Neighbourhood-First Software: How we roll-out the open web without expecting everyone to self-host
Keynote Theatre | Wed 21 Jan 11:40 a.m.–12:25 p.m.
Presented by
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Jade Ambrose
@https://hachyderm.io/@jadehopepunk
https://jade.hopepunk.me/
Jade is a software engineer from Naarm with a background in facilitation and community organising. He is deeply concerned about climate resilience, and is an instigator of Merri-bek Tech - a climate resilient web hosting project in a local suburb of Naarm/Melbourne. Jade also started the Naarm Solarpunk meetup, started the original Melbourne Ruby meetup, is a regular volunteer at the Maker Community maker-space, works on a housing retrofit project called Rad Housing and should probably start less projects.
Jade Ambrose
@https://hachyderm.io/@jadehopepunk
https://jade.hopepunk.me/
Jade is a software engineer from Naarm with a background in facilitation and community organising. He is deeply concerned about climate resilience, and is an instigator of Merri-bek Tech - a climate resilient web hosting project in a local suburb of Naarm/Melbourne. Jade also started the Naarm Solarpunk meetup, started the original Melbourne Ruby meetup, is a regular volunteer at the Maker Community maker-space, works on a housing retrofit project called Rad Housing and should probably start less projects.
Abstract
A vibrant ecosystem of open-source alternatives to big tech walled gardens is a critical part of building the free and open internet that we want. One interesting trend that has emerged in the last seven years is Local-first software, which as this manifesto promises, gives us the ability to own your data, in spite of the cloud.
Local-first, however, means local to your device, and thus tends to favour more technical users, and can create some confusing experiences when collaborating in groups. Instead of a rebuttal to local-first, this talk contends that Neighbourhood-First software is an ideal complement.
Neighbourhood-First software is hosted in cycling distance of your house, by volunteers in your local community, for the benefit of those less technical. In this talk, Jade will present a manifesto of Neighbourhood-First software, and discuss how it can help support local-first software, the Fediverse, and other key open source initiatives while also providing local resilience in an age of climate uncertainty.
It's not all talk, however, Jade will also present a working demo of the LoRes Mesh system of redundant local nodes serving open source web applications. This open source project aims to provide tooling for somewhat technical volunteers to administer a range of web apps for users in their neighbourhood, while also providing the capability for eventual consistency between nodes for apps that need that.
This is being used in the wild by the community group Merri-bek Tech, in northern Naarm (Melbourne) and has applicability to all local communities seeking climate resilience and a free and open digital commons.
A vibrant ecosystem of open-source alternatives to big tech walled gardens is a critical part of building the free and open internet that we want. One interesting trend that has emerged in the last seven years is Local-first software, which as this manifesto promises, gives us the ability to own your data, in spite of the cloud.
Local-first, however, means local to your device, and thus tends to favour more technical users, and can create some confusing experiences when collaborating in groups. Instead of a rebuttal to local-first, this talk contends that Neighbourhood-First software is an ideal complement.
Neighbourhood-First software is hosted in cycling distance of your house, by volunteers in your local community, for the benefit of those less technical. In this talk, Jade will present a manifesto of Neighbourhood-First software, and discuss how it can help support local-first software, the Fediverse, and other key open source initiatives while also providing local resilience in an age of climate uncertainty.
It's not all talk, however, Jade will also present a working demo of the LoRes Mesh system of redundant local nodes serving open source web applications. This open source project aims to provide tooling for somewhat technical volunteers to administer a range of web apps for users in their neighbourhood, while also providing the capability for eventual consistency between nodes for apps that need that.
This is being used in the wild by the community group Merri-bek Tech, in northern Naarm (Melbourne) and has applicability to all local communities seeking climate resilience and a free and open digital commons.