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# Making History
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# MakingHistory: Trust-Based Media Flows for the Fediverse
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## Synopsis
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## Overview
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The MakingHistory project is a collaborative initiative to create
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a decentralized, participatory network for documenting and sharing grassroots
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movements, historical events, and underrepresented narratives. Rooted in the
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ethos of the #openweb and leveraging Fediverse technologies like ActivityPub,
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the project empowers communities to take control of their stories, ensuring
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they are preserved and amplified outside corporate-controlled paths.
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MakingHistory is a project of the Open Media Network (#OMN), a long-running initiative to build community-governed, federated media infrastructure on the #openweb. Where the #OMN provides the broader ecosystem and values framework, MakingHistory is the concrete first-stage build: a working proof-of-concept that puts those values into running code.
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The project focuses on enabling user-generated timelines, multimedia
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integration, and collaborative curation to document history in real-time or
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retrospectively. By prioritizing transparency, inclusivity, and grassroots
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participation, it provides tools for meany voices to be heard and for diverse
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perspectives to be shared. It combines modern federated tech with the
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collective spirit of earlier grassroots media movements.
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The project creates a decentralised, participatory network for documenting and sharing grassroots movements, historical events, and underrepresented narratives. It empowers communities and institutions to take control of their own stories - preserving and amplifying them outside corporate-controlled platforms. At its technical core, MakingHistory develops a trust-based "flow layer" that connects existing Fediverse infrastructure into a coherent, media and archiving network.
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## Experience
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I have been involved in projects that align with the ethos and goals of the
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MakingHistory project, particularly through my work with Indymedia and the
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Open Media Network (#OMN).
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### Indymedia: Building the Foundations for Grassroots Media
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I was an active participant in the global network, a pioneering grassroots
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media project launched in the late 1990s. Indymedia provided a decentralized
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platform for activists, communities, and independent journalists to report on
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issues overlooked by mainstream media. It was one of the first major digital
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efforts to democratize media creation and distribution, fostering
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participatory and collective storytelling. This work underpins much of the
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MakingHistory vision, highlighting the importance of grassroots participation,
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robust federated technologies, and transparent governance. I bring 20+ years
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of experience to this native path of open, community-driven initiatives,
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blending technical expertise with a deep commitment to empowering
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underrepresented voices. MakingHistory is the next step in a long journey to
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reclaim narrative power and ensure our collective history is preserved and
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accessible for future generations.
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## Usage
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The MakingHistory project’s requested budget is strategically allocated to
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ensure its success, focusing on building the infrastructure, fostering
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community engagement, and maintaining sustainable growth. Below is a breakdown
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of how the budget will be utilized, along with a discussion of funding
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sources:
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## Budget Allocation
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### Technical Development
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#### Platform Infrastructure
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Funding will support server hosting, domain management, and storage for
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federated platforms that form the backbone of MakingHistory.
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#### Software Development
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Resources will be allocated to improving and customizing tools, the Federated
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Wiki and other ActivityPub systems to meet the project’s goals.
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#### Testing and Maintenance
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Ongoing efforts to ensure platform stability, security, and scalability as the
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user base grows.
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### Content Creation and Archiving
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#### Collaborative Storytelling Tools
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Developing features to empower communities to collaboratively document and
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share historical narratives, aligning with the MakingHistory vision.
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#### Digital Archiving
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Ensuring long-term preservation of user-generated content, with open access to
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historical narratives and multimedia resources.
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### Community Engagement and Education
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#### Workshops and Training
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Organizing events and online sessions to onboard contributors and familiarize
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them with the platform and principles of decentralized storytelling.
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#### Outreach Campaigns
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Promoting the project within the Fediverse and other relevant networks to
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build a diverse and engaged user base.
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### Administrative and Governance Support
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#### Project Coordination
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Supporting a small team to manage the day-to-day operations, oversee
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development, and facilitate community governance.
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#### Documentation and Reporting
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Creating transparent records of decision-making processes and project progress
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in alignment with the #4opens framework.
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### Contingency and Scaling
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Allocating funds for unexpected challenges and ensuring the project can scale
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effectively as adoption increases.
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## Funding Sources
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### Past and Present
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The project has drawn inspiration and lessons from prior initiatives like
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Indymedia and OMN, which were largely self-funded and supported through
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volunteer efforts. While MakingHistory does not currently have additional
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external funding sources, it builds on a history of successful resource
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pooling and community-driven contributions.
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### Key Historical Context
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Indymedia relied heavily on grassroots funding models, including small
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donations from community members and solidarity events.
