This document briefly summarize the projects discussed and proposed in the context of the GTAGlobal Tapestry of Alternatives. This projects are directly connected with the GTA's 2020 Objectives (that are specified in our public roadmap). Here we also try to describe each project status, required allocated resources and funding needs.

Description: This is not a project itself, but it's listed here since its directly connected with the daily work, regular operations and infrastructure maintenance needed for the general GTA's process and also it's projects.

Needed actions and work:

• Email and mailing list management
• Grant proposal writing
• Organize and document meetings
• Internal documentation updates
• Newsletter production
• Graphic design tasks
• Website maintenance and webserver administration
• A more detailed list is here

Estimative needed time: 80 hs / month

Current status: Active

Funds:

• Allocated: 9.900 EUR / year (Full Circle Foundation)¹⁾
• Needed: ?

Description: We defined a common pool to cover eventual costs that emerges from travels to conferences and gathering where core team members assist to present GTA.

Funds:

• Allocated: 2.500 EUR / year (Full Circle Foundation)²⁾
• Needed: ?

Description: Webinar series aims to facilitate sessions with activists, scholars, researchers, mobilisers, practitioners across the world who have engaged on exploring systemic alternatives. Started on April 2020 and already featured 8 sessions. More details here.

Needed actions and work:

• Sessions conceptualisation, planification, contacts/speakers communication and Coordination
• Dissemination (visual communication, website, mailing)
• Session work (facilitation, moderation, technical tests)
• Post-production (recordings, publication)

Action Lines: [B] Disseminate

Estimative needed time: 40 hs / month (2 sessions per month)

Current status: Active

Funds:

• Allocated: None
• Needed: ?

Description: roduce a series of “thematic reports” showcasing real world examples coming from alternatives as a response to problems, crises and challenges in the context of the COVID-19 and other mayor global crises. This is explained in more detail here, and also part of this concept was included in the proposal for Swift Foundation. Some of this is initially conceptualized for the Formas proposal draft

Needed actions and work:

Action Lines: [B] Disseminate

Estimative needed time:

Current status: Active, currently starting with participation of John Foran's team

Funds

• Allocated: 2000 $us³⁾ - Also the proposal for Swift Foundation includes case content production that could be allocated here.
• Needed: ?

Description: The creation of a software tool aimed at collective mapping and collaborative production of knowledge about alternatives. It will have the following characteristics: will be developed and made available under the political, ethical and technical principles of Open Source Free Software; will be designed from a “pluriveral design ontology” (non eurocentric design approach); will operate as a web service and self-installable, allowing multiple distributed implementations; capabilities to interconnect the implementations and integrate a common meta-network; will work from an asynchronous collaborative dynamic between multiple users applying a commons-based peer production model, similar to a wiki. This is described in more detail in Antipode proposal and Swift Proposal. This project it's directly connected with the AHRC/ESRC project proposal draft (which is focused on visual narratives that relies on this mapping and documentation technology)

Needed actions and work:

• Software programming (PHP, Javascript, XHTML, MySQL)
• Implementation of a specific deployment for GTA as a first beta version
• Data analysis and semantic contents preparation
• User test and feedback

Action Lines: [A] Documentate

Estimative needed time: 80hs/months for 1 year (phase 1)

Current status: On hold (there progress by some GTA's endorsers on the development of some of the tech components)

Funds:

