Posts from 2021
Trials & Tribulations on the Road to Digital Sovereignty
by Chris McGivern & Jason Hudson, 20 December 2021
To paraphrase the poet Robert Burns, the best-laid plans of mice, men, and women often go awry. It is with huge regret and disappointment that our move to open source our operational technology has been beset by too many problems. So, for now, we are pressing pause… Earlier this year, we set out our intention to reclaim our digital sovereignty from the many proprietary services we use to organise the Foundation’s day-to-day business. Moving to...
Thou Shalt Scale Sustainably
by Gavin Weale and Fellows, 30 November 2021
The Ten Commandments of Scaling Crowdsourced in Vancouver, Canada, from the assembled Shuttleworth Fellows, alumni and staff of 2017, and transcribed (with bad jokes) by Gavin Weale. In the world of social innovation and making change, we are continually barraged by the imperative to scale. In every funding bid, in every set of objectives, it is an impossible dynamic to escape if you are trying to seek support. But what does scale even mean? And...
Reclaiming Our Digital Sovereignty: The Ins & Outs
by Chris McGivern & Jason Hudson, 10 August 2021
As a small and independent organisation, we have a lot of flexibility regarding the digital architecture we use for our day-to-day operations. But over the years, our choices have been based increasingly around convenience, while accepting the privacy trade-off in the process. On reflection, this has taken us away from our open source roots and our unshakeable belief in safeguarding the human right of privacy. We are philosophically adamant about the importance of a free...
Prison Philanthropy Sucks: A Reality Check For Funders
by Helen Turvey & Chris McGivern, 20 June 2021
The discussion chimed with much of our thinking about the imbalanced power dynamics at the centre of traditional funding models. We invited them to join our CEO Helen Turvey and Dan Meredith of Reset.tech to discuss our Flash Grant programme and share ideas about how philanthropy can do more for its grantees. In both sessions, Kelsey, Michelle and Christina illustrated the reality of prison philanthropy for the many people it claims to serve. It does...
(Re)Opening For Business: Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty
by Chris McGivern & Jason Hudson, 1 June 2021
The Shuttleworth Foundation subscribes to the spirit of open source software and supports individuals who apply it to new and exciting spheres. We believe open creates the optimal conditions for community, innovation, and sustainable social change. Open is our default, and we require the same from our fellows. As a community, we work openly, think openly and share openly where ethically and feasibly possible. But how open are we in practical terms? Prompted by Shuttleworth...
Konstantin Dmitriev: Animating Opportunity With A Flash Grant
by Chris McGivern, 15 May 2021
Konstantin is a self-educated animator and open source advocate from Gorno-Altaysk in Siberia, Russia. His home town is nestled in a snug valley enveloped by the north-western Altai mountains and virtually at the centre of Eurasia, at almost the precise midway point between Finland and Japan. It’s a small, beautiful place, but very remote and surrounded by Russia’s most sparsely populated region. As a child in this quiet town, Konstantin would often shoot homemade movies...
IP Is Killing People, Your Government Can Stop It
by Helen Turvey, Chris McGivern & Karien Bezuidenhout, 11 May 2021
“These extraordinary times and circumstances call for extraordinary measures. The US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic… ” – US Trade Representative Katherine Tai Joe Biden’s decision to support India and South Africa’s patent waiver proposal is a monumental moment in more ways than one. These are extraordinary times and this is an extraordinary message from a nation that built its constitution, economy and way of life...
New Alumni - Nelson, Karla and Jenny
by Chris McGivern, 2 March 2021
It is difficult to reflect on the past without acknowledging the impacts of the pandemic. It has had a profound impact on everyone; for some, it has caused tragedy. Uncertainty and disruption have affected everyone in the fellowship community. However, chaos and catastrophe often bring about significant change. Our fellows focus on issues the world may not yet see and the pandemic brings many of their challenges to the fore. It has been hugely encouraging...
Welcome Cecília, Delphine and Zo!
by Chris McGivern & SF Team, 1 March 2021
Anil Dash, our Honorary Steward for this round, selected a trio of outstanding individuals from a shortlist full of compelling candidates and ideas. Anil is CEO of Glitch and an entrepreneur and writer who works to ensure technology transforms society for the better and serves those who are most vulnerable. His selections are very much in spirit with these aims. Cecília, Delphine and Uzoma are illuminating defective, self-defeating characteristics in the world’s justice systems and...
by Chris McGivern & SF Team, 28 February 2021
Introducing: Uzoma Orchingwa Background: Social entrepreneur and law student using technology to solve society’s most challenging problems. Idea: Building free-to-use communications technology to disrupt the prison telecommunications duopoly and create a more humane and rehabilitative corrections system. The Problem The U.S. criminal justice system is broken. In the “land of the free”, more people are incarcerated than anywhere else on the planet, and for most, it is not a one-time visit: 76.6% return within five...
Introducing: Delphine Halgand-Mishra
by Chris McGivern & SF Team, 28 February 2021
Introducing: Delphine Halgand-Mishra Background: An expert on press freedom and advocate for journalists and media rights. Idea: Support whistleblowers, hold power to account, and increase public knowledge of tech industry wrongdoing. The Problem We rely on journalists to break stories and expose issues that influential people and organisations would rather keep under wraps. Yet without whistleblowers - ordinary people who risk their reputation, career and freedom to expose injustices - journalism loses much of its...
Introducing: Cecília Olliveira
by Chris McGivern & SF Team, 28 February 2021
Introducing: Cecília Oliveira Background: A Brazilian investigative journalist, researcher and activist. Idea: Solve the persistent problem of armed violence with Fogo Cruzado, a community-driven open data platform that saves lives and creates accountability. The Problem Gun crime plagues Brazilian society. At least 40,000 people lose their lives from gun violence each year. Much of this brutality clusters around specific areas, where drug trafficking rivals, hawkish police, and masked militias wage war and trap innocent citizens...
