What is your dream project?

I have a few dream projects where I love the idea but I don’t have the resources, skills or opportunity to work on it. Do other people have that?

Anyway, here are mine:

  • Metro’s Alive: A live map of the Tyne and Wear light rail system, and the trains have names and fictional biographies. Made a non-live basic demo here: https://hopeful-shannon-8560f5.netlify.app/

  • 3D city map for a community union, showing active campaigns, membership locations, issues they’ve found with buildings, opportunities to transform the city

  • Sociocracy proposal tool. Create a proposal, highlight parts you want clarification or have critical concerns about, suggest amendments, accept them etc. See all your proposals, what stage they’re in, create roadmaps

  • Wobbly, chat app for worker organising. This one I am having a go at in my spare time, so there’s a matrix client that demonstrates a bit of it here: https://web.wobbly.app and info here https://wobbly.app but basically a chat app with affordances for group to group communication and coordination.

  • Clouds are a preoccupation of mine. I have an Instagram where I post pictures of them. I would love something to do with simulating them, or tracking/modelling/presenting the weather.

Does Cotech have a blog? I think this would be a cool article series, where people describe their dream project and the specifics of why it would be good. And who knows maybe the client who enables it will read it and decide they want it.

What’s your dream project?

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Very much so… a few. My newest one is a paypal alternative - in the shape of some kind of coop and non-profit. But there were others - to do with groups of people organising themselves to do together things that can be done together, all along the same lins of coops and non-profits (as there are better things to do with profits than for the CEO to take them home)

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Hi John, I love your idea for a 3D map for a community union. I would love to use it one day.

As unsolicited inspiration for you and your sociocracy proposal tool, check out https://decidim.org/ (with an online demo) and http://www.liquidfeedback.org/ as two existing similar democracy-related tools. The first is definitely open source and the second is probably since it can be self-hosted, but I didn’t see any obvious “open source” label.

Cheers!

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A 2d-version could be created using an OpenStreetMap overlay, and as long as you use an open standard for the presented data, it could be used/added-to/modified by using a wiki-style interface.

This would make it simpler for people to take part.

Each 3d-version could be created locally by tech students using MineCraft as the base modelling software.

  • This would mean that it qualifies for STEAM funding, as well as Local Community grants from Local Authorities, and, Regional Development Funds. :slight_smile:
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That is a cool idea! Can I take it that allowing tech students to extend 2d maps via minecraft and a wiki service is one of your dream projects?

I hadn’t thought of the minecraft angle. In my head this project is like a kind of heist film user interface with glowing red lines and zones, rotating around high rise buildings and dramatic overlays.

And techno music

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It’s not one of my dream-projects.

After thinking about your project, i just had some idea’s about how you could implement it. :smiley:

There was a similar project to create an uncensorable library using Minecraft,

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/08/17/uncensored-library-reporters-without-borders-minecraft-censored-books/ :smiley:

The use of this approach towards communication, would transfer nicely into a localised network approach, as a way of getting local technologist’s to apply their skills to their own communities.

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I was asked this question 10 years ago, when repairing a bicycle wheel in the workshop, and my answer still stands. :smiley:

“Short-, medium-, or long-term?”

“All of them.”


"My long-term dream project would be to be sitting on a Life-Ship, in orbit around Jupiter in 700 years time, preparing for the journey to Alpha Centauri to go say hello. :smiley:

In order for this to take place, we’ll need a vast amount of research into materials, longevity, ecological-systems design, terraforming, energy, biology, gerontology, physics, orbital construction, as well as all of the related fields of study.

So in the medium-term, we’ll also need to stabilise our planetary energy use, by making sure that everyone has a good basic standard of living, so that they have the physical and mental well-being to create interesting lives for themselves, so that the 5000 Einsteins can flourish.


( Note: The 5000 Einsteins model holds that if Einstein was a 1 in a million intellect, then there are 5000 potential Einsteins that aren’t fullfilling their potential, as they are struggling for their basic survival needs. Sorting out the baseline standards of living for the bottom 80% of the planet, will automatically be profitable, once the 5000 Einsteins start to flourish. It’s a cheap and easy win that has never been politically acceptable to any nation-state.)


