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Just submitted my grant application for our Domain project to NLnet for their User-Operated Internet Fund.

I believe the process for public funding should itself be public so you can read the entire submission on my blog (with better formatting than the text-only original submission, a video, and pictures) and I’ll be posting future communication there also:

ar.al/2022/07/29/nlnet-grant-a…

#nlnet #eu #funding #grant #foss #smallWeb #smallTech #domain #kitten #publicMoneyPublicProcessPublicCode

NLnet Grant Application for Domain

This is my application to get NLNet funding to work on Domain as part of the User-Operated Internet Fund1 I feel it’s important that such grant applications are made public so everyone has visibility into the process.
Aral Balkan
#foss #nlnet #EU #domain #SmallTech #SmallWeb #funding #kitten #publicMoneyPublicProcessPublicCode #grant
in reply to Aral Balkan

Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •

Also, I couldn’t find them on the fediverse. Is my search not working properly or…?

#nlnet

#nlnet
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Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •
Ah, thanks, I was searching for NLnet and nothing came up. I wasn’t aware all their funds were NGI (as the one I applied for didn’t state it explicitly).
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NGI Zero open source funding
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NGI Zero open source funding
• •

Not all our funds are NGI, as you correctly stipulate. We are an independent foundation. I agree we should actually run an ActivityPub server ourselves - but we've been rather busy with grantmaking and hauling in budgets for doing so.

We are actually looking for a communications officer which would among others look after that kind of thing:

nlnet.nl/foundation/jobs/

NLnet; Career opportunities at NLnet foundation

nlnet.nl

Aral Balkan reshared this.

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Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •

Thanks, good to know.

PS. I wasn’t suggesting you run your own server. An account for NLnet on some instance, separate from NGI Zero, though, would make it easier for folks to find you here.

(My first thought was to type @nlnet here and was confused when nothing came up because I remembered you were on the fediverse – and we’re even following each other here.) :)

Also, if you did want to run your own server, I’m sure @mastohost could help. (Hugo runs our ones.)

@FediFollows @EC_NGI

@FediFollows has moved! @Masto.host @Next Generation Internet
in reply to Aral Balkan

Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
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@NGIZero If you folks want to save your eyes and read the proposal with proper formatting, images, etc., please see ar.al/2022/07/29/nlnet-grant-a… :)

NLnet Grant Application for Domain

This is my application to get NLNet funding to work on Domain as part of the User-Operated Internet Fund1 I feel it’s important that such grant applications are made public so everyone has visibility into the process.
Aral Balkan
@NGI Zero open source funding
in reply to Aral Balkan

Kyle R. Conway
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Kyle R. Conway
• •
This resonates as a person who writes grants. Formatting and other elements matter so much for clarity. Great idea to provide an external source. (Also, great project).
Unknown parent

Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •
You’re very welcome. And best of luck with your proposal :)
Unknown parent

Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •

Thanks. And yeah, naming things is hard but I prefer to go with simple ones instead of inventing something new. If it’s useful, it’ll be found ;) (We live in a world where an apple is now a computer, the amazon is no longer a river, and windows aren’t transparent… at least according to the first results in DuckDuckGo.) :)

That all said, I’m always open to suggestions and thanks again :)

Unknown parent

Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •
Mentally deficient suggestions. You have been warned ;)
Haha, thanks :)
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BB
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BB
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Good luck! The need for something like this is something I often think about to better democratise the web. I was going to ask if it had any similarity to yunohost, but then I saw you mentioned that, and you're more focussed on the back end. The only thing I wonder about is whether the name "Domain" is distinctive enough for ease of search and avoiding confusion with it's common usages...
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Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •
Heya! Sorry if it read like we’re more focussed on the back end: it’s the whole experience I’m trying to streamline. That requires far greater control over all elements of the back end. It’s why we’ll be able to make the interface facing everyday people so simple and quick. All that work is to (a) allow anyone to create a host easily (making it just for us would be much simpler) (b) enable the experience for everyday folks to be entirely frictionless and take < 1 minute. That’s the goal :)
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Aral Balkan
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Aral Balkan
• •

About the name: if it’s useful I don’t think it’ll matter (from past experience), people will find it. If it’s not, not even the most unique name would save it :)

(And thanks for the kind words, much appreciated.)

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BB
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BB
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I largely agree. Though a more unique name can be helpful in casual communication whereby I can refer people to it quickly and reliably by simple name alone without having to refer to the URL. Thinking of variations off the top of my head, "Dolmen" came to mind in being another kind of "single person space", giving also the portmanteau "Dolmain" ... But I agree it's not an important concern that this stage.
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BB
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BB
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Thanks for clarifying! I've watched the latter portion of the live stream on Vimeo now where you mention the one app = one domain model. From the end-user... eh, "end-person!" perspective, I wonder about what sort of flexibility there might be around deployment, and if it really must be only one user per server instance, or could accommodate small groups too (ideally with granular permissions control)?
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BB
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BB
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...I very much agree that the target should be for it to be comfortable for non-technical people. However, the more technically inclined will always be the first movers. So I wonder if there is a step in this evolutionary pathway that fits in between the small scale federated, and the fully individual, and could be spaces orientated instead around small groups of family and/or friends? This is the sort of thing that comes to mind when I look at yunohost for example.
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BB
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BB
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And BTW, I strongly agree with your underlying philosophy about how we should properly define success in egalitarian terms. 👍
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