- CTP Tech Partners - lists.gfsc.studio

intro
by Nick Sellen 12 Feb '25

12 Feb '25

Hey 👋 I've been chatting with Kim about community tech topics recently, and seems we're on a similar pathway, and so got invited here, thanks for having me! Not sure who is quite on this list, or what kind of things get discussed. I'm sure I know some of you already, e.g. autonomic, common knowledge, other cotech people.. In any case, here's a little intro with my best attempt at including some relevant info... My community tech energy primarily goes into https://karrot.world / https://codeberg.org/karrot/ - which is becoming a kind of all in one tool for community organising (which can mean multiple things...) of a self-organised flavour, commons-y, sociocracy kind of idea. It's based on independent groups you have to apply to join, has threaded messaging, activity co-ordination, polls, trust-based permissions, video calls, collaborative pads, plugin system, etcetc. Roles, and sanctions coming soon. Built with django + vue + postgres + redis, kind of "boring" stack. Self-hostable via co-op cloud / etc. And strongly open source. It's mostly used by groups across Europe that save food from waste, but can be used for other community organising use cases too. I'm keen to find scenarios to collaborate, use it as a base to build other things (maybe can avoid building more similar things from scratch?), share learnings, or just hang out and talk about these kind of things! Especially in the UK (where I am from and based, but our team is distributed around Europe). We have had two rounds of funding from nlnet, around 45kEUR in total, and have been online about 9 years (!), and the food saving groups use it to co-ordinate distribution of around 4000kg of food per day. I also sometimes do bits of more freelance-y type work, as Karrot doesn't cover our costs of living, probably need to do some of that this year, so also looking to collaborate on that kind of thing too. Not tech related stuff: I live on a canal boat around in/around the Bath area, and very much into nature, healing, therapy-type topics (IFS lately), low cost living, amateur music jamming/singing, bike touring, wild camping. Happy to discuss more on or off list about any of these kind of things! Cheers, Nick

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Fwd: Next Steps for Community Tech
by Katja Mordaunt 10 Feb '25

10 Feb '25

I wonder if there is any worth in us as a co-hort trying to re-engage with this, now that Promising Trouble is shutting down? Kim (or anyone else) - did we have any contact with Matt before? There might be an opportunity to partner and get funding for us to provide a "community coordinator" or "community hub" for example? I suspect the reason Promising Trouble stopping is a lack of funding but we (in the form of Kim and out < £3000 overhead) might be a lot cheaper. *Katja Mordaunt* (she/her) Technical Project Lead Geeks For Social Change https://gfsc.studio I work part time for GFSC and may not always be able to respond immediately to your message. Likewise, please don’t ever feel the need to apologise for responding to my emails at your own pace. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Katja <katjamordaunt(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Feb 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM Subject: Fwd: Next Steps for Community Tech To: Katja Mordaunt <katja(a)gfsc.studio> ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Promising Trouble <communitytech(a)buttondown.email> Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2025 at 12:02 Subject: Next Steps for Community Tech To: <katjamordaunt(a)gmail.com> [image: A colourful illustration of many different kinds of people collaborating using technology to improve their communities.] <https://www.ellyjahnz.co.uk/?utm_source=communitytech&utm_medium=email&utm_…>Illustration by Elly Jahnz <https://www.ellyjahnz.co.uk/?utm_source=communitytech&utm_medium=email&utm_…> The start of 2025 has been a time of change at Careful Trouble. Until now we’ve been an organisation of two parts - half not-for-profit, half-consultancy - and we’re sad to say that a new year has seen the closure of our not-for-profit arm, Promising Trouble. From now on we’ll be operating as Careful Industries, with a focus on inclusive innovation and careful AI training and consultancy. You can keep up to date by signing up to our newsletter <https://www.careful.industries/newsletter?utm_source=communitytech&utm_medi…> . Moving forward, this email list will no longer be active, and will be deleted soon. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end of Community Tech Community of Practice. It is now under new management - Dr Matt Dowse at the Centre for Sociodigital Futures. Thank you for being part of this community, for sharing ideas and inspiring others with your work. We’re looking forward to what comes next as the community continues to grow. Below is a message from Matt: ------------------------------ Since the start of the Community Tech Community of Practice, Promising Trouble have curated a network and a platform that has brought together individuals, groups, and businesses from across the UK who are interested in community tech. Now that the programme has ended, there is an opportunity to develop and widen its reach and continue the good work. I’ve been researching Community Tech as part of my role as a researcher at the Centre for Sociodigital Futures at the University of Bristol: www.bristol.ac.uk/censof <http://www.bristol.ac.uk/censof?utm_source=communitytech&utm_medium=email&u…> . Over the past 18 months I’ve attended the Gatherings, joined on line, and met with many of the members of the Community of Practice as part of the research that I have been doing. I’ve also met with many other people who are not part of the Community of Practice in the UK and Europe who are involved in Community Tech of all kinds. I think that there is a great opportunity to bring together an intentional community of people interested in the ways that tech can engage with communities in positive and progressive ways. This includes past Makers and Maintainers, Developers, and all those many people who are interested and curious about Community Tech. I’m offering to steward a new Community Tech Network, building on past work, and focussed on providing opportunities for connection, collaboration, learning, and sharing resources. As many of you know, Community Tech is a term that seems to describe many activities. These include local activism, peer to peer learning, acts of solidarity, coding, sharing, and making. Community Tech is also a vehicle for alternative ways of organizing, different approaches to innovation, and thinking about economies, tech for good, and the challenges that Big Tech brings to the communities that we live in. A Community Technology Network has the potential to continue to grow this movement, connecting and sharing the great work that is being done across the UK. *If you are interested in being part of a Community Technology Network, please contact me by email – **matt.dowse(a)bristol.ac.uk* <matt.dowse(a)bristol.ac.uk>*. *Tell me about the work that you are doing and what you want from a Network like this. You can find some of the work of the centre that I work in here Communities and their sociodigital futures | Research | University of Bristol <https://www.bristol.ac.uk/research/centres/sociodigital-futures/stories/com…> as well as a recent essay that I wrote with Rachel at the end of 2024 here Communities and their sociodigital futures | Research | University of Bristol <https://www.bristol.ac.uk/research/centres/sociodigital-futures/stories/com…> With best wishes and I hope to hear from you soon Matt ------------------------------ This was issue #6 of Community Tech. You can subscribe <https://buttondown.com/communitytech> or unsubscribe <https://buttondown.com/unsubscribe/a7e18fb1-321a-4bb3-b002-7c02cf07266b>. This email brought to you by Buttondown <https://buttondown.com/refer/communitytech>, the easiest way to start and grow your newsletter. <http:///api/emails/canary/a7e18fb1-321a-4bb3-b002-7c02cf07266b/3c75e76f-d419-4353-ad45-3dc3ac1cbccb/>

