Dear Transformap friends and contributors,
Here is the latest community report. Hope you enjoy! You can find it online version here where you can also comment, give feedback.
Oh, and it
would be great if some of you could confirm they're receiving those
emails so we're sure that our mailing list does work.
Since the beginning of our adventure we have inventoried existing maps of alternative economies as well as mapping resources (like atlases or tools). The wiki is now relocated at the following address: http://wiki.transformaps.net/. The overview of existing maps is here. Feel free to contribute and add missing maps or complete/update information! We're looking at ways to make that inventory easier to navigate and more visually attractive. Ideas? Get in touch!
In our effort to build a community, let's highlight two related discussions. One with Ben Brownell from Metamaps which touched to the issue of determining to what community (eg. Transition, Commons, etc.) an initiative is belonging to. The question is who is legitimate to do this. Our answer no one! or, better, everyone! This spurred the related discussion which is the background that brings us to one of the main deliverable we're working onl: let users collectively shape taxonomies, make their own filters. In other words really enable non technical people to shape new maps of alternative economies.
We've had some more contacts with the friends of metamaps.cc through
their platform - did you know you can video chat with other mappers
while looking at the same map? it's working great!.
I learned at his occasion that a basic import function is about to be available. Check for updates here.
We are figuring out how to use the SSEDAS taxonomy development
process outcome for creating compliant data sets for the SSEDAS map
displays.
Last week, we were holding a SSEDAS partner Taxonomy skype call.
We concluded, that the qualifiers, required for some Types of
Initiatives (shops, restaurants, farms), will build on the qualifiers
already established by ESS Global. - In the first week of May we have
another open Taxonomy Call,
to give people an introduction in the Taxonomy System, and prepare the
SSEDAS inputs for a Conversation with ESS Global to prepare their
qualifiers Version 2.0.
Jason Nardi from Ripess offered to be the
interface with ESS Global, and for the 2nd week of May, we scheduled a
meeting to converge on the Qualifiers (more details here).
Get Active is now validated by the EU Commission for the CHEST project and Ecobytes is almost there as well. Even with the validation granted, there is seemingly an endless stream of paperwork still coming, which might be completed quite soon.
In further shaping the budget (within the current spreadsheet
format), no progress happened, as the respective people in the team
required to work on it could/would not take the required time to meet.
In
the mean time, some team-members are also focusing on trying the
software co-budget to assess whether it can be used for managing
community buckets.