Tag: BBB

Let’s look at corruption in the #EU funding

Think this is too strong a stick to wave around now, but it might be needed down the line. Let’s explore how we might root out or mediate corruption within the #EU, particularly in relation to processes like the #NGI funding programs.

Some recent examples from an #EU #NGI meeting:

Meeting link: NGI Next Steps
You can find similar behaviours in most NGI and EU-funded project meetings.

  • Example 1: The disappearing public input

A horizontal public #BBB (BigBlueButton) online meeting was held. While BBB by default allows all participants access to a shared notepad, in this session the organizers had disabled access. This was likely done by a moderator acting on the assumption that it was “the right thing to do.”

Result: All public contributions were lost in the transitory chat. The only lasting record of the meeting was the hidden private notepad, invisible to the public by design.

  • Example 2: The biased note-taker in a breakout session

In a breakout session, the chair (who is likely a perfectly nice person outside this context) took notes solely based on her own agenda, completely ignoring input from participants. I was (non-directly) rude about this. She became confused and attempted—poorly—to integrate other input, but it was clearly not part of the plan.

Q: Should we have remained silent and allowed her notes—and those from a few other #mainstreaming figures—to become the only official record of the session?

A: Absolutely not.

We need to compost this crap, not add to it. Most of the time, people don’t stop this kind of corrupt process. We need to start doing that more.

What’s at stake? The #NGI has tens of millions of euros at stake in its upcoming funding rounds.
It’s clear that subtle manipulation of meeting records can easily shift the outcomes of who gets funded. Yes, this is basic corruption.

This is basic journalism, and while it’s unlikely anyone would be prosecuted—since most participants are so arrogant they don’t realize they are engaging in corruption—public exposure could damage careers and act as a brake on systemic abuse.

What should be funded? NGI should be funding a tech platform or group specifically tasked with transparency monitoring like this. It’s a powerful stick to wave—and even if we don’t use it immediately, we should have it ready.

I’ll be drafting a project outline soon here: https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/openwebgovernancebody/wiki/Corruption

This view is not arrogance, I should know, having worked at the heart of this mess for 30 years

With the growing influx of #EU funding into the #openweb we will see an increase in #techchurn due to the #geekproblem being feed by #mainstreaming #stupidindividualism of most of the #fashernista who can jump through the bureaucracy gatekeeper hoops.

Hoping for a balance of good vs damage, though the shear blinded arrogance of the vertical crew push us to the damage side. #NGI do not want to see this problem, we as a community need to push back on this for a better outcome

ome examples from a resent #EU #NGI meeting

Example, a horizontal public #BBB meeting where the organizers are the only one who have access to the share notepad space. Note in BBB this is open by default, so a moderator closed it on the assumption that this was the right thing to do. The result, all the public input is lost in the transitory chat.

Let’s look at a second example from the same meeting, the chare (who is likely lovely in person) took notes that were ONLY her agenda, ignoring the meeting input. Yes, I was non-directly rood about this. She was confused and started to try and take the agenda of the meeting badly.

Q. Should we have been silent and let her agenda and a few other #mainstreaming people been the only thing recorded in the minutes, thus the next round of funding?

A. we need to compost this crap, not add to it. Most time people do not STOP this crap process, we need to do this more.

As it said on the side of my blog for the last 10 years:

“A river that needs crossing political and tech – On the political side, there is arrogance and ignorance, on the geek side there is naivety and over complexity”

Orgs such as #NGIzero are unwitting feeding the “geek side there is naivety and over complexity” where the #mainstreaming #NGI are pushing the political side “arrogance and ignorance”

As I have been at the heart of this garden for more than 30 years, I think I have a better voice on this than most. That’s not arrogance, that’s truth 🙂

If you feel like talking shit, please read this first en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_homin

I think the #EU guys find it hard to see how low our apion of the #mainstreaming mess they work in. The #EU people at these events are clearly incompetent on the subject of #openweb (and meany argue life on the planet in general) we all understand this in the grassroots.

If you wonder why grassroots people see the #mainstreaming as children. An example, due to the crap behaver of voting for piss poor politics, we have this boat land to look forward to. To call #mainstreaming incompetent is a clear understatement of the issue, talking to the wide #ngi project here.

We should talk about this survey https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/4opens/wiki/Funding-of-openweb-projects and some of the more scary issues it brining up:

NONE WOULD DO FEEDBACK IN PUBLIC, this is important. The #EU funding has some “terrorism” in the cliques that run it, as people are actually afread that they will lose their livelihood if they speak out about these issues.

Me am “chaotic governance” so I ignore this, but you guys maybe need to take this onboard if you have not already.

A carrot and stick approach is a good path. I see @ngizero as the carrot and us the “community” as the stick. With this leverage, we can push harder for a better balance of good/damage from the funding influx to the #openweb from the #EU

Good to remember here, I am seeing @NGIZero as the solution and not as the problem in what I am talking about #NGI

In the end, my difficulty is that I see the #openweb funding from the #EU being pushed by a “childish” point of view that is hard to respect and that it’s likely to do more damage than good, this we need to fix somehow, if anybody wants to help with child care.

Some things to think about: It’s interesting how the truly aporling behaver of vertical minded people is excused by power (majority vertical) when they act in easy to understand crap ways in horizontal situations. And on the other hand, how the horizontal people are vilified at every point often for simply pointing out how bad the vertical behaver is. We need to look at crap behaver in vertical organizers, as they often do not see themselves shiting over the preceding. Though this act comes ever so naturally to them.

You can see this with the suffrages, the hunger marches, the Spanish Civil War, the Greenham women, the miner’s strike, Corbinisam and just about anywhere you look where the two groups meet.

It’s crap that we keep letting this happen, take note I have near zero tolerances for this!

Positive projects for a better outcome:

* One practical idea is that we do need “chaotic governance” to have a voice unite.openworlds.info/Open-Med

* Better focus on social tech https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/4opens/wiki

And more…