Loomio
Mon 18 Jan 2021 7:37AM

Digital Development Principles and Licensing

M Max Public Seen by 15

With looking at the direction ahead for community and alignment of our values and purpose to be aligned with our code and development practices ... it is time we discuss and decide licensing and principles we approach ALL technology projects via Solutions for Humanity Inc.

I have discussed generally with the devs before bringing this to members for a formal vote, to make sure my thinking around values is aligned by their thoughts on this also; especially, purpose driven contributors.

M

Poll Created Mon 18 Jan 2021 7:44AM

Align with Principles for Digital Development Closed Sun 31 Jan 2021 12:04AM

Outcome
by Max Sun 31 Jan 2021 10:34PM

Proposal to align with the general guidelines of the Digital Development Principles was discussed and passed by member, with no blocking votes.
Has been marked for review in round 6 months, and see how they are working for us, how we align, etc.

Ref: https://digitalprinciples.org/principles/

We are working for a better future for people and planet - and we should align with the principles developed for that sector. I believe that a very good guideline for us to write into the rules of how SFH Inc works with the technology we develop and the community and partners we work with.

There are of-course ethical AI guidelines and other things that are "technical guides" for certain projects (like isgood.ai), but the principles linked are more as something that are broadly understood and applied on how we operate as members, community and coop.

The sooner this can be reviewed and discussed for agreement the better :)

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 100.0% 5 M S JB G PS
Abstain 0.0% 0  
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 0  

5 of 5 people have participated (100%)

M

Max
Agree
Mon 18 Jan 2021 7:44AM

I want to be absolutely clear on aligning purpose and ways we approach our tech work, and many experts have worked on creating these principles to help guide us. If there is some conflict in the future, we can work with that as needed ... aligning with the principles are not hand-cuffs 馃槈

JB

Judith Baeta
Agree
Mon 18 Jan 2021 7:45AM

Great! @Max is your suggestion, assuming the result of the vote is favourable, to "audit" or review how we are currently doing things to ensure we align to these Principles, or an alternative way to incorporate them into our organisation?

G

Gareth
Agree
Mon 18 Jan 2021 7:45AM

Following best practice and including users is always a good idea

S

Simon
Agree
Fri 29 Jan 2021 1:05AM

These principles seem sensible.

M

Poll Created Mon 18 Jan 2021 8:07AM

Open Community Licence Where Applicable Closed Sun 31 Jan 2021 7:03AM

Outcome
by Max Sun 31 Jan 2021 10:39PM

Proposal was passed, with no blocking votes, that for the near future we adopt the following approach for isgood.ai (only current project):

  1. WebApp / Front-end code -> GNU GPLv3

  2. Backend / API functions and integrations layer - GNU AGPLv3

  3. Data-wrangling, streaming & open-scripts - GNU AGPLv3

  4. Data-platform data-structures, systems, R&D & scripts - closed source & internal private repos


Has been marked for review in round 6 months, and see how it's working for us, how we align, etc.

Aligning with our purpose of doing good, and also as per our manifesto and the "Principles for Digital Development" we should consider to operate as an open, collaborative and transparent first and whenever possible organisation. This is also regarding our code.

This does NOT include all of our platform scripts, especially when there is a risk to either our #techforgood purpose or good for people and planet (eg. being used for evil). It also does not reduce our ability to have certain code/functions/systems being patented, IP held, or never making public certain tech or code when it is not considered to be in the best public interest.
Where it does apply, is when there is overall benefit of doing so, either for our #techforgood purpose or good for people and planet.

The proposal is, that for the near future we adopt the following approach for isgood.ai (only current project):

  1. WebApp / Front-end code -> GNU GPLv3

  2. Backend / API functions and integrations layer - GNU AGPLv3

  3. Data-wrangling, streaming & open-scripts - GNU AGPLv3

  4. Data-platform data-structures, systems, R&D & scripts - closed source & internal private repos

Again, if you are able to consider, discuss and decide ASAP, it will help move things faster for our devs, DS and community contributors .... as well as our OKRs and roadmap planning.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 100.0% 4 M JB G PS
Abstain 0.0% 0  
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 0  

4 of 4 people have participated (100%)

M

Max
Agree
Mon 18 Jan 2021 8:07AM

I've been thinking about this a LOT .... and believe this is the right thing to do ... both for our benefit, and for the impact we can make.

JB

Judith Baeta
Agree
Mon 18 Jan 2021 8:07AM

Thanks for sharing the resources for better understanding. Your approach and thought process seems very reasonable to me and I am happy to go ahead with this. :)

G

Gareth
Agree
Mon 18 Jan 2021 8:07AM

Agreed after chatting with Max to ensure that this being open where it helps isgood (e.g. customer interactions by easier API integration) and does NOT include any core IP including the R&D code. Keep the core IP private and secure is critical.

M

Max Tue 19 Jan 2021 1:25AM

additional comment in side chat about this, copying across for sake of transparency:

Reason being is that pretty much everything outside of the backend DS platform is pretty standard functionality... stuff like APIs would be public to enable more integrations and dev contributions ... webapp is open source anyway .... and opening up what is NOT sensitive enables us to have a lot more contributors and access to many initiatives we wouldn鈥檛 have if 100% closed.

Important thing is that we are not looking at opening anything that is sensitive or related to our IP for the platform design (or R&D stuff).

With the licensing it forces anyone who uses it to have the same license and state all changes on anything served over network.

What is your main concern about this?

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