{"id":2900,"date":"2017-05-08T16:22:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T14:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ripess.eu\/?p=2900\/"},"modified":"2017-05-18T13:20:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T11:20:40","slug":"a-charter-for-how-to-build-effective-data-and-mapping-commons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/a-charter-for-how-to-build-effective-data-and-mapping-commons\/","title":{"rendered":"A Charter for Data (and Mapping) Commons"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the earliest such maps was TransforMap<\/a>,\u00a0a project with origins in Austria and Germany that is using OpenStreetMap as a platform for helping people identify and connect with alternative economic projects. In the US, CommonSpark<\/a>\u00a0assembled a collection of \u201cmaps in the spirit of the commons\u201d<\/a>\u00a0such as the Great Lakes Commons Map<\/a> (a bioregional map of healing and harm), World of Commons<\/a>(innovative forms of citizen-led governance of public property and services in Italy), Falling Fruit<\/a> (a global map identifying 786,000 locations of forgeable food), a map of Free Little Libraries<\/a> (free books available in neighborhoods around the world), a global Hackerspace<\/a> map, a global Seed Map<\/a>, a map of all Transition <\/a>communities, and several Community Land Trustdirectory maps.<\/p>\n

As the varieties of maps proliferate, there is growing concern that the mapping projects truly function as commons and be capable of sharing data and growing together. But meeting this challenge entails some knotty technical, social and legal issues.<\/p>\n

A group of mappers met at the Commons Space sessions of the World Social Forum in Montreal last year to try to make progress on the challenge.\u00a0 The dialogues continued at an \u201cIntermapping\u201d workshop<\/a>\u00a0in Florence, Italy, last month. After days of deep debate and collaboration, the mappers came up with a document that outlines twelve key principles for developing effective data and mapping commons. The Charter for Building a Data Commons for a Free, Fair and Sustainable Future<\/a>\u00a0is the fruit of those dialogues.<\/p>\n

The Charter\u2019s authors describe the document as \u201cthe maximum \u2018commons denominator\u2019 of mapping projects that aspire to share data for the common good.\u201d If you follow these guidelines,\u201d write the mappers, \u201cyou will contribute to a Global Data Commons. That is, you will govern your mapping community and manage data differently than people who centralize data control for profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Charter does not describe the vision, scope or values of a specific mapping project. \u00a0It is rather an expression of Data Commons principles. It will help you reimagine how you protect the animating spirit of your mapping project and prevent your data from being co-opted or enclosed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is version 0.6 of the Charter, which is still a work-in-progress:<\/p>\n

1. Reflect your ambition together. \u00a0Discuss the core of your project again and again. Everybody involved should always feel in resonance with the direction in which it\u2019s heading.<\/p>\n

2. Make your community thrive. \u00a0For the project to be successful, a reliable community is more important than anything else. Care for those who might support you when you need them most.<\/p>\n

3. Separate commons and commerce.\u00a0 Mapping for the commons is different from producing services or products to compete on the map-market. Make sure you don\u2019t feed power-imbalances or profit-driven agendas and learn how to systematically\u00a0separate commons from commerce.<\/p>\n

4. Design for interoperability.\u00a0Think of your map as a node in a network of many maps. Talk with other contributors to the Data Commons to find out if you can use the same data model, licence and approach to mapping.<\/p>\n

5. Care for a living vocabulary.\u00a0Vocabularies as entry points to complex social worlds are always incomplete. Learn from other mappers\u2019 vocabularies. Make sure your vocabulary can be adjusted. Make it explicit and publish it openly, so that others can learn from it too.<\/p>\n

6. Document transparently. \u00a0Sharing your working process, learnings and failures allow others to replicate, join and contribute. Don\u2019t leave documentation for after. Do it often and make it understandable. Use technologies designed for open cooperation.<\/p>\n

7. Crowdsource what you can.\u00a0Sustain your project whenever possible with money, time, knowledge, storing space, hardware or monitoring from your community or public support. Stay independent!<\/p>\n

8. Use FLOSS tools.\u00a0It gives you the freedom to further develop your own project and software according to your needs. And it enables you to contribute to the development of these tools.<\/p>\n

9. Build upon the open web platform.\u00a0Open web standards ensure your map, its data and associated applications cannot be enclosed and are prepared for later remixing and integration with other sources.<\/p>\n

10. Own your data.\u00a0In the short run, it seems to be a nightmare to refrain from importing or copying what you are not legally entitled to. In the long run, it is the only way to prevent you from being sued or your data being enclosed. Ban Google.<\/p>\n

11. Protect your data.\u00a0To own your data is important, but not enough. Make sure nobody dumps your data back into the world of marketization and enclosures. Use appropriate licenses to protect your collective work!<\/p>\n

12. Archive your project.\u00a0When it doesn\u2019t work anymore for you, others still might want to build on it in the future.<\/p>\n

(Earlier versions of the document can be found here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>. If you have comments or new points to add to the Charter, here is a hackpad<\/a>\u00a0for new contributions.)<\/p>\n

These twelve principles represent a lot of hard-won wisdom into the functioning of data commons!<\/p>\n

Find the article here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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