I don't think it's a tangent at all.  Just another piece of a bigger picture.  

Replicate all the pieces of an economy to be managed locally.  Job/gig boards, stores, delivery (door dash style), transaction processing, etc. 

A relatively small local company can manage it using open source tools, and then other communities can use the same tools following their lead. 

Local economies can scale better, and can help rebuild community.


On Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 11:27 AM Tim Keller <turbofx@gmail.com> wrote:
This is a tangent, but on the same vein.

I find myself with my wife and kids at lots of craft fairs, etc. In all cases, the conversation goes something like:

"Oh, those earrings.. $12.50 with a card, $10 with cash." I know in all those cases, it's a situation where they're getting boned by a company like Toast or one of these other middleman transaction processors.

I think it would be cool if there was a more local option, but offered the same level of ease of use that [insert POS system] I see things like odoo out there, but I don't know how FOSS friendly they are.

Tim.

On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 9:06 PM Gregory Boyce via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
For the last 5 years or so, I"ve been putting a lot of thought into what I would like the tech industry to look like in the future, and what steps we could take in order to achieve it.

What I see is locally managed tech infrastructure focused on local communities.  Communities can share the same open source tools instead of depending on large centralized platforms.  This would mean that the people who make the decisions about how online commerce operates in the area could actually be close to the users and acting on their best interests.

I see this looking like community sales platforms connecting people to the local stores, various Fediverse compatible platforms for Social Media, video sharing, chat systems, and jobs boards.

Each service is an opportunity to help people pay each other instead of sending money out of the community.

The services could be hosted on existing cloud platforms, but I've been looking at building community clouds, hopefully partnered with municipal fiber.

To me, it's more about a philosophical shift around the motivations of developers more than anything, but I'd love to meet with people who'd like to help build a proof of concept.

On Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 6:14 PM Mike kantrowitz <mike.kantrowitz01@gmail.com> wrote:
Sorry I couldn't join for dinner after the last meeting.  Sounds like it was a good conversation.
I'm definitely interested in further conversation about tech and social change.

/mike



On Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 2:55 PM John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
>>>>> "Gregory" == Gregory Boyce via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> writes:

> Awesome.  I'll have to try to make it to an upcoming event.

And we will be sure to publicize this on the wlug.org web site as
well. 

> I was thinking about setting up either a Matrix server for chat, or
> a Lemmy server for a reddit-like set of discussion forums.

Would the chats be logged for later viewing?  I'm not familiar with
either setup.  I honestly prefer email lists, but that's because I
find interacting in a web browser for forums to be a pain in the rear
because I have to use the mouse for some much, which just slows me
down. 




> On Sun, Aug 11, 2024 at 7:48 PM Kevin Harrington <mad.hephaestus@gmail.com> wrote:

>     Count me in! I have been working on a book on the topic for a few years on and off. Fyi just
>     about every meeting of Robot Club turns into one of those sort of discussions. We meet at
>     technocopia Saturdays 1-4.

>     On Sun, Aug 11, 2024, 7:34 PM Gregory Boyce via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:

>         Hey folks,

>         At dinner after the last meeting we had an interesting conversation around the
>         intersection of software/technology and big picture social change.  This has been an area
>         of interest of mine for a while now, and I'd love to connect with other people who would
>         be interested in talking about ways to make meaningful change.

>         Would anyone be interested in joining a discussion on something like Discord, Slack, or
>         maybe an open source alternative?

>         --
>         Greg Boyce
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