History / Background of TAP Community for Aotearoa Bluesky
Introduction
Bluesky user The Broke Bonsai Bloke asked where Kiwis might go if Bluesky takes a nosedive. I offered up this site as one possibility. I had in mind people for whom our kaupapa resonates. He asked for a bit of background about the site. This is a condensed explanation.
History / Background of Te Ara Paerangi Community
Te Ara Paerangi Community is a project of Genomics for Aotearoa New Zealand (GFANZ) GFANZ is a registered charity and incorporated society. GFANZ was formed as an alternative to business as usual in the genomics research community. It has a focus on promoting genomics science to benefit the public, with a strong sense of what makes this place special. Genomics is a broad research area covering all living things. Its use is connected to many other parts of daily life and influenced by the many ways people live and think. GFANZ aims to work in the place where society and genomics science meet.
Te Ara Paerangi / Future Pathways was an MBIE process to reform the public research system (excluding universities) under the last Labor Government. I spent a year on the New Zealand Association of Scientists council working on that effort. I had concerns that the MBIE led process would be too narrow in reach. Basically that the usual voices would be heard and the chance for serious reform might be missed.
Te Ara Paerangi Community was started as a way to expand reach and promote collaboration. One thing we did was set up a place to share ideas for submissions to the Green Paper. Things that could be remixed or combined. We also gathered historical documents about previous reforms and made it easy to access all submissions to the Te Ara Paerangi / Future Pathways process. There were a record number of submissions for this process. That is some indication of the interest in reforms and the time and effort so many people put in.
With a change in government, Te Ara Paerangi / Future Pathways was killed. But the work the broader research and public put in remains useful. The question became, 'What next for the community site?' Dr. Sareana Naepi suggested to use it as a social media site for a broader audience in Aotearoa. GFANZ councilor Dr. Ritodhi Chakraborty suggested a focus on Research - Advocacy - Capability. Taking these suggestions on board, we revamped the site and used other social media more to spread the word. We focused on posting news about the research sector and events, along with pieces on serving the public generally. After a long time of reading and posting worsening news pieces, I got a bit too bummed to keep that going. The site continues to run and can be used in that broad Research - Advocacy - Capability sense.
Technical / Sovereignty
Underpinning the site is the Una Community Management framework. It is very, very flexible and open source. It is primarily written in PHP. There are a number of improvements that could be made, specifically around accessibility needs.
It supports posting (with feeds), events, topic specific spaces, file sharing, direct messaging, video conferencing, and many other things. There is a pretty granular access control system. Individuals can set what they allow to be seen and by whom. Shared works spaces with discussion areas can be used for groups with common interests or topic specific collaborations.
Accounts for individuals and organisations are built in.
A mobile app is available to customise for the site, but that has not been done. RSS syndication to / from other sites is working. The from other sites plugin could use some improvement.
Most of the technical work has been done by me on a best effort basis. If there is wider uptake on use, a team of people will be needed to ensure sustainability. Non-technical work will be needed as well. In my opinion, there is plenty of scope for a wide variety of skills / experiences to make it a welcoming and productive community.
The site hosting is by an Aotearoa New Zealand company on servers located in Aotearoa New Zealand. As noted above, it is a project of an Aotearoa New Zealand based charity.
Future
With the change of government Te Ara Paerangi / Future Pathways was chucked in the bin. By and large, subject matter experts and evidence based policy making have been notably absent as well. Large numbers of public servants have been sacked, etc. We all see what has happened / is happening. This has left us as a nation much less capable to build a future where everyone matters and is looked after. The promise of a Future Pathway has been greatly diminished but not extinguished. Hope remains with us.
There are so many caring people around the motū who want to do something for others. I see it every day on #NZPOL Bluesky. Over the last wee while, I have been asking if there is some group that is building a community to organise around common values for a better future for the many. If there were, I'd be happy to join in and help out. No one has mentioned one yet. If you that are reading this have one in mind, please let me know.
If there is nothing out there yet, and others are looking for something, then maybe we can use this platform as a place to start. I have a few ideas. I am certain others do as well. There is plenty we can do and ways to split up the mahi so everyone is uplifted and none overburdened.
