[Imc-alternatives] OurSpace (was: Radical MySpace?)

[Danyl Strype]

Kia ora koutou

Quoting Jay <jay at fundamentalchange.net>:

> I don't know anything about Ruby on Rails.  Does anyone here know how
> to use it?

Not I.

>> That's the question I have.  Would it make sense to focus on using
this software for the social networking parts of the site, weaving in
our own content/informational functions? <<

The answer to this question depends in a way on what sort of uptake  
Crabgrass gets from developers and early adopters. But then the uptake  
depends to some extend whether clusters of people like us get behind  
it and promote it. So it's sort of chicken and egg question.

>>  How universally accessible and known is Ruby on Rails code?  We've  
>> been very conscious about trying to use a code that has a large  
>> development community so we'll never find ourselves at the mercy of  
>> a few over-tapped code-slingers. <<

That's a good point and another question to ask the RiseUp/ Mycelium  
Network folks - why did they choose R on R?

I just got pointed to an existing piece of software called Activism  
Network written in PHP that does exactly what the Mycelium folks have  
proposed. Here's a demo site:
http://www.campusactivism.org/

I'm not very familiar with PHP yet but maybe some of the Drupal coders  
on the list could check it out and give us their opinion?
http://www.activismnetwork.org/developers/

>> My caution would be that I believe we should make consicous efforts
to make this kind of distributed network "feel" coherent. <<

I think this is exactly what the AlternativesIMC site could offer. A  
first point of contact where people can ask questions about how the  
net can help their group or project achieve its goals. A place to ask  
experienced users for their opinion of openplans vs. riseup or  
wikipedia vs wikihow or (for the really brave) php vs. plone ;) A  
place where people proposing the same kind of project can find out if  
there is already such a project they can join or people doing related  
work that might want to join theirs.

I'm conceptualizing it as being like a high mountain top with room for  
lots of people to sit and talk and a good view of the web service  
terrain laid out below.

>>  I love the massive unified database idea, with the caveat that if  
>> someone is coming to the alternatives site, and wants to be part of  
>> the alternatives site community, s/he should be able to feel as if  
>> s/he is part of somthing as huge and all-encompassing as a global  
>> movement for justice, but also something as personal and inspiring  
>> as a community of people who are working together, both on and  
>> offline, toward certain goals. <<

That's why I like the idea of having an iteration of something like  
Crabgrass (or Activism Network) running as part of our site, so that  
we are leading by example rather than just talking about and  
critiquing other people's efforts.

Rnb
Strypes

-- 
"You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You  
can only be
the Revolution. It is in your spirit or it is nowhere."
- Ursula K. LeGuin (The Dispossessed)

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