Some responses to a survey about cooperatives and libre software by Cooperativa Tierra Común

Survey put out by Cooperativa Tierra Común of México.

Job role:

software programming for websites (PHP/Drupal, Python/Django, JavaScript, HTML, CSS); identifying client needs; writing user stories; participating in internal planning and documenting policies and practices; speaking to potential clients; attending and speaking at events; social media marketing; research; bookkeeping.

What is your opinion on Free/Libre and/or Open Source Software (FLOSS)? Please elaborate on your answer.

We use libre software as part of our commitment to helping people gain the most power possible over their own lives; it is part of giving people control over their websites. It is essential for fully realized human freedom, but for libre software to be of use in also moving us toward a better world for all, for that last mile of freedom to be reached, the movement around software freedom must rise up to the challenge of helping people gain both freedom and justice in all its forms.

There may never have been a time of more awareness of the dangers posed to us by proprietary software and unaccountable services, but we still need to meet people more than halfway.

We need to embrace the principle that everyone should have the most control possible over their own lives. How then, does software fit into that? Being free in itself is only part of the way free software can be truly freeing. What does the software do? Is it helping people communicate, coordinate, and build power together (rather than monetizing, surveilling, centralizing). Is it available, accessible, usable to all who could benefit from it?

To reach its liberatory potential, the free software movement needs to embrace cooperative principles: one person one vote, member economic participation which should include users, and educating and benefiting our communities.

We also need to cooperatively host free software when hosting it is the most practical way for people to use and benefit from free software. It is not someone else’s computer if we own it collectively. This isn’t far from the early days of free software, when computing power was a shared resource.

We must design, build, maintain, and run software with human liberation in mind. It matters little if our software is free if we are not.

Do you think that software code should be public? Please explain why in the input field.

Yes

basic part of software freedom, being able to inspect what the software that affects you is programmed to do

Do you contribute in any way to FLOSS projects, either by programming, graphic design, UX, feedback, promotion, etc?

Yes

  1. Drutopia, https://drutopia.org
  2. Drupal, https://drupal.org
  3. Hugo, https://gohugo.io/

What do these contributions consist of? (You can choose more than one. Please specify.)

Why do you contribute to FLOSS projects?

Giving back to what we benefit from is essential. Occasionally it is social proof of what we can do for potential clients or partners.

Does the cooperative provide suggestions to FLOSS projects? Please explain in the input field and if so give an example.

Yes

Like, feature requests? All the time. Here’s a fun one: https://github.com/bigbluebutton/bigbluebutton/issues/13902

Anything else you would like to share? (280 characters max)

It is probably even more important that we design, build, maintain, and run free software cooperatively for the public benefit than it is that cooperatives be involved in free software.