• Allocated: Not yet⁴⁾
• Needed: 10.000$us / year⁵⁾

Description: the provision of digital tools for alternative grassroots approaches, aimed to promote self-design process with technologeies adapted to a convivial perspective in order to “develop concrete and operational tools for Weavers to deepen their autonomy; expand and strengthen their networks; promote mapping and self-documentation of their members actions and practices. This project was submitted for funding as part of an asynchronous digital workshop proposal titled “Autonomous Communication and Transformative AlternativesAre activities and initiatives, concepts, worldviews, or action proposals by collectives, groups, organizations, communities, or social movements challenging and replacing the dominant system that perpetuates inequality, exploitation, and unsustainabiity. In the GTA we focus primarily on what we call "radical or transformative alternatives", which we define as initiatives that are attempting to break with the dominant system and take paths towards direct and radical forms of political and economic democracy, localised self-reliance, social justice and equity, cultural and knowledge diversity, and ecological resilience. Their locus is neither the State nor the capitalist economy. They are advancing in the process of dismantling most forms of hierarchies, assuming the principles of sufficiency, autonomy, non-violence, justice and equality, solidarity, and the caring of life and the Earth. They do this in an integral way, not limited to a single aspect of life. Although such initiatives may have some kind of link with capitalist markets and the State, they prioritize their autonomy to avoid significant dependency on them and tend to reduce, as much as possible, any relationship with them.: Convivial Tools for Transition Design from the Global South”, more details here.

Needed actions and work:

• Development of convivial software tools
• Support and assistance to Weavers for implementation
• Documentation writing and facilitation
• Visual and graphic design tasks

Action Lines: [A] Documentate ; [C] Connect

Estimative needed time: 40hs/months for 6 months

Current status: On hold

Funds:

• Allocated: Yes - Most of the the Wenner Grenn Foundation were directly assigned to tasks for this project. Part of these resources were intentionally connected / superimposed with the “Collaborative Mapping of Alternatives” project (listed above) in order to merge efforts.

Description: Creation of an “Alternatives Open Framework” used to help understand general common characteristics. It will include: a clear conceptualization of “types of alternatives”, spelling out the criteria and methodologies for understanding an alternative and enabling some distinctions so that collaborations, dialogue and mapping could be initiated and a series of cross-sectoral analysis and taxonomies that can help identify their relationship with several post-development narratives (good living, commons, Swaraj, etc.) and reveal their inherent principles, ethics and values. This is described in more detail in Antipode proposal

Needed actions and work:

• Research work
• Conceptualiation and case/example content creation
• Software development for structured data and integration with Map

Action Lines: [A] Documentate

Estimative needed time: 40hs/months for 12 months

Current status: On hold

Funds:

• Allocated: None
• Needed: 6.000$us / year⁶⁾

For one year:

We propose to distribute the funds in 4 areas: [1] Contents creation; [2] Mapping and documentation technologies; [3] Workshop for WGF and [4] Infrastructure costs and maintenance. Summary table:

Details below:

Needs to be done:

• 2 reports with 8/10 cases each, in 4 months (end of December)
  • Topic of each report:
    • Report 1:
    • Report 2:
  • Each report demand 4 months of work
  • Each report will be: a PDF, a webpage, 2 visual pieces (banners or similar) to circulate in social media.
  • Roles/Skills involved:
    • Research and writing
    • Visual designer, graphical and web
  • Budget: 2.000 $us per report
    • Coordination: 700 $us
    • Contents: 1.000 $us
    • Design: 300 $us
• SUB-TOTAL: 4.000 $us
  • Coordination: 1.400 $us
  • Contents total: 2.000 $us
  • Design total: 600 $us (2 reports)

Comments:

• ASHISH: Visual designer not only web, but document designer, no?
• VASNA: I can take on 5 cases for report on food sovereignity now to be done by the end of Sept : Potato Park, Portugal social economy, S. Africa food sovereignty, Hawai feminist recovery plan, Peoples Strike/Cooperative Jackson, Cargonomia with the help of students.
  • FRANCO: Fine with this. Just to be sure, this is the cases already listed for Report #1 and assigned to you VASNA? (see the pad, line 75)
• SHRISHTEE : I think we should also dedicate some amounts into producing these in forms that can be used for circulation in social media etc, where a lot of this content can be reached out. Designing in photo stories format or writing photo articles etc.
• FRANCO: Updated details to reflect ASHISH and SHRISHTEE comments.

