Tebibyte Media Officially Launches!

Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.

– Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, "Release Early, Release Often", para. 10

Preamble

Tebibyte Media is a group of free software and open-access enthusiasts who believe that all information should be free and publicly accessible. To that end, we promote, share, connect, and support like-minded developers and artists whose work progresses toward this goal. These could be open writing publications requiring attention, blossoming free software projects looking for a userbase or pool of talented developers, or an unconventional online art project searching for an audience with fresh perspectives.

Many independent or inexperienced creators of free software or open-access art struggle to sustain their creations because, by nature of the capitalist hellscape in which we live, they cannot afford to commit the time they need to grow their work to its fullest potential. We at Tebibyte Media believe that by building solidarity between small open-source developers and artists, everyone can benefit with shared material resources, a source for a variety of viewpoints and constructive criticism, and a broad sense of community and value.

A culture of integration is core to the structure of Tebibyte Media's Network—our goal is to connect projects—and in order for that goal to be met, its constituent projects and networks must provide ample opportunity through the structure of their projects for interfacing with others. We live in a crunch-time work culture where professional programmers are expected to pump out thousands and thousands of lines of code for corporations that inevitably throw away away the results of that effort upon completion of the project. Tebibyte Media would like to show more developers that there can be more value to people's code and to the ideas behind the code than immediate profit.

Project Contract & Network Description

Tebibyte Media is composed of two distinct parts: the Network and the Project. The latter is made up of myself, the individuals I have recruited into the Project, and the infrastructure which supports it; the former, the constituent projects and networks which are associated with the Project. This distinction exists in order to maintain an appropriate separation between the interests of these entities to preserve the heterogeneity of these communities.

Like the components defined above, the members of the Network are split into two separate categories:

A "project" in this context is an entity whose constituents are individuals; a "network" is one whose members are projects themselves, or a mix of projects and other networks.

A Tebibyte Media "project" does not necessarily have to be a free software project; it can be anything involving strong public engagement and iterative development. For example, a post-modernist fiction-writing blog can count as a Tebibyte Media project, as long as the work is ongoing and the blog is shared at no cost to its readers.

A "project" could be an open writing publication requiring attention or third-party reviewing, an open-source software project looking for a userbase and pool of talented developers, or an art project looking for exposure and contributors.

A "network" might be a webring, an online social hub for the advancement of some idea or combined agenda, or an organization which has multiple distinct components or internal projects but which still works toward one main goal. A webring whose constituents are all blogs that focus on physics would be an example.

Each project and network is expected to follow the responsibilities laid out in the Responsibilities section of this document.

In the case of members creating new networks internal to Tebibyte Media's influence, we take it upon ourselves to mediate and foster that connection; we see these novel networks as partially our responsibility.

Responsibilities

Representatives

Every project in the Network will be represented by a single person who will be appropriately selected by the members of that project. For example, in the case of an open-source software project run by a BDFL, the leader of that project would be that Representative or could select someone else to represent it.

Any networks who are members of the Network are given the opportunity to provide as many Representatives as there are distinct viewpoints in the community that network represents.

Blog Posts

Every month, on the last day of the month, the Project will put out a blog post detailing the state of each project in the Network. Representatives of each member entity will be responsible for working with the Project Editors in order to write a short two- or three-paragraph decription of the state of their member entity, including what has been accomplished in the past month and what is on the horizon.

These sections will be submitted to the blog repository using the git version-tracking system. Knowledge of this system is not required but is preferred. Editors will be able to guide Representatives through the submission process and help with any problems presented by this setup.

Benefits

The Project takes upon itself responsibilities for each member of the Network: we will provide infrastructure that your project needs to succeed. Infrastructure currently available includes:

• Website hosting
  • Wordpress hosting is currently the only available option
• A dedicated Matrix room
• An e-mail server
• A dedicated feed channel on our Discord server

Planned infrastructure includes:

• Website hosting alternatives
  • Zola
  • Jekyll
  • mdBook
• Fosscord Guilds
• Package maintenance (i.e. MPR/AUR)
• Documentation

In addition to material benefits, we also offer community coordination and the benefit of the existing Tebibyte Media Network as a base-level of exposure.

Network Application

this application applies at the time of writing and may be subject to change

All applications will be sent to apply@tebibyte.media.

In the application email, we expect a few pieces of information to be provided by applicants:

1. Name of project or network and describe organizational makeup
   • List member projects of applicant networks
   • List team members of applicant projects and their roles
   • Designate of the Representative(s)
2. A short written section describing the project or network
   • Include the type of project or network (i.e. software, educational resource, publisher, art project)
   • Also include any programming languages, writing styles, target platforms or technical information regarding the creation of content
   • Link technical resources which contextualize the project's creation
   • Describe the userbase and contributors attempting to be appealed to
   • Describe long-term goals for the endeavor:
     1. What will it look like in a year?
     2. What does it gain from joining the Network?
     3. What does it bring to the table for other Network members?
   • Prompt questions to answer here could include the following (optional):
     1. How does this endeavor contribute to the ecosystem it integrates?
     2. What specific problems is this new endeavor solving?
     3. Do any existing projects solve these problems already? If so, how is this endeavor different?
     4. Is this a highly experimental endeavor that innovates its field, a refined reimplementation of a tried-and-true solution, or something in between?
   • Feel free to include any extra information deemed important to specify; the application cannot account for everything
3. (If not already existing) a clear description of the vision of the project or network's minimum viable product
   • Remember to Release Early, Release Often
   • Minimum viable products are not complete or fully functional; they must simply demonstrate promising work
4. Estimated timespans for the project or network (i.e. one month, a few months, a year, continuous) and a roadmap for the completed project
5. Project licensing details
   • Tebibyte Media will not accept projects whose licensing conflicts with our goal of furthering free software and open-access projects. For guidance on this topic, see the Free Software Foundation's recommendations as well as their list of free software licenses

Existing Tebibyte Media Network members should have applications written up for posterity and to set a precedent for future applicants. After the application process has been completed, one of our Editors will reach out to start the writing of an introductory blog post for new members.

What to Expect

As of the publishing of this blog post, we will be awaiting applications. Events hosted by Tebibyte Media for its community will be scheduled, planned, and organized through the appropriate channels. This blog will be updated with the appropriate information. Events may include project showcases, software literacy workshops, and media showcases.

The story of too many promising free software projects ends due to the frustrating and destructive influence of management. The ability to foster a community, build excitement, and articulate the intentions of projects is something that is integral to the software development process but too often goes without attention.

Many open-access projects that are not necessarily software-oriented suffer from the same lack of community-building; they also often lack the technical skills to effectively utilize existing resources and workflows to efficiently deliver their content in the digital age.

For these reasons, Tebibyte Media and its Network have been established, hoping to foster these communities and provide this infrastrucre in a way that allows for not only the growth of each of those communities but also the growth of a greater community of like-minded individuals.

This is Tebibyte Media. Let's liberate information together.