Ping @Woodbinehealth, I think you guys should have a look at this.
I took a look at Woodbine Health’s challenge-response post and definitely see some complementary challenges with what I’ve written above and what they’re doing. I’ve reached out to them privately, as well, in the hopes of keeping more lines of communication open for collaboration.
What if the health resource centre you are building could have a distributed presence (and network of contributors) as a compliment to the physical space itself? And how could a community support the developers working on it?
I don’t know if this was directed at me, but I wanted to chime in anyway because it’s a great idea that showcases the best kind of melding between the Internet’s ability to cross geographical boundaries and the real need (often overlooked by head-in-the-clouds technologists) for having physical-world networks of people in close proximity to one another.
One of the things I would like to see Buoy as a project develop more of as time goes on are tools for getting knowledge/skill dissemination (similar to what the Woodbine folks spoke of) in a “point-of-need” manner. By this I mean being able to forward or relay calls for help that require particular skills to the people who have those skills even if those people are not immediately known by the person in crisis. This is actually one reason why I envision Buoy primarily as a logistical and coordination support tool for existing volunteer-run community health or support groups, rather than a kind of individualistic technological solutionism proferred by these “there’s an app for that!” product marketing campaigns.
There are already tickets in our issue tracker for allowing Buoy users to add things like skills listings to their profiles, but we have so far only prioritized the things that real users are actually telling us that they need. Since, for now, most users know one another and what their skills are well already, we haven’t done any of this. But it’s something to think about in terms of growing a user base across more geographically disperse regions.
Another thought with respect to a more “distributed presence” is that it’s also possible for a group (such as Woodbine) to host an instane of the Buoy software but invite other groups to make use of it, even if they are not near the Woodbine clinic itself. Buoy has no geographic limitations itself (it uses OpenStreetMaps for geographical data, which covers almost the entire planet), and a single instance’s use is only limited by who is actually using it.
On that note, I am already working in collaboration with the Glocal Coop as a contributor to their Activist Network Platform (ANP). This is a tool that allows larger organizations such as groups with national presence and individual regional chapters to produce a network of related websites. We are discussing the possibility of adding Buoy as a default or an optional add-on to that ANP. If this happens, it would offer opportunities for cross-Buoy technical integration that could be very valuable, too.
As for “how could a community support the developers working on it?” I hear this question as mostly asking about money and so on, but I’d like to point out that the most progress that has been made on Buoy happened during times when I was sleeping in a friend’s closet on my sleeping pad. If I am able to nurture friendships with fellow activists who are able to shelter and possibly feed me, who are willing to try experimenting with the tools I write, I make much more sustained progress on a tool. Money helps, of course, but ultimately I spent all money that I gete on food and shelter anyway, so if I can get reliable food and shelter directly, what use have I for money?
Another member of the community who might be interested in this is @Eireann Leverett who does information security and has experience with tech-related privacy/security issues which is a concern.
I took a look at Eireann’s profile and what piqued my interest was the line “He likes teaching the basics, and learning the obscure.” I feel similar, and I would love the opportunity to skillshare/collaborate with more folks with that mindset who have an interest in various infosec disciplines.
