A 🧵on the ongoing #meansofproduction project - which is designed to enable #librarysocialism along with #federation of all types of libraries, especially #toollibraries, and even #Housing
You can find more info at https://meansofp.org/, and the codebase is #opensource at https://meansofp.org/.
We have a discord at https://discord.gg/DxUrwhDg - but also moving lots of the discussion here to #mastodon!
So what is #meansofproduction?
MoP is open source software being designed to power libraries. It has two key features - the ability to create a #distributedlibrary, and the ability to #federate between many different libraries.
We'll handle each of these items separately, then dive into the tech stack, status, and later features!
If you'd like to get involved, please let me know!
So first off, #federation. . . .
One advantage that commercial products like Amazon or Walmart have over libraries currently is they are a unified platform to find goods (and even services sometimes).
But there's no reason for this - libraries exist for many things (books, movies, music, tools), and the concept can be expanded easily to other things - even consumables like food or services!
(For details, see https://librarysocialism.org, or check out the @srslywrong podcast!)
but the problem will still remain - how do I, as a consumer, find the things I need to live my life? I don't want to spend my whole life hunting these things down if I don't need to!
Well, one answer so far is by bigger and bigger scale retailers. There's large problems with this model of consumption - it's #ecologically awful, it prevents people without funds from getting things they need, and it's interested only in maximizing profits, not maximizing human happiness.
but, there's another way! We can share goods, and services - through #library systems and even #laborvouchers, it becomes possible to make many more people happy with the same or less amount of goods, by more efficiently distributing them through a #library system
How often do you need a kayak? Most of the time it's in storage! But if you want to use one, you have to buy a whole one. But if we all buy one, then we can share the time to use it.
Does it mean maybe I have to wait? Sure.
but I'll get to use the kayak and spend far less labor and energy to do so!
So great - but the problem remains, how do I find the things I want to borrow?
Amazon and other retailers build large search systems because they want to sell you things. #libraries because they don't create profits, are unable to get #capital that demands a return. This is a problem that we see with #coops as well - it's better for everyone but capital, but they have the veto power under #capitalism.
Or did . .
enter the idea of #federation . If I have lots of small libraries - small enough that volunteer or affordable labor can supply the needs and goods, then all I need is something that can navigate those inventories for me and I have access to a large amount of goods and services!
We can do that by supplying #opensource protocols and software that will enable tools to search and even borrow and exchange between many libraries at once!
How do we do that?
Well, we supply software for new libraries - absolutely #freesoftware as in beer, and can even aid with some #hosting costs so there's nothing out of pocket.
For existing libraries, which might already have systems they can't easily migrate off of, we can provide #adapters so that the MoP software can provide an #API for use in federation. The current code is setup using #objectorienteddesign to do just this - each system will need an adapter written though!
at this point we have a bunch of libraries which can all talk to one another.
Part of the #meansofproduction is also developing front ends - #webpages and #apps - which can then use federation to search for items nearby in many different libraries!
this #federation can also make it easy to implement cross-borrowing and make borrowing even easier - basically if I'm a member of library A, then library B agrees to lend to me, and vice versa.
Just like #mastodon, I have a home at my "local" library, but that doesn't limit what I can do - I can use that address to interact with the entire world as a library!
Pretty cool idea, huh? I won't need to buy crap from Amazon if I can borrow it instead.
But a couple problems still exist - how do I setup libraries, especially for things that don't currently have libraries, like #tools
Well, you can go the traditional route - find a space, and make it a #library. #meansofproduction means that you will have software to help you with this ready to go!
But spaces are expensive, particularly in #urban environments. So MoP also supports a newish idea, #distributedlibrary .
A #distributedlibrary is basically just a group of people that agree to lend things to each other.
That's it. Using the software, anyone who is a library member can search what has been made available for #lending, and can mark items available for lending as well!
Returns are handled just like you would borrowing a tool from your neighbor - you bring it back, you both mark you did on the app, and assuming no damage the item is ready to loan out again!
A similar sort of network has developed in many places with the #buynothing networks. And this is something that #meansofproduction can support as well - after all, a gift/buynothingitem is just a #loan that never expires.
One advantage of a permanent loan over a gift, though, is that it does incentivize people to keep items withing the system, and not sell it back to the mainstream #capitalist economy.
This gives a clue for how to handle consumable items like #food or #services in a #library as well - they're just loans that don't expire!
Unlike items, they can't be returned, but they're available to library members, and importantly can use the exact same inventory and borrowing tools as books and tools.
So, got lots of zucchini from your garden and don't know what to do with it? Go on your app, and just list it as part of the #library
The idea here is one of #quadraticwaiting, similar to one of #quadraticvoting - instead of just having a plain wait list, a #library can let people who have done things in the past bid for the right to be next based on what they've done.
However - and this is key - each renewal gets more and more expensive as the same person seeks to extend a loan. So monopolizing an item becomes impossible!
So, sounds great! When can I setup my library????
Well, hopefully, SOON. Currently developing the software using a tech stack consisting of
#postgres
#typescript
#graphql
#react
#reactnative
once the basic POC is up, we can also publish the API schema as version 1 of a library protocol, to allow other implementations if anyone desires (or if existing #library software wants to federate!)
If you are interested in creating a library or currently run one, I would LOVE to talk to you. The idea is libraries, so what libraries need is what we want to develop!
One note is we are forever #nonprofit, #opensource, and we're not here to get your data to make a profit. We just want more libraries to save the planet!
Matty Roses