- CTP Tech Partners - lists.gfsc.studio

REstarting tech partners meetup
by Kim Foale 19 Jan '26

19 Jan '26

Hey friends, Happy new year! Hope you had some proper rest over December. I'm getting back into the swing of GFSC stuff and wanted to see if there's still an appetite for the tech partners catch-ups. Quick reminder of the mission which we have now refined over the last few months: *GFSC are a collective helping communities use technology to do community stuff*. The original aim of these meetings was to clarify what we're all offering to local groups and how our work fits together and how we might collectively promote it - I think that's what we've been doing on the blog, it's still valuable, and I'd love to pick it back up with you. The original aim of these meetings was to clarify what we're all offering to local groups and how our work fits together. I think it's worth picking back up because *the more community groups we can get using and commissioning open source/FLOSS tools, the more work there is for all of us*. Right now community orgs default to big tech or expensive proprietary systems because there isnt' enough advocacy or support for alternatives, but right now there is an increasing appetite to get off corporate services and a big communications gap with using community-led tech. If we can build that demand together it creates leads and opportunities for all of us and hopfully takes some small steps towards our overall goal of post billionare technology :) I've got funding from the Disrupt Foundation to work on this more proactively now, so I can actually lead on things rather than it being another thing we're all squeezing in around the edges. Part of what I'm working on is putting together a new National Lottery Community Fund bid to fund this work properly going forward, and I'd love your input on how that shapes up. Cabbage.gay here for availability: https://cabbage.gay/meeting/3HfoKDLGqp#34ed064d94900ebe8172f8d07c3f00565ca2… Here's the full Disrupt application for context if you want to see where my head's at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xY8VPHg5QOsxJGEYI8osgPrJ_1lv2S48h97QmmZ… No pressure if capacity isn't there right now - feel free to let me know what you need directly. PS - if anyones in Manchester at any point I would love to meet up and have these chats IRL! Kim -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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A lil update
by Kim Foale 07 Jan '26

07 Jan '26

Heya all, I'm beavering away on the next bid with Nikki and Kerry (the latter I don't think you've met). I'll share the whole bid when it's more done but the title right now is: "The Ally Project: Enabling Collaboration. Building emotionally, technically and economically sustainable networks, that address the specific health inequity challenges communities face, positively influencing the future of communities and address the specific challenges communities face.". The title comes from the three strands of making things technologically, economically and socially sustainable. I'm trying to get the narrative for the GFSC bit together. I've outlined below what I think this group is. Does this sound right? Comment/suggestions/additions/praise? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CusU83kCjBT3O0ZJEsVgJF1rXwV5knTh8pqOtYN… I'll send another email about it but if anyone's able to take over convening this meeting please do get in touch - I'm just out of capacity for anything non-essential. Kim -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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london freelance security consult ive been asked to share
by Kim Foale 13 Aug '25

13 Aug '25

from a friend of a friend who is keen for this to go to a queer or trans person as she will be working with you. happy to put anyone in touch who is interested: https://careers.natcapresearch.com/jobs/6242544-it-contractor/b1ac71eb-c814… -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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mission statement + reminder of meeting next week
by Kim Foale 30 Jul '25

30 Jul '25

heya all, just a reminder we are meeting next tue 29th at 12:30. its got a bit quiet and some people have said its a bad time for them so may do a doodle if people cant make this one. join link is here if you didnt get the google event invite: https://meet.google.com/hdt-rsrq-gtb i had a go at a statement of intent (below) for this group to fit into the org chart on the update blog ( https://gfsc.community/our-first-three-months-as-the-geeks-for-social-chang…) and would love feedback on it! i've also got some updates for you on a second attempt at a national lottery bid. agenda link here if anyone wants to put anything else in: https://pad.gfsc.studio/k_8wU5rMRI6mAR4yL-vF9A# *We are a collective of tech practitioners trying to create a better world* Much like climate justice work a decade or two ago, tackling big tech feels insurmountable at the moment. We need to address the culture, practice and stories around technological transformation by talking about the people and projects doing it, and celebrating our wins and learning opportunities. A lot of open source software is sadly quite far from a dropin replacement for the incredibly mature and stable corporate stack. But perhaps a bigger problem is that tech is always never at the top of things to fix in anyone's theory of change so it bubbles perpetually in the wrong quadrant of the urgent/important matrix. If we are going to ever reduce our dependance we need to: 1. actually state the problems we are trying to fix with technology (and stop buying more magic bullets), 2. commit to working together to find out how we can collectively address them (and have a chance of de-siloing our work in the process), 3. in doing so, use adapt and create software actually fit for our purposes that we collectively own and run The GFSC Community Tech Partners group are all working within this framework, with different specialities and approaches: * Creating websites and webapps: Lutalica, Common Knowledge * Adapting and using existing open source tools: Autonomic * Developing, maintaining and hosting our own non profit open source tools we want others to use: PlaceCal, Mapped, Resilience Web, Mastodon, Karrot * Raising money for these alternatives and creating sustainable economies: Donor Whisperer, Profit for Purpose * Helping community groups access technology: Geeks for Social Change Studio, Fractals, Tipping Point All of us have a set of shared principles (we need to work on these!) We meet regularly to help nurture and grow left-tech economy, skills and experience We deliver services individually and as a collective, keeping each other accountable and creating a culture of best practice and sharing nicely Thoughts welcome!! -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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See you at 1230
by Kim Foale 17 Jun '25

