diff --git a/src/_blog/2023-ipfs-thing-community-governance.md b/src/_blog/2023-ipfs-thing-community-governance.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1c0f5732 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/_blog/2023-ipfs-thing-community-governance.md @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ +--- +title: 'Recap: Community & Governance (þing 2023)' +description: 'Description' +author: Boris Mann and Robin Berjon +date: 2023-05-23 +permalink: '/2023-ipfs-community-governance/' +header_image: '/community-governance-recap.jpg' +tags: + - 'thing' + - 'þing' + - 'event' + - 'recap' + - 'track' + - 'community' + - 'governance' +--- + +Governance and community are two ideas that vibe like they wouldn't live in the same part of +town if their lives dependended on it. Community is warm, fun, and fuzzy if probably chaotic +and occasionally infuriating, whereas governance sounds a lot more like flossing, something +dry and painful that you pretend your project does to make the Serious People go away. But +much like the predictable transition from misunderstanding to mutual respect in a buddy +movie, these two were destined to form just the dynamic duo we need to take on insuperable +odds. Community is the for and by of governance, and, quite frankly, the exercize of +governance is messy, chaotic, and a crucible from which new, more resilient communities +emerge. + +The full-day Community & Governance track that brought us together at IPFS Þhing 2023 +(which you can [watch in its entirety](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuhRWgmPaHtTIFbOVO5YfXkoFg6wIGbBN)) had all of that energy and then some. +We spent the time bouncing back and forth between how to prevent capture by lumbering +megacorporations and how to gather friends for a nice community café, what's a data +protection officer and better ways to herd cats, ways of protecting people from some of the +worst content on the Internet while supporting censorship-resistance and how to support +commons and community ownership. It was a ride and a delightful one too. + +Perhaps the core issue that brought us together across the diverse presentations was that +we want to learn from the mistakes of the past and organize the community so that we can +bring about a better world. It's not the worst plan. + +## Memory in Uncertainty + +"*Is that an elaborate way of saying everything's fucked?*" That might not be your +typical audience question but then this wasn't your typical presentation either (or +your typical audience, for that matter). + +Cade Diehm is one of the brains behind [*The New Design Congress*](https://newdesigncongress.org/) (NDC), +a research organization that practices "*ethical red teaming*" to identify issues with +sociotechnical systems. [WebRecorder](https://webrecorder.net/) and [the Filecoin Foundation](https://fil.org/) hired NDC to take an +in-depth look at web archiving (on IPFS) to help identify problems. Cade came to IPFS +þing to udpate the community on his findings, which are captured in the +[Memory in Uncertainty: Web Preservation in the Polycrisis](https://members.newdesigncongress.org/memory-in-uncertainty-web-preservation-in-the-polycrisis/) report. + +"*The answer,*" Cade told us, "*is: 'kind of.'*" He gave a wide-ranging presentation +ranging over the dangers of decentralized technology, the complexity of archives, +the challenges presented by the potential weaponization of data, and much more. +It provided a powerful call to take the impact of our tech seriously and to keep in mind that +tech can only be ethical if it is governed by the people it impacts. Cade concluded +with a set of tools to help avoid bad outcomes, because "*not everything is screwed.*" + +@[youtube](TdiQGXSZmCk) + +## Community Organizing + +For all that remote work and online collaboration have improved, it's hard to have a +strong and durable sense of community without meeting people in the flesh now and then. +Thankfully, we have many gatherings to look forward to this year! + +[Vukasin Vukoje](https://twitter.com/wukoje) made a surprise +announcement of a new event series: Compute Camp. Details will be released more fully +soon, but the first edition of this series dedicated specifically to distributed +compute will take place later this year in Belgrade, Serbia. If you care more about +doing things to data and less about where it's stored, this might just be the place for +you. + +Yuni Graham and Niki Gokani walked us through the organization of IPFS Camp, which +will take place in November in Bangalore. We worked together to figure out what the +best structure and content for the event would be. They're looking for volunteers +to be part of the content planning work — please consider reaching out if you're +interted! + +@[youtube](U5u54jwOg6k) + +And if what you're looking for is a more local IPFS-focused event, why not run your +own? Yuni Graham and Nicole Schafer presented IPFS + Friends Café, a collection of local +community gatherings to help develop an IPFS community on the ground, around the +world. If you're iunterested, they might be able to sponsor such an event as well as +assist with logistics and