Support the movement — we’re in the Gitcoin Alpha Round! 🕸️ 💻 👷 🌱 🌈 🎉
In 2016, the Internet Archive launched a bold initiative: to empower those wanting to build a better, decentralized web. That has grown into the DWeb movement, drawing together people from around the world. Since 2016, the Internet Archive’s DWeb project has organized in-person and virtual convenings about building a better Decentralized Web focused on values, not profit — a DWeb that actualizes principles of human agency, mutual respect, and ecological awareness. Our events bring together coders, organizers, artists, academics, and policymakers from around the world. They have been a key meeting place for people to share their projects and ideas and build lasting collaborative relationships.
Our main focus for the past several years has been on organizing convenings. But we’re also working behind the scenes to build and support technical and community infrastructure to firmly establish “DWeb” as being more than just meet-ups, but as a full-fledged movement of values-aligned individuals and projects.
Here are a few of our ongoing and upcoming projects:
1 — DWeb Principles— The principles crystallized the DWeb vision and defines what its participants stand for as a community. We plan to further expand the Principles as it relates to our ecological systems, as well as develop programs that will help builders, advocates, and policymakers meaningfully exemplify these values in their work.
2 — DWeb Nodes Network — Our DWeb network has 13 Nodes all around the world, where our partners organize local events for people to meet, exchange knowledge, and deepen connections across the DWeb ecosystem. We have plans to help establish more Nodes, as well as develop a governance system that will enable us to collaborate and share resources.
3 — Decentralizing the Internet Archive— Our team is researching and building open source infrastructure to make it possible to decentralize large collections of historical and cultural materials at scale. We’re exploring various decentralized and Web3 storage solutions, including Filecoin, Storj, and Swarm. Another way we’re working towards realizing this goal is to make our own website, GetDWeb.org, accessible through dweb protocols, such as IPFS. We are working towards making this website template available for others to use. DevCon talk here.
4 -DWeb Labs — Planning is underway to launch a new project called DWeb Labs: a program to connect dweb and Web3 technologies, communities, and supporters to research and develop free and open source, decentralized tech stacks that address challenges facing communities right now. This is a program to build interoperability into existing decentralized protocols, platforms, and tools, while putting concrete community needs front and center into consideration, and ultimately, into their design.
When you donate tokens to this Gitcoin grant, they will go directly towards the compensating staff and covering our costs to advance the DWeb movement.
BACKGROUND: DWeb Camp 2022, took place August 24–28, 2022 in Northern California and a globally diverse community of builders and dreamers gathered outdoors to tackle the real world challenges facing the Web, our communities, and the planet, and to co-create decentralized technologies that will face them head on.
SAVE THE DATE: DWeb Camp 2023 will take place June 21–25 in Navarro, California.
