Let’s regain ground on the toxic web ! – Framasoft’s 2023 report

A year ago, we launched our 2022-2025 roadmap, « Collectivising the Internet, Convivialising the Internet ». The aim : to encourage the adoption of user-friendly web tools by groups that share the values of Free/Libre culture.

🦆 VS 😈 : Let’s take back some ground from the tech giants !

Thanks to your donations to our not-for-profit, Framasoft is taking action to advance the ethical, user-friendly web. Find a summary of our progress in 2023 on our Support Framasoft page.

➡️ Read the series of articles from this campaign (Nov. – Dec. 2023)

One year on, we are proud and delighted to present this first full update on our activities, funded (as always) by your donations.

Click on Coin-Coin to support Framasoft – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

Changing the world, one web corner at a time

Click to support us and push Datavöre away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

The actions of Collectivise / Convivialise Internet (« Collectivisons Internet / Convivialisons Internet » aka « Coin-coin » (qwack qwack, in French), hence the mascot) complement and add to the maintenance of our historical actions : online services and software tools, sharing experience, various contributions and collaborations.

As we wrote last year on this blog, the goal remains the same : to ensure that there are more and more bubbles of ethical web, in order to regain ground on the toxic digital world occupied by the tech giants.

This blogpost is a very quick summary of our end-of-year campaign. It aims to give you a general idea of what your donations are going towards. If you’re interested, we’ll be posting details of the key actions in this report on this blog every Tuesday (if everything goes well©) until the end of the year.

Support Framasoft

Framaspace, solidarity collectives get to grips with this convivial cloud

We said it back in 2022 : Framaspace is our most ambitious project in this new roadmap. By the end of 2025, we aim to provide up to 10,000 collaborative cloud spaces based on Nextcloud software for small groups of people to work together.

We’ll be covering Framaspace news in detail during the week of Nov. 21st :

Push back Demondrive by supporting Framasoft – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

The first year of Framaspace

A high demand, already almost 700 Framaspaces open ;

…and even more if you ask here for one for your (French-speaking only) collective ;

Lessons learned from this beta release ;

the first needs expressed by the beneficiaries ;

technical improvements, updates, maintenance, etc.

In the pipeline for next year(s)

Preparation of tools to make it easier for newcomers to use the system ;

Ideas for « tutorials where you are the hero » (or « schemes where you are the heroine » ?) ;

future explorations : the possibility of publishing websites, or even managing members and accounts ?

Support Framasoft

PeerTube : a v6 based on your ideas

We’ve been developing this software for six years, and once it’s installed on a server, it can be used to create an ethical alternative to YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo and so on.

The technical possibilities offered by PeerTube all serve the same purpose : to allow you to host and distribute your videos and live streams, even (and especially) if you don’t have the money of Google or the server farms of Amazon.

The features that we will describe in detail during the week of Nov. 28th have been selected from your ideas :

Click to support us and push Videoraptor away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

Version 5.1 (March 2023)

Moderation of account requests ;

Back to live.

Version 5.2 (June 2023)

Major work on transcoding that can be offloaded to a remote server ;

Replay visibility ;

RSS feed adapted for podcasts.

Version 6 (end of November 2023)

Improved accessibility ;

Image preview in progress bar ;

Videos chapters ;

Uploading a new version of a video ;

Password protection for videos ;

Live load & stress tests (report to be published later).

Support Framasoft

Mobilizon, the final countdown of the battle…

…for Framasoft !

After 4 years of development, we feel we’ve completed our vision for Mobilizon. Once this v4 is released, we hope that your groups will have the features they need to organise themselves around their events, and emancipate themselves from Facebook or Meetup.

That’s why during the week of Dec. 5th, we’ll be talking in detail about :

Click to support us and push Face Ghoûl away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

Version 3.1 (March 2023)

Ability to enter an unlisted address ;

Anti-spam tools.

Version 4 (December 2023)

Import events from other platforms (MeetUp, Facebook, etc.) ;

Message from organisers to participants.

The future

We will provide security updates ;

We will maintain the French-speaking instance Mobilizon.fr ;

Other groups already have plans to develop Mobilizon with new ambitions…

…and there is always room for your own vision !

Support Framasoft

PeerTube (yes, again ! but…) in 2024 : we’re betting big on its success

The toxicity of YouTube, Twitch and the like is becoming increasingly visible… More and more groups, institutions and content creators discover and use PeerTube. In 2023, we’ve been working hard internally to better support this burgeoning success and give PeerTube every chance to succeed.

That’s why, during the week of Dec. 12th, we’ll be talking specifically about :

Click to support us and push Yetube away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

The roadmap to PeerTube v7 (end 2024)

Export and import tool for your account ;

Accessibility audit and recommendations integration ;

Comment moderation tool (for admins and video-makers) ;

Keyword list moderation tool ;

Separation of audio and video streams (opens up future possibilities) ;

Addition of « zero pixel » resolution (receive audio only) ;

Recategorisation of sensitive content (more detailed than SFW/NSFW) ;

Redesign of the video management area ;

Redesigning the interface following a user experience (UX) audit.

