a pattern. You’ve received clear, thoughtful proposals aligned with your calls – yet no real engagement, year after year. I’ve said this gently before: your call-out text needs to be composted. If you’re not funding alternative, open, activist infrastructure – just say that. Don’t lead … Continue reading Composting the reboot funding
We’ve got a new bunch of #mainstreaming tech devs flooding into the #Fediverse. Some from burned-out Big Tech, some from the academic funding circuits, some just looking for the next shiny project after the #AI hype wore thin. Now, this could be good. IF even a few of them started working on native, grassroots tech … Continue reading We need to shape native paths, not recreate #fashionista ones with shinier branding
All the #OMN projects I’ve worked on over the years, from #OGB to #indymediaback, are not directly about social change. They are about creating the possibility of social change. A subtle, but critical difference. We don’t claim to have the answers. What we do offer are tools, networks, and processes that make it easier for … Continue reading A letter from the margins of the #openweb
The #4opens is a completely obverse social restating of the #FOSS development model — but with a critical edition: The return of #openprocess, something we’ve lost over the last 10 years due to the shift from public email archives to our reliance on encrypted chat. With this in mind, what is still #blocking the #openweb … Continue reading Can people engage with the #4opens process?
The current political and economic systems don’t just sustain the mess, we are drowning in them. Every major institution, from governments to corporations, actively pushes crisis after crisis, while refusing to deal with the root causes of the disasters they create. For decades, politicians across the spectrum have fuelled endless wars and military interventions, while … Continue reading Escaping the #Mainstreaming Mess: A Call to Real Change
To balance the current #mainstreaming outreach in the #Fediverse, we need to rally support for native grassroots projects. These empower underrepresented voices and strengthen community-driven networks. With funding applications submitted to NLnet, we invite your comments, feedback, and wide sharing of these proposals. Here’s an overview of the projects: A collaborative effort to create a … Continue reading Supporting Native Grassroots Projects in the Fediverse