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The Open Media Network (#OMN) has been developed on a minimal funding
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approach, emphasizing open-source collaboration and volunteer labor to
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maintain independence.
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### Future Plans
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The project aims to diversify funding sources by:
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- Pursuing small grants from organizations aligned with open culture and
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grassroots storytelling
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- Encouraging direct community contributions through crowdfunding campaigns
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and donation drives
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- Partnering with like-minded initiatives within the Fediverse to share
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resources and minimize overhead costs.
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The budget will enable the project to blend technical excellence with
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grassroots participation, ensuring the MakingHistory network becomes
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a sustainable and impactful resource for communities worldwide. This path
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emphasizes independence and aligns with the principles of transparency,
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collaboration, and decentralization.
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## Comparison
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The MakingHistory project stands apart from traditional #NGO-funded efforts by
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addressing the systemic failures that have often plagued similar initiatives,
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while also building on the successes and lessons from historical grassroots
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and open-source projects.
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Comparison of MakingHistory focusing on how it diverges from typical #NGO
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approaches and aligns with the ethos of the #openweb and #4opens principles.
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### Historical Example
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Indymedia was a pioneering grassroots initiative that provided a decentralized
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platform for citizen journalism and activism during the early 2000s. It
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thrived on community-driven content and a federated approach to publishing.
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Strengths: Empowered local voices, operated transparently, and embraced
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grassroots values.
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#### Weaknesses
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Over time, Indymedia struggled with sustainability, internal conflicts, and
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adapting to technological shifts, leading to fragmentation and decline.
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MakingHistory builds on Indymedia’s ethos of storytelling but modernizes the
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approach with ActivityPub based technology, collaborative wiki tools, and
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stronger focus on sustainability through decentralized governance.
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### Comparison with Typical #NGO-Funded Paths: Top-Down Structures
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Many #NGO-funded media initiatives operate within rigid, hierarchical
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structures. Decision-making is centralized and driven by donor priorities
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rather than community needs.
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#### Result
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This approach frequently alienates grassroots participants,
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undermining the authenticity and trust necessary for lasting impact.
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### MakingHistory Difference
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Operates on a bottom-up, decentralized governance model, allowing communities
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to shape their own narratives and priorities. It values trust and humanity
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over external control. Funding Dependency: #NGO projects are heavily reliant
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on external funding, which leads to shifts in focus, bureaucratic
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inefficiencies, and an overemphasis on metrics that satisfy donors rather than
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serving people.
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#### Result
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Projects fail to adapt once funding dries up or priorities change, leaving
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behind fragmented and abandoned ecosystems.
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### Overemphasis on Professionalization
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#NGO efforts prioritize professional content creation and institutional
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partnerships, sidelining grassroots contributors and reducing community
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engagement. Result: The platforms may appear polished but lack genuine
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participation and long-term relevance to their target communities.
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MakingHistory Difference: Prioritizes participatory storytelling, encouraging
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communities to create and share their own historical narratives. The focus is
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on tools that are accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise.
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### Technological Approaches
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Many #NGO-funded media projects adopt proprietary or siloed technologies,
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limiting interoperability and peoples autonomy. These systems tend to mimic
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corporate #dotcons paths, prioritizing control over collaboration. Result:
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This creates dependency on centralized systems, contradicting the principles
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of decentralization and the #openweb. MakingHistory Difference: Built
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entirely on open standards and federated technologies like ActivityPub,
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ensuring interoperability and communerty control. It actively resists the
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commodification of user data and narratives.
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### Why Historical #NGO Paths Fail
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#### Mission Drift
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Over time, #NGO projects shift away from their original grassroots objectives
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due to donor pressure and institutional inertia.
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#### Lack of Community Ownership
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Decision-making and content creation are often detached from the communities
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they aim to serve, resulting in low engagement and eventual obsolescence.
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#### Inability to Adapt
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Tied to rigid funding cycles and institutional agendas, projects struggle to
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respond to changing technological and social landscapes.
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### Conclusion
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The MakingHistory project avoids these pitfalls by embracing
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a grassroots-first approach, rooted in transparency, participation, and
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adaptability. It rejects the typical #NGO path of hierarchical control and
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funding dependency, focusing instead on empowering communities to
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collaboratively document their own histories. By leveraging modern federated
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technologies and the lessons of historical efforts like Indymedia and the
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#OMN, MakingHistory creates a sustainable and impactful #openweb native path
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that reflects the diversity and richness of grassroots storytelling. This path
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ensures the project remains relevant, resilient, and rooted #KISS
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## Challenges
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The MakingHistory project faces significant (social) technical challenges,
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many of which are intertwined with the development and implementation of
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overlapping initiatives such as the Ibis Wiki, Indymediaback, the Open Media
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Network (#OMN), and the Open Governance Body (#OGB). These challenges arise
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from the #KISS goal of creating a cohesive path that supports decentralized
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storytelling, collaboration, and governance while addressing the limitations
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of existing tools and technologies.
