This is a Work In Progress
I'm trying to write a more coherent version of some verbal hand-waiving I've done previously. It isn't there yet. It's currently actually 2 files stuck together without being merged. - Woo
The idea that 'someone' should make an information resource that can act as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file for people who aspire to be members of the 'Birmingham & Midland' tech community has been floating in the air for a while. It usually feels easier to answer the current question one more time than to do the extra bit of work necessary to not ever have to answer it again. A WIKI might do the job but:
Many of us in the community seem very sick of:
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Post-truth politics.
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Nationalism, anti-ethnic feelings and "Strong Leaders" before 'good ideas'. Evidence suggests people are neither equal nor deserving of a massively greater share of the world's resources. Maybe there could be balance?
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Hierarchical power structures and the belief that everything can be simplified by dividing people into classes and categories.
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The centralised power in Europe, Westminster, the West Midlands Metro Mayor or multi-national companies. Cultural values are increasingly shared internationally. Information flow has a network topology.
Westminster has forced a change from a Centralised to a Decentralised power relationship with Birmingham, like the Romans did on tribal chiefs. It appears different but is an extra layer of hierarchy with a single point of failure at the top and a tree to climb.
Tree structures grew from the inadequacy of the communication technology of feudal societies to cope with battlefield chaos. Modern warfare is conducted by networks of autonomous cells but most business culture has failed to follow their lead. Are we even in a battle? Who with and why? The Midland area has a history of radical change while being highly productive, so why stop now?
We could go further - a Distributed network topology where we relate to other regions, not just London.
A 'Midland Information Cluster' is an opportunity for low risk experiments in distributed power structures based on co-operating rather than competing with other cities and regions. We could experiment with small trials of digital democracy for decision making. We can do it without seeking the approval of politicians, creating an alternate political structure in parallel. 'Strong leaders' say, "Bring me a solution, not a problem" not realising that if we can work out how to do that, we don't need their tree-climbing skills.
"First they came for the list of coffee shops..." etc. Data will be useful but maybe we can take things further, in a series of low-cost iterations and demonstrate Midland's collective expertise. We won't know if we don't try.
Create data files that answer questions that are asked regularly on the birmingham.io forum.
Woo created a UML diagram of some data we have collectively agreed is needed and invited everyone to contribute.
Decision: Don't try to do too much, too soon. Get the data together.
Decision: initially use GitHub to store the data, so anyone can contribute.
Decision 20170607: woo & alexrussell on Slack. Locations became an issue because arbitrary geographical area hierarchy was appearing in the data but cities have multiple hierarchies: Quarters, Sides, post-codes, 'places'. We currently only need points, not 'traces' or 'areas', unless it's a circle around a point. Alex had suggested using Latitude, Longitude to specify location points. Woo checked this was compatible with Open Street Map and Google Maps and confirmed. Nothing done yet, so speak up if you don't like it.
From: Woo
Originally proposed to make helping to compile some lists sound more interesting.
Actually a recycled idea for digital democracy in a location-based community but here the location is more of a loose cluster - Birmingham & Midland (recycled from my gravity map idea.) Based on the idea that individuals are members of many groups and sub-groups which are 'intertwingled' - Ted Nelson
My book has led to experiments in fixing intertwingularity. This is one of them.
From: Woo
Successful FOSS projects are mostly run by a Benevolant Dictator for Life. In the current political climate, I find that unacceptable. Debian's democracy is too slow. How do we organise anarchy better, without putting anyone in charge, so co-operative teams can thrive instead of corporate bullies and monopolies? It's another experiment. Someone wise one said, "Imagine what could be achieved, if no-one had to take the credit".
From: Woo 20170607 09:28
"Imagines a map of Birmingham, showing where geeks are gathered"
Risk: There are already 'location/presence' apps. Do any of them have what we would need?
A web and phone app to signal membership of the community and set data privacy options? Join a BrumTech 'tribe'/'flock' and e.g. show gatherings of >4 geeks on a map. Open protocols, community data, FOSS or paid software model.
...option for individual privacy with only metadata recorded centrally. A way to signal membership of a Community and to specify privacy preferences.
1 person was here, 1 person is here now, broadcast with name,
5 people including John & Sally were here/are here now.
Data-log (signed in to community), ID-log & Live-broadcast flags?
Obviously this is a general purpose app for flocks of any cultural persuasion or geography. In principle, the location could be virtual.
It could have voting, if we could work out how to allocate voting rights.