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Fwd: Large grants programme application
by Kim Foale 24 Jan '25

24 Jan '25

boooooo ive asked for feedback ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Oonagh Ryder <oonagh(a)lipman-miliband.org.uk> Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2025 at 10:38 Subject: Large grants programme application To: <kim(a)gfsc.studio> Hi Kim, Thank you for your application to the Lipman-Miliband Trust large grants programme. We received over sixty applications, with a high proportion of of very strong applications, and regret to inform you that your application was unsuccessful on this occasion. The large grants programme will be re-opening later in 2025. There are no restrictions on re-applying to either of our grants progammes, so please do feel free to submit an application again this year. Thank you for your interest and we wish you all the best in securing alternative funding for this important work. Best wishes, Oonagh *Oonagh Ryder (she/her)CoordinatorThe Lipman-Miliband Trust <https://www.lipman-miliband.org.uk/>* *My working days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday* -- 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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Introducing the future of Geeks for Social Change!
by Kim Foale 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Heya all, hope you had a refreshing NYE break. For me I'm feeling like this is the most unrefreshed I've ever been into new year just due to state of the world so hope you're all faring better. Big update from me: I have now boiled down all the future direction of GFSC into an a draft announcement blogpost. The password is "future". I'd love everyone's feedback: https://ghost.gfsc.community/the-future-of-geeks-for-social-change/ I've obviously name checked you all in there so please do let me know if this is ok to mention you like this and I will check in with you all about it before it goes live. If anyone would like to be a contributor please shout as well. We are looking for people who can give a regular 1-3 hours a month and can do a min 3 month run initially -- vibe is "getting a band together" for the time being and we can open up to guest or one-off spots later. We're coordinating this on discord currently. I hope this sounds good as I will be bugging you all soon individually to support us financially to the tune of something like an hour's consultancy rate for your org every month very soon -- gfsc is currently losing money and we need to at least start covering our expenses :) I'll start working on a followup lottery bid next month - I am confident we can nail it this time. A bit of a timeline for this project: * this week im gonna finish up that draft blog post and check in with the tech partners mentioned in the article above * next week ill work on the static pages and stuff like that (i.e. about page, work out what we need to tell people about volunteering, what needs migrating from the current site still) * last week of jan hopefully ill work on themeing for some value of that and getting live * then into feb - i'm taking a hol first week of feb * after im back lets get going * possible formal launch spring equinox? if anyone wants to help with any of this do let me know. the big stuff is: * naming the sponsorship tiers, tying down the amounts, and making them sound sexy and writing out the benefits (id like to streamline all direct donations through this but i might be trying to do too much here) - a lot of this is wood for trees stuff writing up what we already do so other peoples input really helpful * reviewing my placeholder copy and helping improve it or giving suggestions * implementing a theme when its done (olu is down for this but the more the merrier) * tell me what features youd like to be a part of or if you can help with production * making a feature wishlist and seeing if there's anyting else tech wise we need to get going (one thing i notice is it only has X and Facebook integrations, it would be nice to have bsky and mastodon) Thanks all, reminder we have a meeting next tuesday 21st at 12:30 where we can go over this together. 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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Meetup tomorrow
by Kim Foale 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Heya all, just a reminder we have a meeting tomorrow at 12:30. Have put together an agenda here, feel free to add: https://pad.gfsc.studio/GPkJEAqiSxmuE_7pUgENyw?edit Zoom link here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82718986196?pwd=LYcCVC4balRAdUIaJmPFThbyzLLb64.1 Hope to see some of you there, we have a lot to discuss! 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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Celebrating 180 Years of Co-operation with New Development Fund
by Autonomic Co-operative 09 Jan '25