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### Key Technical Challenges
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- Seamless Integration of Federated Tools:
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The MakingHistory project will utilize ActivityPub to enable federated
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communication between platforms, such as wikis, blogs, and media
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repositories. Challenge: Ensuring compatibility and seamless data
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exchange across diverse platforms in the Fediverse, while maintaining high
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performance and user-friendly interfaces. Solution: Building upon the
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open standards demonstrated in Ibis Wiki, integrating its federated wiki
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approach with other #OMN tools for decentralized content creation and
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sharing.
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- Decentralized Content Management:
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Like Indymediaback, the project requires a robust system for managing
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decentralized content, including publishing, moderation, and archiving.
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Challenge: Implementing decentralized moderation and curation tools that
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respect user autonomy while maintaining trust and quality within the
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network. Solution: Leveraging mastodons dynamic federated design and
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adapting it for the needs of grassroots media communities.
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- Scalability and Resilience:
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The system must scale to accommodate growing user bases and diverse use
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cases, while ensuring resilience against platform failures or external
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attacks. Challenge: Designing systems that balance decentralization with
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scalability, ensuring reliable performance even in resource-limited
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environments. Solution: Building lightweight, modular tools inspired by
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existing Fediverse codebase and architecture, optimized for grassroots
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deployments. Most of the solutions already exist.
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- User Experience for Non-Technical Audiences:
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Engaging grassroots communities requires networks that are easy to use,
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even for people with limited technical expertise. Challenge: Simplifying
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complex federated technologies like ActivityPub into intuitive interfaces
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and workflows. Solution: Enhancing exiting fedivers codebase #UX
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usability to integrate accessible tools for storytelling and
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collaboration, making a practical path for community organizers and
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activists.
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- Interoperability Across Projects:
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The MakingHistory project shares common goals and infrastructure with
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Indymediaback, #OMN, and #OGB. Creating a unified codeing ecosystem.
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Challenge: Coordinating development across projects to avoid duplication,
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resolve conflicts, and maximize synergy. Solution: Developing shared APIs
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and data models, ensuring interoperability and a cohesive user experience
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across all initiatives.
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- Governance and Trust Models:
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Governance structures must align with #OGB principles of transparency,
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inclusivity, and grassroots control. Challenge: Implementing governance
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mechanisms that can operate effectively in a federated environment,
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balancing peoples autonomy with collective decision-making. Solution:
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Using the OGB framework to prototype and test governance models within
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MakingHistory, adapting them to meet the needs of federated storytelling
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communities.
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- Preservation and Archiving:
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As with Indymediaback, preserving the history created by people and
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commneties is essential for future generations. Challenge: Developing
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decentralized archiving methods that ensure content longevity without
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relying on centralized infrastructure. Solution: Utilizing distributed
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redundant storage solutions and metadata tagging for efficient archiving
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and retrieval.
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### Overlap and Synergies
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The MakingHistory project serves as a bridge between Indymediaback, #OMN, and
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#OGB, leveraging shared infrastructure and principles:
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From Ibis Wiki: A federated, collaborative wiki system that lays the
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foundation for decentralized storytelling. From Indymediaback: Grassroots
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media publishing tools and workflows for content creation and moderation.
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From #OMN: A federated media ecosystem rooted in the #4opens principles of
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transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration. From #OGB: Governance
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models that empower communities to take ownership of their narratives.
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By addressing these challenges, MakingHistory will provide an effective tool
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for documenting grassroots stories but also strengthen the broader ecosystem
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of decentralized and federated media, demonstrating a scalable, trust-based
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model for community-driven storytelling, simply put making history.
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## Ecosystem
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The ecosystem of the MakingHistory is rooted in the broader framework of the
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Open Media Network (#OMN) and the decentralized social web of the Fediverse.
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Combining principles of openness, decentralization, and grassroots engagement,
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MakingHistory creates a vibrant and interconnected path for collaborative
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storytelling and historical documentation. This ecosystem will leverage
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existing platforms, tools, and communities while fostering new connections to
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build a sustainable network for grassroots DIY media.
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### Ecosystem Overview
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#### Core Components
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##### OMN
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A federated media network built on the #4opens principles of open data, open
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source, open processes, and open standards. MakingHistory will integrate
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seamlessly with #OMN tools to allow decentralized content sharing and
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collaboration.
