Open Revolution website, courses and wiki including diginomics (introduction to the digital economy)
Home Page: https://openrevolution.net/
Flowershow default app template. Uses Next.js with Tailwind and MDX.
To learn more how to create and customize your Flowershow website check our docs at https://flowershow.app/docs
Short post introducing the mechanism design-baking analogy.
Diginomic Policy Guide aka Designing Digital Economies
Landing page for new diginomics site
UPDATE: 2023-05-03we did a basic version of this ... and now superseded by #84
Mockup
Implement
add more content e.g. Recipe guide for aspiring database / data ecosystem builders: step by step guide to building your incentives etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V6x7jySLvc&t=6s (may want to also check if have own copy for backup purposes)
Outline of how buildings blocks combine into overall models, and the constraints and considerations around combining them.
I think this effort involves
Open Leaders ran as a separate wordpress site 2016-2021 (no real updates after 2018). In 2021 static sited and moved to https://leaders.openrevolution.net on a temporary basis. Next stage was to merge this into Open Revolution as it is a natural component.
When discussing what we are doing especially re design of "models" it would be helpful to have clear set of terminology so that we and others don't get confused (e.g. what is a model)
/glossary/ (this is just definitions of key terms so we can link from other places on the site) DONE: https://github.com/life-itself/diginomics/blob/main/content/notes/glossary.md/concepts/ page with the text and the diagrams (or maybe for now just a blog post keeping with our "notes" approach and publish early and often - later when solidified we can convert into a specific page) This is fairly comparable to above and for ease I suggest we just have 1 pageThis is a guide for designers of business models for digital goods. It shows how business models are composed of building blocks which can be assembled under constraints to make a limited number of business model types. Learning these types -- and the list of blocks and the rules for assembly -- allow you to rapidly design business models that are successful for your chosen outcomes.
https://link.excalidraw.com/l/9u8crB2ZmUo/vpDJPY8Yp5
Theo 27/03/2023: Think the mental model vs system distinction works and should stick. Prefer building blocks to ingredients.
Q: System vs mechanism?
We wrote a bunch of stuff for the Web3 project about/relevant to mechanism design and dignomics
Move open revolution stuff from https://gitlab.com/open-world to https://github.com/open-revolution
Also a chance to tidy and refactor stuff.
Implement
When I'm doing mechanism/business model design for data sharing, I want to easily understand what options are out there, how they relate to one another and how to choose between them so that I can select the most suitable one and justify my choice to external stakeholders.
IMED (http://imedproject.org) is Open Revolution model for medicines so makes sense to integrate this content and project into the main open revolution site under the healthcare/medicines section.
Work out - by doing it - how to setup a simple email course in Brevo.
Can start with a trial run by creating the course from e.g. two input emails. ie. given two emails in markdown in a gist or github repo have a little course
Next part would be documenting or doing the setup for the full course.
When i have a course drafted i want to copy it over as quickly as possible
When i revise my course i want to update my existing emails as easily as possible
Tryout
Tooling and docs
Test email course
diginomic-101/ ...day-0.md ...day-1.md ...day-2.mdMeans you need to use the inbuilt editor and do things internally. Quickstart guide to the editor: https://help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016831820-Drag-Drop-Editor-New-design-Part-1-Editor-Overview-
For the Diginomics 101 course we want to send 5 emails over 5 days, triggered when people sign up.
This makes use of Brevo's automation features: https://www.sendinblue.com/blog/email-automation/#what-are-automated-emails
The process is fairly simple. Login and navigate to the automation section on the side menu and create a new automation. The key things are:
We'll want to select the diginomics 1010 signup form:
We basically just need to automate sending an email and a wait condition equaling 1 day.
Each new email will require a new template:
And the wait can be set under "conditions"
You're then good to go!
Now we have moved from gitlab we need to redeploy. Plus makes sense to use a service with better "edge" capability.
When designing EF databases and their business models I want a background conceptual framework about EF data
Diagrams in progress here: https://link.excalidraw.com/l/9u8crB2ZmUo/4djYIFVQrXU
Pt 2: practicalities of calculating EF data
Small post announcing the diginomics project.
We want a library / reference manager for diginomics and use this as the primary storage for reference material.
/notes/library/ referencing this and our process (can take inspiration from https://web3.lifeitself.org/library) ✅2023-01-19 see https://diginomics.io/libraryBonus
Setup
Site page
Titles
Ideas:
Other sections
Write up a remuneration rights based model for news and newspapers.
Had a very brief outline here: https://rufuspollock.com/2017/01/21/how-to-save-news-a-sustainable-funding-mechanism-for-open-news/
Thought i had longer versions in internal emails (but can't find them now after 20m of gmail-ing)
This is an areas with a big demand in that people keep asking about it [1] including with an EU funded research project ~ a year ago. I've also talked this through a few times and its discussed in the book and its one of the bigger (and more complex) application of the remuneration rights model (given complexity of assessing "value" for the fund allocation).
