Dear Solid Community,
As we all know, the Solid community is made up entirely of volunteers. This has been an advantage in that each and every community member is incredibly passionate about Solid and committed to its success. It has also been a disadvantage in that there has been a lack of organisational stewardship that has made it difficult to always be effective and accomplish our goals. It also has had no bank account, so cannot pay fees like web hosting fees.
In order to address this, the Solid team has discussed whether we can get governance of the Solid community to be funded or taken over by an entity that is already funded and staffed to properly support it. At the time, I promised to the Solid team that I would find a way to make this happen and have endeavoured to find a proper home for it and get us the support that the community needs.
I’m excited to announce that the search is finally over. As of today, the Open Data Institute (ODI) will take responsibility for the organisation of the Solid Community. They are appropriately positioned, funded and aligned with the values of Solid to serve as the governing body for the Solid community - their long standing mission has been to build a world where data creates value while being stewarded ethically and safely.
I hope that in providing an organisational ‘home’ for Solid, there will be an additional layer of support for you - the community - from practical support, to boosting the visibility of our mission. The ODI will be recruiting for a full-time Solid Lead, but in the interim, Jesse Wright (@jeswr) will be the ODI’s Solid Lead. Please be in touch with jesse.wright@theodi.org and solid@theodi.org if you have suggestions regarding the ODI’s governance structure to ensure that the independence of the Solid community is preserved.
Thank you for your continued work and advocacy for the Solid movement.
Tim
This email was shared with public-solid@w3.org