finding some speakers. It would be wonderful to see more +local evangelism! + +@[youtube](FII_9VTgDy8) + +## Cat Herding + +A growing community is a blessing, but keeping up with everything that is happening +can become overwhelming. Several sessions provided us with both updates and tools to +stay on top of future updates. + +Henrique Dias (aka [@hacdias](https://twitter.com/hacdias)) walked us through [specs.ipfs.tech](https://specs.ipfs.tech/), +the hot new place to get IPFS specifications. Not all of the IFPS specs have been moved +there yet, but they're in the process of being ported over and everything new will be +on the specs site from the get-go. This site is intended to grow into the one-stop-shop +reference for IPFS implementations, ideally reaching the point at which one could produce +an IPFS implementation from scratch using those documents alone (along with the emerging +test suite, of course). + +@[youtube](vQVnjEIPuCE) + +At last year's þing in Iceland, the IPIP (IPFS Improvement Process) process was announced. +The indefatigable @lidel walked us through all of the IPIP work that has happened since, +and it's a lot! Initially announced as a lightning talk, this was more of a twenty minute +presentation at lightning speed. + +Keep in mind that this process is open to anyone in the community (and if you're reading +this that means *you*). There is an +[IPIP Pipeline GitHub project](https://github.com/orgs/ipfs/projects/19) that maintains an +up-to-date status of all IPIPs, and the IPIPs get discussed on the +[IPFS Implementers Working Group](https://lu.ma/ipfs-implementers). More generally, +the [IPFS Community Calendar](https://lu.ma/ipfs) keeps track of the various meetings and +events in which the evolution of the IPFS stack gets discussed. + +@[youtube](WcHlV6sQuDI) + +But then again, specs are only one corner of IPFS, and IPFS one corner of a bigger family +of technologies. Staying on top of everything that is happening in *\[gestures vaguely around]* +this space remains daunting. One novel tool that is already helping people get a clearer +sense of what's happening (and that you can use as well) is [Starmap](https://starmap.site/). +The core principle of Starmap is very simple: by structuring your GitHub issues according to +very simple conventions, you can create a nested tree of issues that spans any arbitrary set +of repositories and see all of those organized in a single Starmap. + +The idea is that people should be organizing and coordinating code whichever way they see +fit, but it should be possible to obtain an overview of the status of a progress across all +of its components nevertheless. One example is the +[Kubo/Boxo 2023Q2/Q3 items](https://starmap.site/roadmap/github.com/ipfs/kubo/issues/9817#list). + +Bastien Dehaynin from Fission provided us with a clear and exciting overview and demo of the +system. Several people in the room were already users, and there was definite interest in +getting a Starmap for specs. + +@[youtube](_HoLDQreF28) + +## Governance + +In order to keep IPFS and its broader ecosystem pushing in a direction that benefits +all people, to support impactful collective action and ownership, and to avoid it +being captured by larger players, we need to deploy matching governance capabilities. +Your friendly here authors, Boris Mann and Robin Berjon, ran a workshop on "What +Should We Governance?" with the goal of surfacing risks and pain points regarding +governance of the IPFS ecosystem. This produced a lot of very valuable input, yet +we feel like we have barely scratched the surface. + +@[youtube](svqlHO3K_RQ) + +Our dynamic duo then split their color-coordinated purple outfits, first with Boris +discussing the allocation of funding for code and other community work, and +suggesting that it would be great to use Starmap to find which parts of a project +are most in need of funding. + +@[youtube](PysiACKo1dI) + +And then Robin talked about the ongoing work in the +[Decent Data Compliance WG](https://github.com/DDC-WG) where parties from across the +decentralized world are working together to figure out how to manage +"[bad bits](https://badbits.dwebops.pub/)", how to protect operators from serving some +of the worst content on the Internet (or simply things they don't want to host), and how +to make sure that people's privacy rights are respected. There's a lot of work to be +done, but it's heartening to see that people are taking these issues seriously. + +@[youtube](bIlji91KEFQ) + +## Where Next? + +The day made it clear that there is strong interest in community and governance +in the IPFS universe, and you can expect to hear a lot more on this side of things. + +While different aspects of these concerns have places where people can gather to +discuss them (as seen in the links sprinkled above), overall coordination and +cooperation around governance in the decent(ralized) world remains limited. +We joked that we might need a "Working Group Working Group" to provide lightweight +support for all the community working groups that keep emerging and help them work +together. But the feedback was that it might not actually be such a joke of an idea. +Stay tuned!