My medium-term aim at that time, was to try and stabilise the world’s energy markets, by creating low-cost, energy-generation technology that people can build for their own use, (which is also why i work on OSHW for the primary industries). :smiley:

This includes;

  • self-contained crop-growing systems that give 200% increase on crop yields, using 50% of the soil, and 20% of the water;

  • village-scale water-harvesting systems;

  • OSHW green-houses that allow an extra harvest-cycle per year;

  • solar-based power-generation systems;

  • wind-based power-generation systems;

  • low-energy-cost, sustainable, power-storage systems;

  • sustainable fertiliser-production and bio-gas-production systems;

All designed to be locally-manufactured, and locally-owned, by the people that are using them. :smiley:


At the time of this conversation, i was working on a short-term project, which was to use bicycle components to manufacture micro-generation wind-turbines, which is why i was in the middle of dismantling a bike-wheel turbine, in order to see why it was operating outside the expected parameters. :smiley:

"Look at the wear-patterns on this hub-bearing. " :smiley:

“It shows how the wheel wasn’t properly trued, as there was un-even wear on the wheel-hub.” :smiley:


To extend this dream-project, it would be simple to use OSHW CNC-machines to build local Manufacturing Nodes, as a way of building out locally-owned infrastructure co-operatives, which would mean that everyone has enough to eat and drink; has good-quality, climate-appropriate, clothing; has good quality housing; has free access to literacy and education; and, has free access to medical & social care. :smiley:

This in turn, would create enough breathing space, so that the research could take place, so that we can all go explore the possibilities that the universe has to offer us. :smiley:

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This forum needs some kind of superlike button

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TY :slight_smile:

The basic technologies have existed since the 1850’s.

Even though our population levels have increased, so too has our technological capabilities.

All of the base technology that i was describing above, are proven technology that works, so no new proof of concepts are needed.

Implementation is what is necessary.

That’s why i chose the buiild-it-yourself-for-your-own-use approach.

By building low-energy-cost infrastructure, a piece at a time, it’s possible to provide raw materials for sale to the industrial supply chain until the infrastructure is paid for, and then just use it for it’s original purpose.

Empowering people to be able to do this, means making the pie bigger, rather than arguing over who gets the largest slice of an ever-decreasing pie.

If anyone is interested in helping me, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. :smiley:

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Cool post! I have a few thoughts on the things @KingMob originally mentioned

  • 3D city map for a community union: this makes me think of OpenEngiadina - which is using OpenStreetMap
  • Sociocracy proposal tool. I think Enspiral and/or Loomio were working on this? I’ve also heard of people talking about doing this in Startin’Blox, the tool which CoTech’s Hubl instance depends on
  • I think this blog series is a great idea. Perhaps it could be a feature for the CoTech newsletter

I’m working on my dream project, we’re calling it the Multi User Domain for now. The ambition is to create a platform for interoperable/decentralised adventure games

That idea is quite topical at the moment:

  • Facebook announced that they’re working on a dystopian alternative (called the Metaverse)
  • Christine Webber of the ActivityPub specification is working on something similar called Fantasary. Definitely keen to make the MUD interoperable with this one day. True interoperability is how we can be stronger than Facebook

The thing that’s really cool about semantic web projects is that with good standards and a good community our applications can become a living commons in their own right, and they can unlock collective power in a way that isolated applications can’t

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That’s my favourite out of your list. I want that as integral to a new vision of Community Relationship Management, turning Customer Relationship Management on its head so to speak. Of critical importance is facilitating the formation of co-creative mission circles. Think of it as a dating app feature within the CRM Architecture specifically for creatives.

An Ai enhanced human facilitates contractual exchanges of information that hopefully lead to something new and exciting. Think of them as a sort of Shadchanit a cadre of professional matchmakers with executive power who help those of us who are long on creative talent but short on business acumen from shooting ourselves in the foot.

Depending on if there is a match, the co-creative circle graduates in a Project Management suite that also has Ai enhanced Human curators. OMG, how many bands I was in could have benefited from such an impartial but informed voice of reason to help us keep our eye on the ball.

Though I have studied Sociocracy for many years, I have never understood the rejection of Environmental Psychology, the understanding of people in context, a proposition that one would assume is a perfect match just like its subdiscipline of Ecological Counselling.

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I have lots, and am working on them Explore - Open Media Network

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