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##### Fediverse
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Using ActivityPub and other open standards, the project will connect with
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established platforms like Mastodon, PeerTube, WriteFreely, and Ibis Wiki to
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ensure compatibility and engagement across the decentralized web.
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##### Grassroots Media
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Building on the ethos of Indymedia, the project will provide tools for
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activists, journalists, and communities to document and share their history
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without reliance on centralized platforms or corporate control.
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#### Key Actors
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##### Grassroots Communities
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Local organizations, activists, and storytellers who document and share their
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narratives. Fediverse Developers and Admins: Collaborating with developers and
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instance administrators to ensure technical interoperability and promote the
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project within the Fediverse.
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##### Allies in the FOSS Ecosystem
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Engaging with free and open-source software projects that share the goals of
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decentralization and people empowerment.
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##### Educational and Historical Institutions
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Partnering with groups interested in archiving and preserving grassroots
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stories for future generations.
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## Engagement Strategies
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### Community Outreach
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Host workshops, webinars, and meetups within grassroots networks and Fediverse
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communities to introduce MakingHistory and its tools. Collaborate with
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existing activist networks to co-develop and test features that meet their
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specific needs.
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### Promotion on the Fediverse
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Actively use Fediverse platforms like Mastodon and Lemmy to share updates,
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gather feedback, and engage with the wider decentralized social web. Publish
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guides and tutorials to encourage adoption by Fediverse users and admins.
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### Collaboration with Developers
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Work with ActivityPub crew and SocialHub communities to align technical
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development with existing standards and best practices. Share code,
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documentation, and progress transparently on platforms like federated Git’s to
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invite contributions from the wider FOSS ecosystem.
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### Building Trust Through #4opens
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Promote the project’s adherence to the #4opens principles to build trust and
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credibility among users and partners. Use open processes for decision-making
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and feature prioritization to ensure inclusivity and accountability.
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### Showcasing Outcomes
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Develop case studies and success stories from pilot deployments to demonstrate
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the project’s impact and potential. Highlight how MakingHistory complements
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and extends the capabilities of existing Fediverse and #OMN tools.
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## Promoting Outcomes
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### Federation with Existing Tools
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Integrate with platforms like Mastodon (for updates), PeerTube (for video
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storytelling), and WriteFreely (for blogs) etc to ensure content is accessible
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and sharable across the Fediverse. Collaborate with other #OMN initiatives,
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such as Indymediaback and OGB, to strengthen the ecosystem and amplify shared
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goals.
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### Grassroots Campaigns
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Encourage communities to create and share content, documenting local histories
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and movements, to build awareness and participation organically.
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By nurturing a collaborative and inclusive ecosystem, MakingHistory amplifies
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the voices of grassroots actors and create a sustainable foundation for
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decentralized storytelling, aligned with the wider OMN and Fediverse vision
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#KISS
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This first-stage grant funds proof of concept and validation. A second-stage proposal will follow to deliver a fully production-ready system.
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---
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## The Witches Cauldron: Making History
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## The Problem
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An open activist archive project that aims to create a data commons based on
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the [#4opens](#add-link) framework and motivated by the
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[PGA hallmarks](#add-link).
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The dominant social media platforms - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and their successors - are built on surveillance, algorithmic amplification, and centralised control. Grassroots movements, histories, and social narratives are particularly vulnerable: they are either ignored, suppressed, or appropriated by these systems, and when platforms shut down or change policy, the record disappears with them.
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The project aims to create a metadata-enriched digital collection of items
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hosted on a redundant and federated network of hosts and servers around the
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world, starting with hosting the majority of the content on the
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[Internet Archive](https://archive.org).
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The Fediverse offers a genuine alternative built on open standards, but it currently has significant gaps. Moderation models rely on top-down, per-instance control, with each instance acting as its own isolated kingdom. There are no coherent cross-platform content flows, no trust-based propagation mechanisms beyond chronological or algorithmic feeds, and very limited shared commons model for media and archiving. Many existing approaches simply reproduce the failures of commercial platforms at smaller scale.
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The project is open to anyone who wants to be a part of the federated network
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and will be built using the tools of the Open Media Network (OMN) and the KISS
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principle to facilitate DIY working.
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MakingHistory addresses these gaps directly — not by building yet another platform, but by developing the connective tissue that existing Fediverse tools are missing.
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The project emphasizes on the importance of simplicity and human scale, and
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reject solutions that move away from the core KISS and DIY ethos. The
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Resistance Exhibition is the UK flow of data for this project, and the outcome
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of the project is to create a open collection of original material from across
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European countries as a first step, uploaded and stored in an open distributed
|
||||
repository.
