Heya, thanks for sharing the minutes. I had wanted to attend, but I have both deadline pressure, and needing to support my dad a lot at the moment. At the moment I am in kind of "head down" mode, and after that will be in a "get away from the computer" mode, which makes the bigger thinking around how to build community tech strategies not quite fit in my head. I very much appreciate that wisdom and insight from the minutes though! Particularly these two observations that I resonate with: - Activists hate tech in general, and people resist stuff and don’t like using technology. - working with trad activism there is a particalar way young activists work, and have a colonial attitude about what community looks like, then they end up thinking they are better than everything else I also appreciate Kim's focus to "actually state the problems we are trying to fix with technology" - I think community tech has a potential to work better than corporate tech by being able to solve/address problems that very specifically address community needs (rather than build lots of replacements for corporate tech / generic social media platforms / imagined solutions for imagined problems). Hope to make the next one, not really able to predict availability very well at the moment though. Cheers, Nick On Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 09:45, Kim Foale <kim@gfsc.studio> wrote:
no worries at all. was a lovely chat in the end with 4 of us - minutes below. some people have said the current time doesnt work so well so will send around a poll to see if this time is still the best shortly.
if anyone wants to help with the admin of this group now its getting clearer what it is please do shout!
https://pad.gfsc.studio/s/MWYkLD4q3#
On Tue, 29 Jul 2025 at 12:25, Diner Ismail <ismail.diner@gmail.com> wrote:
Apologies, I really thought I was going to make it but my energy levels are low and stress levels high in a week with multiple deadlines at work.
I love the mission statement 💪 I will do my best to recharge and then re-engage after a bit of rest next week.
Cheers, Diner
On Thu, 24 Jul 2025 at 15:20, Kim Foale <kim@gfsc.studio> wrote:
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-change...) 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. _______________________________________________ CTP Tech Partners mailing list -- tech-partners@lists.gfsc.studio To unsubscribe send an email to tech-partners-leave@lists.gfsc.studio
--
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.