What we do
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Civilsocialmedia.com is based on these two ideas... 1. A direct and open - user administered platform. 2. Giving the user control of their data. Administer the technology you use within a free open source social media framework.
Tools have repeatedly changed our civilization. Today, when most of us don't understand our cell phone, how can we hope to comprehend the effects of technology on society. Civilsocialmedia.com provides a place to learn to administer the social media we use. All the best technology is free, companies can no longer pay for others to provide them with these tools, they must learn to use open source solutions, that are collaborative and free. If you don't know how or why open source is both the best and free, you may want to watch these videos, or read the wiki page on open source. What is the internet? I would say the internet is all technology, that runs on servers, and can be accessed with personal devices over cable or WiFi. Commercial applications like Uber, Amazon, Facebook, Quickbooks, Turbotax are all considered part of the internet. Although these commercial examples are corporations with proprietary trademarks, the underlying technology they use is open and free. Anyone can recreate these companies without any special license or cost, all you need is, "know how", users, and customers. The primary component of this technology is the server, which is a computer you can access over the internet with any personal device.
Providing data services is the commercial work of the internet, with the server being the most secure place to keep your data, even better if local, under your control, and supervision.
Internet, what danger?
The internet is where we get information... information changes minds, and molds political choices. Whether we like it or not propaganda is about changing minds and has been around for a long time. The internet permits targeted messaging, specific to your personality, which is far more effective. Algorithms can be designed that will automatically message your community, and influence opinion in any direction desired. We suggest your community become more aware, this is why we teach for free. Civilsocialmedia is an alternative media source oriented to your community, that is managed by the community that uses it. If you administer you assure your own security and privacy Privacy is also an important factor, and only an open collaborative form of this technology can provide individual assurances for privacy. Civilsocialmedia is an open platform that permits for many eyes to oversee what is done. This is the best way to assure that wrongdoing is spotted quickly, and corrected. The internet along with new developing AI technologies will change our society, our best safeguard is transparency, knowledge, and participation. Don't stand by clueless, participate. This is the new literacy, you must learn this technology. The quality and openness of our methods of communication reflect the quality of our society. Although it was once true, today no one would consider banning literacy, or privatizing the English language. Books and newspapers are working their way into history, the rapid changes in technology have given us a new and far superior medium of communication, the internet. The commercial applications of this technology are not open, and are extremely centralized. One person, one company, and a consolidation of the marketplace, Amazon is of course the prime example. The nature of a healthy local community is a robust small business community. The advantages technology provides in marketing, sales, and distribution has eliminated many small businesses. It is in the nature of free markets that better access to capital and technology will provide a competitive advantage. It is therefore natural under the current economic environment, that technology will continue to centralize economies, erode local communities, and the small businesses that made them. The printing press was a technology that also changed society. Books made people aware, and the result was democracy. A new type of Public Library Technology can be expensive, and difficult to understand... so too were books. In a democracy where anyone can vote, the ability to read newspapers, and books was rather important to the process. Unfortunately for the fledgling American democracy, the majority could not read, and if they could read they could not afford to buy books. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1816, “Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.” The United States recognized that a literate population was essential to a democracy, and opened its first public school in 1821, and public library in 1854. The internet is the new literacy, and for our society to function in the future we must learn this new alphapet of technology. We hope to provide you with technological literacy, and an internet library of software for public use, in public hands. Networks and participation Not everyone has tech abilities, in fact most people hate technology, but everyone is an avid consumer, and most of us have friends and family. We are all consumers and we all have networks. Here is where those who hate technology, become vital. Bottom up governance requires broad participation, and for that we must find ways to be inclusive. For this to work we need others to understand our goals. We ask you to build your network, encourage others, shop local, and participate. The founders of America discovered that democracy will not work if the voters can't read. The same is true with technology, it will harm those that don't understand it. Therefore, participate, learn a little, and teach a little. All users are verified As opposed to other social media platforms we are by invitation, you can request an invitation but a current user must approve your invitation. There are two reasons for this, the first is, we are community based social media, and would like to assure that locals are locals, second, we return value for participation, and the network you build represents your stake in what we do. After all, we are a commercial enterprise, we sell products and services, we must have a way to give back to the people that build our network. We would like you to know as much as possible about this technology. People that write code are easy to hire, and there is no shortage of technology. Our success is based on your participation, and the more informed you are the better off we all are. A note about first adopters. What you will see at Civilsocialmedia.com, is a set of software that can do different things. Maps, directories, comments, messages, emails, etc... free tools that can be used in a variety of ways. It is only a prototype, and not yet a business. No method of governing has yet been established. What do we do with the money? What are the rules? In theory this will grow to be a large enterprise. The rules of this enterprise will be set at the beginning, by the first group of people that collaborate. Just as in any other company, it will be these first adopters that will be our founders. Just as any other new enterprise, these founders will certainly take the larger share of the future value of this enterprise.
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