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## What Is Being Built
|
||||
|
||||
The project delivers two interlocking things: a **trust-based flow layer** for the Fediverse, and a **community archiving environment** called the Witches Cauldron, used as the live test case for that infrastructure.
|
||||
|
||||
**The Flow Layer** is a middleware service that routes content between federated instances based on trust relationships rather than algorithmic ranking. Content moves through the network because communities choose to share it, not because a recommendation engine promotes it. Moderation emerges from those same relationships — flows slow or stop where trust is weak. This is built on ActivityPub and designed for interoperability with Mastodon, PeerTube, and Lemmy from the outset.
|
||||
|
||||
**The Witches Cauldron / MakingHistory Archive** is an open archive and data commons built on the #4opens principles (open data, open source, open processes, open standards). It creates a metadata-enriched digital collection hosted on a redundant, federated network of servers, with user-generated timelines, multimedia integration, and collaborative curation tools. Communities and institutions can document history in real time or retrospectively — uploading materials, tagging with hashtags for federated discovery, and contributing to a distributed archive that no single entity can take down or lock away.
|
||||
|
||||
The key technical components are:
|
||||
|
||||
- A **flow service** managing content movement between instances according to trust relationships
|
||||
- A **trust-based moderation model** where visibility and propagation emerge from community relationships, not platform rules
|
||||
- A **distributed archiving layer** using redundant federated storage with metadata tagging for long-term preservation and retrieval
|
||||
- A **reference implementation** demonstrating these flows in practice, with the MakingHistory archive as the user-facing test environment
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## The R&D Hypothesis
|
||||
|
||||
The central research question is: can trust-based moderation and distribution flows replace algorithmic amplification in a federated community media and archiving ecosystem? We will work to explored this through designing and implementing trust-driven flow logic, testing propagation across trusted versus untrusted nodes, and evaluating usability, resilience, and moderation outcomes across real community deployments.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Deliverables and Milestones
|
||||
|
||||
**By month 3:**
|
||||
Technical specification of the flow architecture; a prototype flow service routing between two instances; documentation of existing Fediverse flow patterns; early integration with one platform; initial archive environment and testing data sets set up.
|
||||
|
||||
**By month 6:**
|
||||
A cross-platform prototype connecting at least two systems (Mastodon and PeerTube); a working demonstration of trust-based moderation flows; a public code repository with full documentation; and a user-facing MakingHistory test environment with real community content.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Infrastructure Model
|
||||
|
||||
The project uses a hybrid infrastructure model that avoids the twin failures of fragile grassroots projects (no institutional support) and captured institutional ones (no community autonomy).
|
||||
|
||||
The **grassroots layer** consists of many small, low-cost, community-run instances providing built-in redundancy for text and media. The **institutional layer** anchors the network through larger nodes hosted by universities, libraries, public service organisations, and European institutions — providing stability without centralisation, and public-interest support for core infrastructure without control over the edges.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Sustainability
|
||||
|
||||
Sustainability is treated as a social and infrastructural challenge, not just a financial one. Core infrastructure is supported through institutional hosting partnerships (discussions are underway). Network resilience comes from distribution and redundancy rather than dependence on any single host. Development is sustained through commons collaboration under the #4opens framework, with no reliance on advertising, venture capital, or extractive funding models.
|
||||
|
||||
Community engagement — workshops, onboarding sessions, and outreach through the Fediverse — is built into the project from the start, not added at the end.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Team
|
||||
|
||||
**Hamish Campbell** (Project Lead) — 40+ years in grassroots media and technology; 8+ years working with Fediverse and ActivityPub systems. Responsible for vision, coordination, network-building, and core documentation.
|
||||
|
||||
**Michael** (UX & Logic) — Ten years developing #OMN projects; focu on, dev, core system logic and user-facing design; experienced in building small, working coding projects end-to-end.
|
||||
|
||||
**Ben** (Developer) — Software developer focused on helping building on the existing Emissary codebase, and mentureing.
|
||||
|
||||
**Wider community** — Active testers and contributors drawn from the existing OMN and Fediverse networks.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Alignment with Funder Priorities
|
||||
|
||||
MakingHistory directly supports European digital sovereignty and aligns with Next Generation Internet (NGI) goals: human-centric internet development, open and interoperable technologies, and trust and resilience as core infrastructure principles rooted in the #4opens framework.
|
||||
|
||||
The project builds on 20+ years of directly relevant prior work — from Indymedia to the ongoing #OMN — and represents the next concrete step in a long-term effort to reclaim community narrative power and ensure grassroots history is preserved and accessible for future generations.
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue