This blog post is a few weeks late, but here it is! Happy to be part of the 2025 cohort of the SOAM Residency Program to work on the theme of funding public interest technology. I'm focusing specifically on how we can make Open Hardware just as big and successful as Open Source Software, so we can gain back control of our technology where it really matters: chip by chip. I wrote about here, interested in your thoughts as always: https://tarakiyee.com/how-can-open-hardware-catch-up-with-open-source-software/

"I’m particularly interested in hearing from institutional designers interested in alternative models for tech financing, hardware developers who’ve struggled with the challenges of open hardware projects, manufacturers who are frustrated by proprietary tooling and licencing fees, policy researchers thinking about the regulatory and economic dimensions, and anyone who’s frustrated with the current state of proprietary hardware dominance."

#TaraKiyee, 2025

https://tarakiyee.com/how-can-open-hardware-catch-up-with-open-source-software/

#OpenHardware

(1/?)

@tarakiyee
> institutional designers interested in alternative models for tech financing

I would hesitate to call myself an "institutional designer", but I do have a long term interest in the design of "invisible structures" (as they're called in permaculture). As well as practical experience trying to find regenerative ways to fund common-based tech development, going back to Indymedia in the noughties, and including advising Loomio on becoming one of the first platform co-ops.

(2/?)

Speaking of which, I presume your familiar with the PCC (Platform Coop Consortium)? I'd definitely talk to @ntnsndr, who has written a lot about institutional design, including co-authoring this paper on combining the DAO and co-op models;

https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/toward-equitable-ownership-and-governance-digital-public-sphere

I'd also have a chat to @lynnfoster and @bhaugen of ValueFlows, and many other great projects for the solidarity economy.

Frank Karlitschek of NextCloud has done talks on the funding issue too, eg;

https://video.resolutions.it/videos/watch/4d5c5b1d-9613-4201-8d55-9e7906f42518