17 Jun '25

Heya all, left the reminder a little late but look forward to seeing some of you in 30 mins. My zoom expired so lets jsut use google meet and see how we get on - link is here https://meet.google.com/bba-cuzf-nyx I am working on a bit of a GFSC overview as i know its confusing everyone - heres the very draft version we can discuss further in the meeting. Also coming today are the founders of the Profit for Purpose network who are very interested in what were doing and im excited to introduce you all :) Kim [image: gfsc-overview-orgchart.png] -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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knowledge management / document archival software?
by Kim Foale 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

I'm potentially working on creating a publiclly accessible trans research document archive with a client. Any suggestions for open source software to do this with? Ideally looking for advice from someone who has worked in libraries / archiving or has done something similar. Might even farm this out to one of you guys if you have experience! Kim -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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May meeting updates and thoughts going forwards
by Kim Foale 14 May '25

14 May '25

Heya all, This session ended up being more of a chat than a meeting - and maybe its easier to keep it that way? We set one piece of homework which was just that we've spoken a lot now about collaborting on something, however small, and it would be great to actually make that happen. Can people have a think about ways they could do that? Offers from me: * Does someone else want to start hosting this meetup, or have any ideas about making it more expansive? I am quite enjoying this meeting so happy to carry on but itd be nice to get some more input on what it is, who we are and whose welcome. I'd like to tell the world about it basically! * Parallel idea: would anyone want to host a public event or similar where we all talk about our work and the overall concept, a kind of community tech practitioners open session? * We have now done our first GFSC stream <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PYVmmFTmVY> - does anyone have a product or service they'd like us to highlight if we did another one? (would need paying for this) * Does anyone want me to do a community spotlight <https://gfsc.community/vote-out-covid-community-spotlight/> on the blog for their thing? (can do this for free / blog subscription) * Would anyone want to start producing a podcast as part of the blog, or become an author? * Does anyone want PlaceCal training and to be able to start using it with their clients? * If we did another lottery bid can anyone else lead it? Lemme know your offers and do get in touch if any of this chimes with you, Hopefully you all have an invite for next meeting too - 17 June at 12:30. Kim -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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meeting on tue + ctp writeup
by Kim Foale 13 May '25

13 May '25

heya, in case youve not seen it (please do sub to the newsletter if youve not already) ive finally publihed that piece on the ctp overview: https://gfsc.community/how-to-establish-a-community-technology-partnership/ my next step is to apply it with examples from within this group, prob trans dimension first! hope to see some of u next tue at 12:30 when we can get into it - i think we can map it out for this group too and i can explain the future business plan i have in mind for activiating this lil brain trust. kim -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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Updated CTP diagram
by Kim Foale 25 Mar '25

25 Mar '25

OK I got a bit carried away (100% not procrastination I swear!) Have attached a neat and tidy version of the diagram I shared in the meeting with more context. Lemme know what you think! Next step is then writing out how to use it I think. Kim -- Dr Kim Foale (she/they <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Learn more about Geeks for Social Change Community <https://gfsc.community/>, a collective building post-billionaire technology for a survivable world. See work by Geeks for Social Change Studio <https://gfsc.studio/>, my community technology consultancy. If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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meeting today at 12:30!
by Kim Foale 18 Mar '25

18 Mar '25

Heya all, just a reminder we have a meeting today. Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86839520341?pwd=2ZiakUe8iXmB13IKVnpvCTfOAybZkb.1 Pad here if anyone wants to add anything: https://pad.gfsc.studio/PTVtvlr-RKmbFJAwYLelNQ# See some of you later, Kim -- Dr Kim Foale (they/she <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Geeks For Social Change <https://gfsc.studio/> If anything about this email is confusing or unclear please let me know. I am happy to provide information in different ways such as clearer language, over a phone call, with a voice note, or in plain text. Please don't feel the need to ever apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. *Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.*

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