Funding Proposal: Archiving the Commons with #MakingHistory and #OMN

Project Overview:
The #MakingHistory project, powered by the Open Media Network (#OMN), aims to rip archiving out of institutional silos and place it in the hands of communities. We’re building a decentralized, community-driven archive to preserve grassroots, activist, and historical material — the raw, messy, vital history that gets erased by corporate platforms and forgotten by mainstream institutions. By leveraging the #4opens principles, we’re democratizing access to information, empowering people to curate their own narratives, and making collective history resilient.

Key Objectives:

Archiving Nodes: Set up decentralized archiving nodes where users can actively select and preserve hashtags, content streams, and community knowledge — creating a living, breathing archive, not a dusty digital tomb.

Lossy View: Build a "lossy view" tool that shows users what content is backed up (and what’s not). This transparency lets communities collectively decide what to prioritize, focusing archiving efforts where they matter most.

Institutional Collaboration (on our terms): Partner with libraries, universities, and archives — not as gatekeepers, but as allies. Our priority is grassroots autonomy, with institutions providing backup redundancy and infrastructure, not control.

Project Implementation:

Node Setup: Deploy archiving nodes with flexible templates, letting communities spin up their own archives without corporate intermediaries. Users control what gets preserved and decide how content flows through the network.

Lossy View Feature: Develop a real-time visualization tool showing what content is already archived and where gaps exist. This lets communities self-organize around preservation priorities, rather than relying on top-down decisions.

Partnerships (with backbone): Engage with archival institutions for long-term content storage — but maintain community sovereignty. We’re not here to feed centralized repositories; we’re here to keep history wild and decentralized.

Funding Needs:

Tech Development: Pay developers to build and maintain the archiving infrastructure and features — no unpaid labor, no burnout, just solid, sustainable coding.

Community Mobilization: Fund outreach to onboard communities, train people on using the nodes, and spread awareness about the project’s radical potential.

Partnership Coordination: Resource the work of maintaining alliances with institutions, negotiating terms, and ensuring partnerships don’t slip into co-option.

Impact:
Supporting #MakingHistory means investing in a future where communities control their own stories. This project is a direct pushback against the erasure of activist histories, the loss of collective memory, and the enclosure of knowledge. It creates an enduring public archive that grows organically from the needs and desires of the people — not the dictates of tech giants or bureaucratic institutions.

Conclusion:
#MakingHistory isn’t just an archive — it’s an act of resistance. It’s about building a resilient, decentralized network where communities are the custodians of their own history. With your support, we can compost the corporate grip on knowledge, preserve radical histories, and ensure that grassroots voices aren’t silenced or forgotten. Let’s build a future where our collective past remains alive, accessible, and untamed.

Thank you for helping this funding proposal — and for helping us make history, together.

Funding Application: MakingHistory - Archiving the Open Media Network

Project Overview
#MakingHistory is an initiative within the Open Media Network (#OMN) aimed at preserving and archiving digital content shared across the network. It operates on the same principles and workflow as the #Indymediaback project but utilizes a different template to organize and categorize content. The primary objective of MakingHistory is to ensure that valuable digital content shared within the OMN ecosystem (and wider #openweb) is preserved for posterity, fostering transparency, accountability, and the democratization of information.

Project Objectives
Develop and implement a tagging function within the OMN platform to facilitate the archiving process.

Establish archiving nodes within the OMN network to serve as repositories for tagged content.

Enable people to choose specific hashtags for archiving, providing a customizable and decentralized approach to content preservation.

Provide people with a "lossy" view of archived content across the network, allowing them to prioritize which content to focus on archiving.

Foster collaboration with institutions such as libraries, archive.org, and universities to ensure the long-term preservation of archived content in structured formats.

Maintain adherence to the principles of the #4opens, ensuring that all archived content remains openly accessible and transparent.

Project Benefits
Preservation of Digital Heritage: MakingHistory ensures that valuable digital content shared within the OMN ecosystem is preserved for future generations, safeguarding our collective digital heritage.

Democratization of Information: By enabling people to archive content based on their interests and priorities, MakingHistory fosters a decentralized approach to information preservation, democratizing access to knowledge.