09 Jan '25

Hi folks, Didn't look into the feasibility of this but thought I'd share if others have capacity. https://forum.workers.coop/t/new-fund-for-international-co-op-dev-ficd-laun… https://www.co-operative.coop/media/news-releases/from-rochdale-pioneers-to… Many thanks Lai

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Allianz Foundation Grants Program
by Kim Foale 09 Jan '25

09 Jan '25

Tight turnaround (why are they alwyas!!) but prob gonna go for this: Allianz Foundation's 2025 funding program is now open for applications. We support initiatives with civil society, ecological, cultural and artistic backgrounds. We place a special emphasis on projects working at the intersection of these areas and pursuing systematic change. If you are interested in funding, please apply now. Projects can be funded with sums between €80,000 and €200,000 for a maximum term of 24 months. Project outlines can be submitted via our online form. The application deadline for project outlines is February 10, 2025 at 15:00 CET. Click here <https://allianzfoundation.org/forms/grants-program-2025-outline/> for the project outline form. https://allianzfoundation.org/grants-program-2025/ this is funny phrasing for us lol: > have a trans-local dimension and at the same time are strongly tied in their surroundings – projects that aim to address global challenges by bringing about concrete changes in their region, communities or local environment -- 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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Shower Thoughts Thread
by Autonomic Co-operative 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

Thought we could have a thread for idea generating/co-operative dreaming. Maybe don't critique other's ideas here but just let them sit for a while, to be picked up if others like them. My first idea I didn't get into our meeting was: Festival of left tech IRL/online hybrid event hosted at SPACE4 in London. Invite everyone working in this field e.g. CoTech, cool orgs, redecentralise etc etc Networking and Lightning talks etc. Fun, weird and social. Influenced by Chaos Congress, EMF etc but tiny. Make it explicitly left. Use it to build energy and enthusiasm in this bubble which kinda fizzled out due to the pandemic and accompanying wildness. In solidarity Lai

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GFSC community pitch deck
by Kim Foale 20 Dec '24

20 Dec '24

heya i found a super corporate pitch deck template but acutally it really helped me get big picture ideas in order thoughts here on what this community could be: https://www.figma.com/deck/81tc6hS4Gp9UJlWG3kHhAZ/GFSC-Deck?node-id=1-100&t… would love your feedback and to know what would make it useful for you past the big picture stuff - can do another with specifics if helpful but i know that can also shut down ideas stage accidentally kim x -- Dr Kim Foale (they/she <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Geeks For Social Change <https://gfsc.studio/> - Support our mission of a fairer world using technology & join our email list <https://gfsc.studio/mailing-list> - Project: The Trans Dimension, a new space for trans community enabled by technology and collaboration. <https://gfsc.studio/2021/12/14/enter-trans-dimension.html> - Article: "Why is it so hard to do nice things, that make a difference, with other people?" <https://gfsc.studio/2022/06/30/why-is-it-so-hard-to-do-nice-things.html> 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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Impact Shakers Accelerator
by Kim Foale 11 Dec '24

11 Dec '24

https://www.impactshakers.com/accelerator i just did a very quick bad applicaiton for placecal as thats all i have energy for (we really need an up to date slide deck), but maybe of interest to others too. kim -- Dr Kim Foale (they/she <https://name.pn/kim-foale>) *Working hours: Mon-Wed 10-5pm.* Geeks For Social Change <https://gfsc.studio/> - Support our mission of a fairer world using technology & join our email list <https://gfsc.studio/mailing-list> - Project: The Trans Dimension, a new space for trans community enabled by technology and collaboration. <https://gfsc.studio/2021/12/14/enter-trans-dimension.html> - Article: "Why is it so hard to do nice things, that make a difference, with other people?" <https://gfsc.studio/2022/06/30/why-is-it-so-hard-to-do-nice-things.html> 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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