Deadline: 2-Dec-22
Code for Science & Society (CS&S) solicits expressions of interest from open source digital infrastructure teams to participate in the second cohort of the Digital Infrastructure Incubator (DII).
The Digital Infrastructure Incubator (DII) is a capacity-building program for digital public infrastructure project leaders. It works to advance the sustainability of open source technologies by offering resources and support to open technologists. This program collaborates with open workers to prioritize governance, community engagement, and other aspects of their project’s social and cultural infrastructure as central features of the technology they are building.
DII cohorts convene open workers involved in developing strategy, designing growth, and/or building community at an open infrastructure project. Applicants to the 2022-2023 cohort should be interested in questions related to community stewardship, co-ownership, co-design, or other paradigms that foreground sharing and transferring power.
In 2022-2023 with support from the Ford Foundation, the DII will convene an 8-month cohort with an explicit thematic focus of building and transferring power. They invite expressions of interest from open infrastructure project leads who are exploring models of community stewardship and co-ownership. This year’s cohort will prioritize work with leaders that have recognized that growth requires attention to co-design with affected communities.
- They are looking to host open technologists who are considering issues like:
- Distribution of resources across an uneven network
- Legibility and translatability of participant needs, values
- Localization, translation, adaptation
- Infrastructure for growth, leadership, representation
- Infrastructure for ownership and stewardship
- Infrastructure for succession, transfer, eclipse
Projects may be new or quite developed, but project leads must have experience with community-centered work. They should be exploring the limitations of current models and looking to experiment with new ones. Priority will be given to teams and technologies working with communities historically under-served by technological innovation.
Funding Information
- Participants (or participant teams) will receive a $7,000 stipend to join a 8-month program running January – August 2023. Applicants are not limited by geographic location or primary program language.
Eligibility Criteria
- Selected teams must:
- Have already integrated community engagement to some extent in their project mission or vision statements. They are looking for leaders or teams with some experience in this work.
- Have a clear sense of the blockers and challenges they face in developing or deepening transfer, collaboration, partnership with relevant communities.
For more information, visit https://www.codeforsociety.org/incubator/accepting-proposals
