Prime Objective

 

 
The Prime Objective of Ideologi is to develop and promote the use of integral dialogical frameworks for facilitating the universal exchange of ideas throughout the world.

To that end, the project's core directives are as follows:

1. Open Source Software Development.  In order to maximize the development potential of ideologi, all of the software application code created for the project will be licensed under the GNU General Affero Public License (GPL) Version 3.0. Therefore, all users of the code created by the project's organization will be granted the following four general freedoms (as stated in GNU's free software definition):

* The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
* The freedom to study how the system works and adapt it to your needs.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
* The freedom to improve the program and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

Doing so will serve the greater interests of its developer community, ensure the ubiquity of ideologi, and maximize its utility for both philanthropic and commercial purposes alike.

2. Ideologi Foundation.  The foundation will be chartered as a non-profit organization in the same manner as Linux (Linux Foundation), Mozilla (Mozilla Foundation) or Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation). An operational staff will manage communications and logistics between programmers, partners, and participants.

A very compelling preliminary step before full incorporation might be to place the project under the legal stewardship of the Software Freedom Law Center's Software Freedom Conservancy program. As stated on its web site:

“By joining the Conservancy, member FOSS [Free/Open Source Software] projects obtain the benefits of a formal legal structure while keeping themselves focused on software development. These benefits include, most notably, the ability to collect earmarked project donations and protection from personal liability for the developers of the project. Another benefit of joining the Conservancy is that projects can use it to hold assets, which are managed by the Conservancy on behalf of and at the direction of the project.”

SFLC is one of the most respected and lauded legal organizations in the FOSS community. One of their most notable clients is Richard Stallman, who worked with them to compose, vet and “internationalize” Version 3 of the General Public License. During preliminary discussions with a senior member of its staff, SFLC confirmed that it can and will provide full and total legal protection for all of its conservancy member projects (lawsuits, contract management, tax-deductible donation processing, etc.). As incredible as this offer may appear, they have made assurances that they are are able to do this due to significant contributions made by their benefactors.

3. Ideologi Incorporated.   A wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary (for the same purpose as Mozilla Foundation's Mozilla Corporation) will operate a fully functional version of its application software (plus any additional services as warranted) at www.ideologi.com. Therefore, an entire community of individuals, institutions, corporations, and entrepreneurs will be able to take full of advantage of ideologi with the least amount of technical and financial resources.

4. Self-Sustainment.  In addition to receiving tax-deductible grants and donations from institutions and private donors, the organization will generate funding from three additional sources:

a. Advertising revenue collected from online advertising placed on its publicly-available site.

b. Transaction fees collected through collaborative exchanges run at www.ideologi.com where financial prizes are involved. A fee-waiver policy will be created for charitable, non-profit projects, whenever possible.

c. Management fees associated with providing and/or subcontracting legal and business services for participants who wish to co-develop intellectual property for sale or licensing to the public marketplace.

5. Community Rule.  The software developed by Ideologi Foundation, in conjunction with the use of existing communication tools and products, will allow for the creation of an entirely novel type of organization: a legal entity with the power to integrate an unlimited number of ad hoc participants into a collaborative whole while virtually eliminating the necessity of a centralized authority structure. Therefore, an explicit goal of Ideologi Foundation will be to become the “best-of-breed” version of one. Its non-profit bylaws, for example, could be written to accommodate an infinite number of directors, each with unique authorizations and responsibilities. Its only limitation would be the collective imagination of its voluntary participants. Once a stable version of its application is available for use, Ideologi Foundation will begin to push its executive decision-making power out to its participant community. In effect, Ideologi Incorporated will be engineered, both legally and technologically, to determine its goals and plan of action without any form of central authority.

6. Stewardship.  Ideologi Foundation, along with its participant-members (“ideologists”) will provide assistance (consultation, technical support, etc.) as available to individuals and organizations who wish to either deploy their own instance of the software or employ the use of www.ideologi.com. Once self-supported financing reaches a level where surplus revenue is available, a Stewardship Program will be created to fund philanthropic projects and other non-profit organizations whose charters support the goals and objectives of Ideologi Foundation.