If we fund only the technical layer, we shouldn’t be surprised when the social layer remains broken

The problem with #openweb funding isn’t simply rejection, waiting for decisions, or whether one particular project gets funded. The problem is #KISS structural, after 30+ years working through grassroots projects, funded and unfunded, there is a repeated pattern that is easy to see – useful social and grassroots technology gets filtered through a narrow technical understanding of what counts as a “good” #openweb project. This is the #geekproblem, not moral judgement of individuals – it isn’t about individual geeks being bad people. Many people working in open technology have good intentions and genuinely care about the commons. The problem is what happens when a technical culture becomes the dominant way of seeing the problem. The technology gets analysed, the code gets analysed, the architecture gets analysed. But the social system the technology is supposed to serve is almost invisible. So the question we need to keep asking is can open technology funding engage with the social…