Transparency and Accountability: MakingHistory promotes transparency and accountability by archiving content in an open and accessible manner, allowing for greater scrutiny and oversight.

Collaboration and Engagement: MakingHistory encourages collaboration with institutions and individuals interested in preserving digital content, fostering a sense of community and engagement within the OMN network.

Scalability and Sustainability: The federated nature of MakingHistory allows for scalability and sustainability, as anyone can run an archiving node within the OMN network, ensuring redundancy and resilience.

Budget Breakdown

Development of Tagging Function: $10,000
Establishment of Archiving Nodes: $15,000
Outreach and Collaboration: $5,000
Maintenance and Support: $7,000
Contingency: $3,000

Total Budget: $40,000
Timeline

Development and Implementation of Tagging Function: 3 months

Establishment of Archiving Nodes: 6 months

Outreach and Collaboration: Ongoing

Maintenance and Support: Ongoing

Conclusion: MakingHistory is a critical initiative within the Open Media Network, dedicated to preserving and archiving digital content in a decentralized and transparent manner. With your support, we can ensure that valuable digital content is safeguarded for future generations, fostering transparency, accountability, and the democratization of information. Together, let's make history by preserving our digital heritage for generations to come. Thank you for considering our funding application.

Support us on Open Collective https://opencollective.com/open-media-network

The #dotcons are designed for greed and selfishness, everything about them feeds this and in turn feeds off this negative path. This is coded deep into them, they cannot be fixed, and we cannot reboot alternatives to this by simply copying them in #FOSS as we have done too much in the #Fediverse.

The rebooting of the #openweb is the path we have taken, this copying worked well for the first step, for the next step we need to move past this, simply copying of the current #mainstreaming mess. The next step needs to be more “native” to the #4opens path that we have started down. Let’s thank the people who copied, give them the gifts of statues and security, they did us all a service, they deserve thanks for this first step not hatred.

To understand why let’s look at the #dotcons mess, an example, is the devolution of #Twitter from a neoliberal space to one with growing fascist tendencies under Elon Musk’s, this is a stark reminder of the pitfalls of unchecked corporate #dotcons and the susceptibility of these platforms to authoritarian control.

One aspect is the complicity of #neoliberal actors in pushing the rise of fascism. #Neoliberalism, with its emphasis on deregulation and market-driven solutions, pushes for the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. This concentration eventually leads to the erosion of democratic norms and the rise of authoritarianism, as seen in the case of Twitter’s transformation. Thus, the intertwining of neoliberalism and fascism underscores the need for vigilance in combating both economic inequality and the erosion of “native” #openweb democratic projects we try and build and sustain.

Moreover, the reaction of neoliberal peoples “common sense” to the shift towards fascism on the #dotcons like Twitter is instructive. Despite the platform’s descent into authoritarianism, many #mainstreaming users continue to engage with it, clinging to nostalgia for its earlier, more liberal incarnation. This phenomenon highlights the tendency of #mainstreaming to adapt to life under oppressive regimes, often out of a desire for self-preservation or a misguided sense of normalcy. It serves as a sobering reminder of the dangers of complacency and the importance of resisting authoritarianism, aspesherly in its early stages.

In essence, the transformation of Twitter from a neoliberal to a fascist space underscores the interconnectedness of economic and political systems and the need for collective action to safeguard “native” #openweb democratic values and the paths we take. By recognizing the warning signs of authoritarianism and refusing to acquiesce to its normalization, people can prevent the erosion of the #openweb

The #dotcons and #closedweb of the last 20 years have clear problems:

1. Centralization of Power: The dominant platforms in the #dotcons era and #closedweb are centralized, controlled by a handful of corporations.
2. Monopolistic Practices: The dominance of a few major players led to monopolistic practices that stifled “native” #openweb culture. These monopolies limit people choice and hindered the development of alternative paths that could offer more diverse and community-centric life.
3. Surveillance Capitalism: The #dotcons relies on business models built around surveillance capitalism, where data and metadata is harvested, monetized, and exploited for targeted advertising and social purposes without consent and transparency. This exploitation of people’s data undermines “society” and creates significant ethical concerns.
4. Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers: The algorithms employed in the #dotcons are designed to prioritize content based on user engagement metrics, leading to the formation of filter bubbles and echo chambers. These push people to beliefs and preferences that limit exposure to diverse perspectives and contributing to growing and entrenching polarization and disinformation.
5. Erosion of Public Discourse: The rise of social media in the #dotcons facilitated the spread of misinformation, hate, and extremist right ideologies. These platforms prioritized engagement and virality over the quality and accuracy of content, leading to the erosion of public discourse and trust.
6. Data Concerns: The collection and exploitation of user data by #dotcons raised significant concerns. People have limited to no control over their social data and metadata.
7. Digital Divide: Access to the internet and digital technologies remained unevenly distributed during the #closedweb era, exacerbating social and economic inequalities. Marginalized communities, faced barriers to access our #openweb reboot, limiting their ability to participate in our native paths and thus the wider digital economy and society we need to build.

To sum up, the dominance of centralized platforms, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic biases, erosion of social norms, and inequalities have been some of the most pressing issues associated with the #dotcons and #closedweb over the last two decades. Addressing this requires concerted efforts to promote decentralization, #4opens and “native” #openweb infrastructure and culture. You can help with this by working on projects like #OMN #OGB #makinghistory and #indymediaback

This post is a reaction https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/112098724636424845

Please donate here is you can https://opencollective.com/open-media-network to make this path happen.

https://hamishcampbell.com/the-mess-we-made-with-the-dotcons/

Funding Proposal: Archiving the "Commons" with #MakingHistory and #OMN

Project Overview:
The #MakingHistory project, spearheaded by the Open Media Network (#OMN), aims to create a decentralized and community-driven archive of the "commons" – a collection of grassroots, activist, and historical material shared across a wide network of people and community groups and organisations. By leveraging the existing infrastructure and principles of the OMN, the project seeks to democratize access to information and empower people and communities to curate and preserve their shared heritage.

Key Objectives:

* Archiving Nodes: Establishing archiving nodes within the OMN network to enable users to selectively archive hashtags and content of interest, providing a decentralized and distributed approach to content preservation.

* Lossy View: Implementing a "lossy" view feature that allows users to visualize what content is backed up across the network, enabling informed decisions on archiving priorities and focus areas.

* Collaboration with Institutions: Collaborating with institutions such as libraries, archive.org, universities, and other traditional archival entities to ensure structured backup and preservation of archived content in more formalized settings.

Project Implementation:
The implementation of the #MakingHistory project involves several key steps:

* Node Setup: Establishing archiving nodes, equipped with specialized templates for archiving and preserving content. These nodes allow users to contribute to the archive by selectively archiving hashtags and relevant content.

* Lossy View Feature: Developing a lossy view feature that provides users with insights into what content is backed up across the network. This feature will enable users to make informed decisions about their archiving efforts and prioritize content preservation based on community needs and interests.

* Collaborative Partnerships: Building partnerships with traditional archival institutions to ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of archived content. These partnerships will involve sharing archived material and collaborating on preservation initiatives to ensure the sustainability of the archive.

Funding Needs:
To realize the objectives of the #MakingHistory project, funding support is required for:

* Technical Development: Hiring skilled developers to build and maintain the archiving nodes, lossy view feature, and other technical aspects of the project.

* Community Engagement: Conducting outreach and engagement efforts to onboard users and communities to the archiving nodes, as well as raising awareness about the project and its goals.

* Collaborative Partnerships: Establishing and maintaining partnerships with traditional archival institutions, including coordination efforts and resource sharing for long-term preservation.

Impact:
By supporting the #MakingHistory project, funders will contribute to the creation of a decentralized and community-driven archive of grassroots, activist, and historical material, preserving the collective heritage of diverse communities. The project aims to democratize access to information, empower people and communities to curate and preserve their shared history, and foster collaboration between grassroots initiatives and traditional archival institutions.

Conclusion:
The #MakingHistory project represents a pivotal opportunity to democratize archiving and empower communities to preserve their shared heritage in a decentralized and collaborative manner. With your support, we can realize this vision and build a resilient and inclusive archive that celebrates the diversity and richness of our collective history. Thank you for considering our funding proposal.