More funding!

The DCP has received a grant for tech development from the Cooperative Charitable Trust (founded by Bob Giel). Thanks very much!

Funding!

We have just received word that an application submitted back in February to fund organizational and business development of the Data Commons Cooperative has been approved. We now have the means to really research what services we can provide to whom at what cost to become a sustainable democratic business. For our early adopter data sharing organizations, this is the time to get to the nitty gritty! More details -- and ways to help us figure this out -- coming soon.

An Example of a Shared Repository

I just ran across the Fedora Commons, "the home of the unique Fedora open source software, a robust integrated repository-centered platform that enables the storage, access and management of virtually any kind of digital content." The Commons is a non-profit organization "whose purpose is to provide sustainable open-source technologies to help individuals and organizations create, manage, publish, share, and preserve digital content upon which we form our intellectual, scientific, and cultural heritage." It continues the mission of the Fedora Project, which evolved from the Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture (Fedora) developed by researchers at Cornell Computing and Information Science. It looks like what they do for libraries, etc. is very similar to what we want to do with directories. Paul has some specific ideas about why the way in which they do it is not the way in which we want to do it, but I'll let him explain.

I'm interested in their funding sources. Two years ago, they got a 4-year, $4.9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. "The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, established in 2000, seeks to advance environmental conservation and cutting-edge scientific research around the world and improve the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation’s Science Program seeks to make a significant impact on the development of provocative, transformative scientific research, and increase knowledge in emerging fields." Could we learn something from Fedora's application for the grant?

First Post: We got some money!

Many thanks to Equal Exchange, the worker-owned cooperative fair trade company, for giving the Data Commons Project our first big grant to fund development of the Data Commons Cooperative. They give some charitable contributions to further the creation of a cooperative economy. And we want to help build the infrastructure through which people can participate in cooperative, solidarity, sustainable, and fair trade exchanges. So it's a good match. And now we are going to buckle down and get to work!

We also don't want to forget all of the individual and organizational donors who gave to the DCP during our fundraising campaign last year. Thanks for believing in us. We are on the job.