I posted this thread on the Fediverse in relation to âLetâs play and win our own gameâ by Darius Kazemi, as mentioned above. Summarizing some interesting points from the discussion..
Community and Guilds
On fedi @garbados@herd.bovid.space pinged by Darius posted two of her blog posts..
Blog post: Community Takes Work (a letter to fedi)
Delves into how on Fediverse despite many âcommunity-minded people with big ideas and compassionate idealsâ the techno-anarchist approach and their fear for any concentration of power hamper the establishment of real meaningful community cuture. That their drive for decentralization hinders cohesive organizing. One astute observation:
âI find anarchists always on the front lines of mutual aid and direct action, but lacking institutions that can guard movements and their momentum from co-option. The material bonds that emerge tend to be ad-hoc rather than systemic, and are not always reliable. Affinity groups struggle to address their blindspots or falter at the first sign of internal conflict, while volunteers burn out and their efforts go underfunded.â
For a long time Iâve been advocating that on Fediverse we need better ways to express Community. That the abstraction of Community as supported at technology level should be a closer match to how we live in countless communities in daily life. And support how these are connected together by intricate social relationships. I call it âCommunity has no Boundaryâ as there should be more seamless crossing of IRL and online space, and also a âfabricâ of relationships that allow us to overcome the eternal fragmentation of efforts that makes us weak.
Aldo de Moor, a researcher of Community, put it to me ike this: âI am mainly interested in th âSpace Between Communitiesâ right nowâ.
I will transfer and summarize my thoughts on Community wrt the Fediverse to this forum (from many dispersed places) in a separate topic, but the topic has relevance to any Union / Guild organization, and doing that with amindset and culture that fits our ecosystem.
Letâs summarize that I think a sociotechnical solution is needed: Some supportive tech, making Community a native concept of the Fediverse, to enable the rich social relationships that enable stronger forms of organization and social bonds.
Blog post: Structural Advantages for Software Developers to Leverage and Destroy
The article deals on how the improvements we managed to make by the Free and Open works we create, are still co-opted by hypercapitalist forces we are unable to avoid. That more is needed to withstand them. And here the concept of a Software Guild is introduced. Guilds existed since medieval times. Some survive until the present day, though harmed by the same detrimental forces.
The article speaks how the same advantages of FOSS lead to its weaknesses, that allow it to be exploited. Mentioned is the fragmentation whereby we are âplagued by reinvention [and] we struggle to distribute our knowledgeâ. Overcoming the weaknesses involves âOrganizing the Craft in Software Guildsâ:
âToday we approach our obligations to the craft in pieces, on occasion and in ad-hoc manners. [..] Only by synthesizing these duties can we shoulder the whole of the burden. [..] to manifest a higher standard for our works and our communities we must take on obligations bigger than ourselves.â
The article then lists a number of aspects to address. And these should relate to the best-practice of the Ecosystem Alliance, and I will summarize there and cross-reference.
A very interesting observation was made on Guilds and their growth:
" A guild scales by splintering. Maintain a tight scope and branch efforts as needed in order to maximize your bus factor. Together splinters become a federation, and with enough application arbitrary opinions become living standards. Remember that the craft is bigger than code: involve project managers, accountants, and even lawyers, and pay them as you are paid. As the IWW argues, it defeats us to factionalize workers. Rather, we must take collective responsibility for our works, even within the nuance of specialized scopes like ours. Together, we are strong!"
This comes really close to why we started the Social Coding Movement, and I feel this a very well-made and important point.
Unions versus Guilds
In response to another post by @garbados I mentioned that âGuildsâ as terminology appeal to me more than âUnionsâ.
I feel that âGuildâ is a better word. First of all because its less loaded than âUnionâ and doesnât raise preconceived notions on what it is about. It is a concept that can be molded better to the principles we want to highlight.
It also sounds friendlier, which in itself better fits FOSS culture. It highlights the âcraft and artsâ.
Dariusâ âLetâs play and win our own game!â. Guild fits better. Why position as underdog with Union? FOSS is our own. Independent!
If weâd use Guild for this concept it would still mean that âUnionize Free Softwareâ be one of its major tasks and/or objectives. So âunionizationâ is still used in the language, just not as prominently to when having âUnionâ be the umbrella term for the organization structure.