A new organisational home for Solid

[timbl]

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

[mrkvon]

Thank you for sharing this news and for all the effort that has gone into it. It’s great that the ODI is a non-profit, and their agenda seems aligned with the mission of Solid. Not to mention that Sir Tim has been a founder of both. This could still represent a potentially significant change for the Solid project.

Since this is the first time I’m hearing about this, please allow me to ask a few questions to better understand what this means in practice:

• What’s the scope of the ODI’s involvement? Is it primarily a legal entity and potential funding source for the Solid team’s efforts, or is there more to their role?
• What does this change mean for the wider Solid community practically? Should we expect any shifts in Solid’s direction, or will it maintain its current mission, independence, and governance style?
• Are there any upcoming changes in ownership or control of the core Solid infrastructure? (repositories, website(s), solidcommunity.net pod provider, etc.)
• Personally, I’ve always felt the importance of grassroots to Solid’s potential and success, and I’d like to understand how this change might affect the broader Solid community.

I’d be grateful if someone could shed more light on these topics. Thank you!

[jeswr]

Hi @mrkvon,

Great set of questions - thanks for asking!

What’s the scope of the ODI’s involvement? Is it primarily a legal entity and potential funding source for the Solid team’s efforts, or is there more to their role?

We are still working on the details of the scope of ODIs involvement and how we will work with the community. Long-time volunteers in leadership roles will now have the dedicated support of an institution well-regarded for running complex community projects. This means everything from practical support, organising meetings, updating websites and applying for grant funding, to more visibility for their valuable work from policymakers, governments and non-profits. This will, of course, be subject to us securing funding. In the long term, it will likely lead to more opportunities for Solid community members to work on Solid projects. We are supporting several open community initiatives, including - now - Solid, but also Croissant as part of our programmes of work in PETs, participatory data and data-centric AI. We will continue fundraising for these programmes, including, where appropriate additional resources to steward the Solid Project and conduct original research into user-centric, legal, ethical, and organisational aspects of decentralised data management.

Moving forward we are very open to ideas on how to do this best. We are committed to setting up a governance structure that supports, and preserves the independence of the Solid community - this may, for instance, include having advisory groups that work with the ODI to ensure effective coordination with the community. Please contact me (@jeswr) using solid@theodi.org if you have any ideas, suggestions or ideas.

What does this change mean for the wider Solid community practically? Should we expect any shifts in Solid’s direction, or will it maintain its current mission, independence, and governance style?

There are no changes to the current mission or independence that will be imposed by the ODI. The Solid Community will stay central to Solid’s stewardship going forward, and the ODI is looking forward to working with the network in the weeks and months ahead. ODI will work with the Solid Community to establish good, collaborative ways of working, including taking on responsibility for the website’s technical infrastructure and engaging with the Solid Community, including running the regular Solid World events. We will continue to work with the Solid Project Team, especially in the period immediately following the move of Solid to the ODI.

Are there any upcoming changes in ownership or control of the core Solid infrastructure? (repositories, website(s), solidcommunity.net pod provider, etc.)

At the moment the core Solid team manage most of this infrastructure. The idea is that for any infrastructure managed by the Solid team, there will be a responsible transition to having the infrastructure managed by the ODI. At present this transition and maintenance will be my (@jeswr) responsibility within the ODI and I am more than happy to discuss any detailed concerns or questions you have about this.

As always, it is a pleasure to work with this community, and I look forward to continued collaboration.

[mrkvon]

Hello Jesse, hello everyone!

Jesse, thank you for your answer, and best wishes in your new role with such a significant responsibility towards the Solid community.

I’m glad to read that the independence of the Solid Community and its long-term volunteers within the Solid Team is a priority during this process.

The idea is that for any infrastructure managed by the Solid team, there will be a responsible transition to having the infrastructure managed by the ODI.

To ensure the independence of the Solid community, it’s essential that core volunteers — those who have maintained and nurtured the project for years — remain central in decision-making and governance, especially regarding project infrastructure (GitHub, website, domain, forum, solidcommunity.net pod provider & user data). ODI’s involvement could offer much-needed support, funding, and structure, but this should complement the existing volunteer-driven nature of the Solid community.

In short, keeping ownership in the hands of those who care, listening to what they need, and ensuring their voice remains central will help maintain Solid’s community ethos. Perhaps a good first step could be an open meeting to discuss the transition, and perhaps a dedicated communication channel to keep everyone updated.

This transition came as a surprise to me, and perhaps others as well. I’m looking forward to seeing the collaboration between ODI and the Solid community flourish. Could we also establish a regular space where the community can stay informed and actively participate in this process?

Best wishes to you @jeswr and to the Solid community!

[Disclaimer: I work on independent Solid-based projects but am not part of the core team.]

[jeswr]

best wishes in your new role with such a significant responsibility towards the Solid community.

Thank you , I certainly appreciate the responsibility of this role and will take care to ensure the ODI works in the best interest of the community.

[…] but this should complement the existing volunteer-driven nature of the Solid community.

We completely agree!

In short, keeping ownership in the hands of those who care, listening to what they need, and ensuring their voice remains central will help maintain Solid’s community ethos. Perhaps a good first step could be an open meeting to discuss the transition, and perhaps a dedicated communication channel to keep everyone updated.

Good ideas - we have just set up #solid-odi:matrix.org as a public matrix channel to keep everyone updated, and be a space where the community can actively participate in the process. We will also have an open meeting in the next couple of weeks - and I’ll post an update here once we have found a time.

Best wishes!

[TimG]

Jessie, Thanks for the followup.
Michal, Thanks for the great questions.
I look forward to a more active community. When’s the first meeting

Tim

[jeswr]

Hi Tim,

We are currently looking at Friday November 8, 16:30 GMT for the open meeting with the ODI. Our folks in charge of organising this will confirm and post details some time next week

Things like the practitioners group organised by @jeffz , the UX/DX group organised by @michielbdejong and the community group currently chaired by @Virginia, @hzbarcea and @michielbdejong are running as usual. So do get involved in any of those groups that are of interest to you.

[jeswr]

I can now confirm that the open meeting will be Friday November 8, 16:30 GMT. Here is the eventbrite link to sign up: ODI and Solid: Building a future where data works for everyone Tickets, Fri, Nov 8, 2024 at 4:30 PM | Eventbrite

Looking forward to seeing many of you there

[aveltens]

Thanks for the invite! If it is an open meeting, it should be accessible without an eventbrite registration, otherwise it increases the barriers for people to actually join.

[jeswr]

Fair point! The link is https://meet.jit.si/solid-odi-meeting.

It would be appreciated if those who can use EventBrite do so, as we would like to have a sense of how many people want to attend, and it will also send you an email reminder before the event starts.

EDIT: Changed meeting link

[jeswr]

Looking forward to seeing everyone in 30min. To reduce the barrier to entry we are switching over to Jitsi; we will use the link Jitsi Meet.

[jeswr]

Thanks to everyone who attended!

Here is link to the meeting recording Solid ODI meeting Nov 8 2024

[ewingson]

and here the board: Process support needed - HackMD