Investing even more in PeerTube to give it a better chance of growing its audience, starting in 2024

Promote the PeerTube ecosystem (newsletter, social media, etc.) ;

Work on a « showcase » instance of PeerTube ;

Hire a second developer (from September 2023) ;

Threefold goal : master 270,000 lines of code, encourage contributions, but above all…

…Official PeerTube mobile application (end of 2024)

Based on design work (survey, mock-ups, etc.) ;

For Android, iOS (🤞)… and ideally AndroidTV ;

First version : discover and watch videos (search, playlists, subscriptions, notifications).

Support Framasoft

Émancip’Asso : professional training, MOOC, website…

Conceived in partnership with Animafac, the Émancip’Asso project aims to train service providers to understand and support associations in their transition to ethical web tools.

A lot of work has already been done this year and we’ll be talking about it during the week of Dec. 19th :

Click to support us and push Toxicloud away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

Organisation of face-to-face professional training (January 2023)

Publication of the MOOC « Developing a range of services to support associations in their ethical digital transition », the extended version of the face-to-face professional training course, aimed at anyone wishing to start or improve their support skills.

MOOC with free and independent participation ;

Understand the non-profit sector and its digital applications ;

To master the support methods used by non-profit organisations ;

Design and promote a range of services tailored to this ecosystem ;

Not forgetting networking in order to work together more effectively.

Design and publication of the Émancip’Asso website

A list of service providers who can support associations in their transition process ;

A space for associations to help each other ;

Access to additional resources ;

What’s next for 2024

To increase the number of support services listed ;

A campaign to promote the system to associations ;

Active community management.

Support Framasoft

Digital empowerment with practical tools

To end the year on a high note, we’d like to talk about the hard work we’re doing on the practical, concrete tools we offer.

Whether it’s our « De-google-ify internet » services or our historical directory of free software, these tools enable more than 1.5 million people every month to break free from the tech giants and their toxic tools.

During the week of Dec. 26th, if you’ve been good (or naughty), we’ll announce :

Click to support us and push MS Blue Scream away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

Framalibre, the free software directory

Complete overhaul of the directory following design surveys ;

Still collaborative, with a priori moderation (to fight spam) ;

(under the hood) New static engine, easy to use entries ;

Fluid and simplified interface, adapted to mobile phones ;

Simple search (search bar, tags) ;

Software recommendations ;

« Small sites » tool : create your own pages to recommend your favorite FOSSes.

Click to support us and push Hydroffice away – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

« De-google-ify internet » services

Almost 10 years of existence !

Our annual usage statistics ;

Maintenance, backups, updates ;

Huge work to fight spam ;

The success of Framagroupes…

…and the campaign to renew the services (we have lots of ideas !)

Support Framasoft

All the work we can’t describe in 7 weeks…

If you’ve read through the 94 pages of our 2022 Activity Report (FR), you’ve already guessed : it’s very difficult to summarize everything our small association is doing.

But just because we won’t be devoting a week to each of the following projects doesn’t mean that nothing has happened…

So here’s what we won’t have time to go into until the end of the year :

CHATONS Collective (ethical web service providers)

Framasoft has been dedicating paid time to the collective for 6 years now ;

Organisation of the CHATONS camp (August 2023) ;

This is our last year of coordinating the collective ;

Major transmission and support work, allowing it to become autonomous ;

Self-managed internal debates have already taken place ;

Framasoft remains a member of the collective, we just stop coordinating it.

ECHO Network (European exchange project on ethical digital support for citizens)

Co-organisation of the inaugural seminar in Paris (January 2023) ;

Study visit to Berlin (March 2023) ;

Brussels study visit (June 2023) ;

Rome study visit (September 2023) ;

Zagreb study visit planned for early December 2023 ;

In 2024, pooling shared experiences into practical tools.

Peer.Tube (showcase of quality content broadcast on PeerTube)

Prioritized the development of PeerTube in 2023 ;

Work planned for 2024 (content promotion, showcase, community of curators, etc.).

Support Framasoft

« Coin-Coin VS Datavöre » – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

Seven weeks to balance our budget for 2024

If Framasoft is able to employ not 10 but 11 people, to rent nearly 57 servers, to travel all over France (and beyond), and to finance everything it does in the digital commons… It is all thanks to your donations.

Your donations are and will remain our main source of funding, allowing us to act freely and in complete independence.

This year again, we need you, your support, your sharing, to help us regain ground on the toxic GAFAM web, and multiply ethical digital spaces.

So we’ve asked David Revoy to help us present this off on our « Support Framasoft » page, which we invite you to visit (because it’s beautiful) and above all to share as widely as possible :

Click to support us – Illustration CC-By David Revoy

If we want to complete our budget for 2024, we have seven weeks left to raise 200 000 € : we won’t make it without your help !

Support Framasoft

We sincerely hope that this report and outlook will inspire you and (if you can) make you proud to support Framasoft.