<br>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From:
<b class="gmail_sendername">tav</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tav@espians.com" target="_blank">tav@espians.com</a>></span><br>
Date: 11 March 2011 15:13<br>Subject: [esp] Exciting news!!<br>To:
Espians <<a href="mailto:esp@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">esp@googlegroups.com</a>>,
<a href="mailto:openkollab@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">openkollab@googlegroups.com</a>,
Espians <<a href="mailto:espians@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">espians@googlegroups.com</a>><br>
<br><br>Over the coming months we are going to be launching not one, but
half<br>
a dozen ventures: <a href="http://togethr.at/" target="_blank">togethr.at</a>,
Social Startup Labs, Future Hacker, Git<br>
Review, Hub Make Lab and Ampify/Espra!!<br>
<br>
# <a href="http://togethr.at/" target="_blank">togethr.at</a><br>
<br>
Following the recent Place Station<br>
<<a href="http://www.theplacestation.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.theplacestation.org.uk/</a>>
work that we jointly delivered<br>
with 00:/, Indy's company, we've now setup a 50/50 joint venture<br>
called <a href="http://togethr.at/" target="_blank">togethr.at</a>. This
will be a sort of Kickstarter meets Foursquare<br>
serving that exciting space where the physical meets the virtual. The<br>
heart of the site will be a place and topic-based social marketplace<br>
built around a novel system of offers and claims.<br>
<br>
Some example uses:<br>
<br>
* Community activists will find the tools necessary to organise<br>
everything from street parties to social startups.<br>
<br>
* Local authorities will be able to partake in the Neighbourhood<br>
Challenge funds and make use of their underused assets.<br>
<br>
* Developers (like Tesco) will be able to engage in consultation re:<br>
development and invest in community efforts.<br>
<br>
We've already got �15k of investment into <a href="http://togethr.at/" target="_blank">togethr.at</a> � half of which<br>
goes towards the development budget. The aim is to get together a<br>
total dev budget of �64k so as to launch a drool-worthy alpha at<br>
SOCAP/Europe <<a href="http://europe.socialcapitalmarkets.net/" target="_blank">http://europe.socialcapitalmarkets.net/</a>> and
a beta in<br>
September!<br>
<br>
# Social Startup Labs<br>
<br>
Another joint venture, Social Startup Labs will be a vehicle to scale<br>
up the awesome work<br>
<<a href="http://wiki.socialstartuplabs.com/private/social-startup-labs-social-franchise.low-res.pdf" target="_blank">http://wiki.socialstartuplabs.com/private/social-startup-labs-social-franchise.low-res.pdf</a>><br>
that Sofia, Mamading and co. have been doing on the ground in<br>
Lambeth/London. Also launching at SOCAP/Europe as a sister site to<br>
<a href="http://together.at/" target="_blank">together.at</a>, the <a href="http://socialstartuplabs.com/" target="_blank">socialstartuplabs.com</a>
site will provide tools to:<br>
<br>
* Digitally capture the needs, assets and opportunities in local
communities.<br>
<br>
* Support the various social processes that social startup labs brings
together.<br>
<br>
* Enable new social startups to collaborate and support each other.<br>
<br>
The launch will also kick off a super innovative social franchising<br>
model that we've come up with � for which we've already got one<br>
Canadian firm committed and interested franchisees in the Bay Area,<br>
Houston and Brussels!<br>
<br>
# Future Hacker<br>
<br>
A sort of Hacker News meets IRC, the <a href="http://futurehacker.org/" target="_blank">futurehacker.org</a> site will be<br>
about serving the startup/hacker types in both keeping up with deeply<br>
technical developments<br>
<<a href="http://al3x.net/2011/02/22/solving-the-hacker-news-problem.html" target="_blank">http://al3x.net/2011/02/22/solving-the-hacker-news-problem.html</a>>
as<br>
well as providing the collaboration tools to support open projects<br>
(incl. GitHub integration).<br>
<br>
In an effort to start going beyond the usual tech topics, Future<br>
Hacker will also be supporting emergent domains like open<br>
manufacturing, diy bio, open synthetic genomics, etc.<br>
<br>
# Git Review<br>
<br>
The traditional software development process with version numbers and<br>
releases is pretty much broken and needs a significant overhaul. Git<br>
Review, a sister site to Future Hacker, will be offering a novel<br>
approach that integrates best practices like code review, testing,<br>
etc. with decentralised (forked) "project" planning and issue tracking<br>
supporting continuous deployment setups.<br>
<br>
# Hub Make Lab<br>
<br>
Not a joint venture, Hub Make Lab is a project by 00:/ that will be<br>
both "rebooting" the original Hub at Islington and setting up a new<br>
12,000 square foot space on Haymarket! With such a potent location,<br>
right next to Trafalgar Square and Parliament, and 24 hour access, we<br>
will be looking to manifest the most vibrant and happening space in<br>
the whole of London!<br>
<br>
I'm currently engaged in dialogue with 00:/ about abandoning the<br>
horribly flawed Hub model of sub-renting desk space and moving to the<br>
Trust and Pecus-based Riva model. Not sure if they are ready for such<br>
a leap yet, but in any case, starting May (and publicly September), we<br>
will have a new base of operations in the centre of town!!<br>
<br>
# Ampify<br>
<br>
In a similar manner to how Ruby on Rails was originally developed to<br>
create Basecamp, Ampify will be developed further so as to support all<br>
the above ventures. And it being decentralised means that all of these<br>
sites will all be able to talk to each other!! No more closed silos!!!<br>
<br>
We will be leaving aside the more Espra-esque developments like Naaga,<br>
our programming language, and AmpBrowser with augmented interfaces to<br>
later, but will be focusing on the decentralised identity, datastore<br>
and messaging architecture at this stage.<br>
<br>
# Espra<br>
<br>
All of these developments should mean that come late September we<br>
should be in a really good position � in terms of reputation, finance<br>
and technological development � to kick off the grander Espian/Espra<br>
vision to the world. =)<br>
<br>
Anyway, hope that's a good enough update for now. What do you all<br>
think? Are you excited yet?<br>
<br>
And, oh, if you are interested in joining in on any of this, do drop<br>
by the IRC channel � #esp on <a href="http://irc.freenode.net/" target="_blank">irc.freenode.net</a><br>
<br>
--<br>
Cya soon, love, tav<br>
<br>
plex:espians/tav | <a href="mailto:tav@espians.com" target="_blank">tav@espians.com</a>
| +44 (0) 7809 569 369<br>
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