Snowdrift

= " an ambitious project to revolutionize Free Culture ... we start with the central idea of a novel assurance system to facilitate the worldwide community better funding Free Cultural Works and related projects".

URL = https://snowdrift.coop

Discussion

The rationale of the project:

"The internet enables the community model on a greater scale than ever but works against the producer-consumer model. Non-scarce digital works can be shared freely, so there's no need to pay for access.

Artificial scarcity via technical and/or legal restrictions can enable the consumer model for digital works, but this hampers the community's ability to freely use, modify, and share things. Such restrictions also lead to abuses of power, and amplify economic inequities, taking things that could be open to everyone and giving access only to those who can afford it.

Free/libre/open projects reject such restrictions and instead celebrate the virtues of the community cycle. Yet without much funding, projects struggle to achieve their potential. Community volunteers can do a lot, but robust projects need leadership from dedicated teams, and people need to eat and pay their bills.

How can we better fund free/libre/open projects?

Asking for donations helps but is rarely enough. While some people donate, most of us put our limited resources toward scarce goods.

Consider a metaphor: the Snowdrift Dilemma. A huge drift of snow blocks the road. Who will clear it? We all have other things to do. I worry that if I start working, then everyone else will freeload. Ironically, everyone else may be thinking the same thing!

Thankfully, there's a solution! We agree to do our part if everyone else does theirs, and in a long-term community, there's incentive to follow through and build trust.

Hence, the Snowdrift.coop system. Instead of just donating and wishing others would do the same, each patron funds a private account from which donations will later be drawn. They then choose projects to support and say: "I pledge X cents per month for every 100 others who join me."

There are some further details designed to maximize reliability, flexibility, and fairness; and to keep projects honorable and accountable.

At Snowdrift.coop we envision a holistic system for long-term community patronage. Beyond fundraising, we will offer tools for community engagement, showing thanks for creative contributions, handling feature requests, discussions, support, and more." (https://snowdrift.coop/)

Status

under construction, not operational yet. Info from Aaron Wolf via wolftune.com