Needs to be done:

• Webinar sessions (7-10) post-production
  • Text resume of Webinars¹⁴⁾
  • Roles/Skill involved:
    • Writing and proofreading:
      • With software transcription: 10 webinars (200 $us per webinar)
      • With no software transcription: 7 webinars (300 $us per webinars)
• SUB-TOTAL: 2.000 $us
• Video production
  • Short video clips of each webinar session to introduce and disseminate them
    • 4 short video about cases, editing and visual design skills (500 u$s per video)
• SUB-TOTAL: 2.000 $us
• TOTAL: 4.000 $us

Comments:

• ASHISH: we may need some re-allocation between this and the reports above; it seems to me that work involved the post-production of each webinar will be substantial and $200 is not adequate; whereas perhaps we can reduce the expense for the reports to $1000 each? If that is not possible, we may have to find extra resources for the webinar post-production, or else reduce it to 5 webinars from 10?
  • FRANCO: I agree with ASHISH, we should apply your two last suggestions: use 2000 $us to post-produce 5 webinars and seek for extra funding (Edge was interested in this?) for the rest.
• VASNA: I have two students who are ready and willing to start transcribing webinars. I am not clear what visual design work needs to be done on the webinars but i have little experience in this.
• SHRISHTEE: Yes, I agree that we should put in a little more into this. Especially how the content of those webinars is designed. In photo stories or other such forms? We should also add general coordination and follow-up tasks to this as we have done for the others.
  • FRANCO: You mean to allocate part of the funds to the production of upcoming webinars sessions?

For the whole contents production we will allocate: TOTAL: 8000 $us

To do:

• Implementation of collaborative mapping and documentation open source technology
• Information and semantic metadata structure design
• Database building for a first round of data assets¹⁵⁾
• Roles/Skills involved:
  • General development design and coordination (640hs)
  • Web Programming (JS+XML+PHP) and sysadmin (640hs)
  • Database building and management (160hs)
• Output for 4 months: endorsers and cases in reports datasets
• TOTAL: 6.000 $us

Comments:

• ASHISH: perhaps also of the cases that we feature in the Resilience reports; that way the documents and the mapping as also some of the webinars will complement each other?
  • FRANCO: Yes, agree on this.
• VASNA: In addition to the platform development, is there a need to similar collate and categorise the endorsers we have now in some way so we can visually display where, what and who. This would require not just technical design but also someone to go through our endorsers sites and verify information.
  • FRANCO: Yes, that is already considered. See the role for “Database building and management”.
• SHRISHTEE: I think as a first step, we should try to establish contact with our endorser organisations individually. One exercise of that effect could be, sharing with them the profiles of their organisations (that vasna mentions above). we did share them earlier in a common email but most of them did not respond to it. Along with profile, we add a few more pointers/questions to them.

  • FRANCO: Agree, part of the process of database building

To do:

• Run an async workshop, starting December 2020. Commited with WGF. Details here
• Design each of the 6 modules contents and proposal
• Disseminate it around grassroots organizations with focus on Alternatives, mainly from Global South.
• Prepare a digital publication that collects all modules and outcomes of participants interactions.
• Roles/Skills involved:
  • Module design and contents curation (including “convivial tools”)
  • Webspace design (for contents and interactions)
  • Digital publication design and edition (ePub book format)
• TOTAL: 1.600 $us

To do:

• Hire a dedicated webserver (VPS), 1 year, to host all GTA websites and online tools.
• Migrate websites/tools
• Install mailing tools (mail server + civiCRM)
• Run regular maintenance operations (updates; backups; security schemes)
• Roles/Skills involved:
  • VPS/Server services experience (to identify tech reequirement and hire one)
  • Server administration experience to migrate tools and install new ones (mailing)
  • Regular Linux system administration for maintenance tasks (20hs per month)
• TOTAL: 1.000 $us

Total ammount to distribute is 12.000 (10.000 from Swift and 2.000 from EJ/CJ Hub). Wenner-Grenn is not included since we didn't received it and still waiting re-confirmation from their side.