[1] examples being e.g.
Existing materials
Building blocks for incentive models
All these are now included in the /concepts.md page: https://github.com/life-itself/diginomics/blob/main/content/notes/concepts.md
We want to upgrade the diginomics site to use the latest version of flowershow with all current pages and components.
Key point is we have real world examples of this approach working -- albeit imperfectly (mainly related to lack of transparency which remuneration rights model would address).
Landing page for diginomics 101 course / guide. For now this will also be the home page.
Designing digital good business models (with public interest flavor). Design Business Models for public interest digital goods like an emissions or environmental footprint database
TODO: this is an important issue. Get a "good enough to try" for now, plus a list of options documented for future re-consideration.
Parking lot
Dimensions
Summary excalidraw with sketch of guide layout: https://link.excalidraw.com/l/9u8crB2ZmUo/AS49XMqTYbf
🚩 sort of deprecated now as replaced by coggl plan above
What is our goal 2023-03-30? Here's a guide to designing the business model for a database of emission data (Aside: why emissions data? not important, we just want a concrete example)
Overall outline of plan of work: https://coggle.it/diagram/Y7wv5r1Eo51jzYBJ/t/diginomics-101
This is a sort of follow up to #37 - as discussed with @theo-cox this likely overlaps but is distinct and more focused on what users would get and less on our "internal" motivation for the change.
...
[Dec 2017] The way Google are integrating more and more into their “universal” interface (e.g. weather, answers to common questions, summaries of sites, summaries of wikipedai). And the alternative “open” model for this (I.e. the internet...). Analogy of Google with an Operating System - Google as the web OS ... (and why it is concerning it is closed)
Example of problems:
https://libraryservices.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2022/07/no-agreement/
Information good economic ecosystem diagram (money from where, to where): defining key terms – see https://link.excalidraw.com/l/9u8crB2ZmUo/AS49XMqTYbf
We want to clean up issue tracker and have clear plan of work for next 6w.
Have existing quite detailed essay at https://rufuspollock.com/ubernomics/
To start with can just migrate this over. Later (separate issue) can enhance and extend this.
A diginomics site providing grounding in economics of digital (info) economy and toolkit (concepts and templates) for solving key micro and macro challenges.
Have the following guides / courses:
graph LR
101[Diginomics 101]
101 --> busmodelsforgood["Micro: Design Business Models for a Public Interest Digital Goods like Database"]
101 --> digpolicy[Macro: Diginomic Policy - how to design digital economies that work]
101 --??--> busmodelsforopen["Micro: Using Diginomics to Create Open Business Models ..."]
Note that the guides cover various scales:
These aren't perfect separations and each scale blends into the one above and below.
Minor
Content
Website
/notes/ folderWhen I'm doing mechanism/business model design for data sharing, I want to easily understand what options are out there, how they relate to one another and how to choose between them so that I can select the most suitable one and justify my choice to external stakeholders.
There also convincing people there are only these kinds of options
People often imagine there is some other magical tweak out there that will get them X or Y.
Example of AT&T and long distance phone lines and showing a lower bound on distance to connect 3 dots
Remuneration rights is the model
Building blocks are:
Integrate content from (private) https://github.com/open-revolution/notebook into the notes
/notes/open-world//notes/could-we-fund-information-goods-via-open-business-models-probably-not/When i read a blog post I want to sign up to get regular updates so that I hear about future developments
When I read a blog post I want to see an offer for a free course so that I sign up and get the course and are kept informed of future developments
graph LR
d[Our page]
brevo["Brevo (sendinblue) endpoint"]
d --submit--> brevo
brevo --redirects--> dsuccess[Our Success page]
d --submit error shows errors--> d
We want to use simple html forms ...
Questions
Desire is ...
When developing and managing openrevolution.net (which is now likely as things develop) I want to use a simple, flexible framework and supports tailwind so that I can make it look nice and rapidly add new features (see more in Why item below)
Prep
Implement
Content
content/ contains
_index.md
contact.md
events.md
faq
kronos-effect.md
make-it-happen.md
news
newsletter.md
pay-what-feels-right
press.md
preview.md
remuneration-rights.md
Write up data(bases) is different post
Create a Diginomics 101 taster course.
Build a core resource outlining the core tenets of the data economy and why they are so important and differ from material economy and why that matters. Why this leads into a necessary discussion of incentives around sharing. Outline of different approaches you can take. (NB: this last part is probably separate course/guide).
v1
Promotion
Future
Course content changes
Create other pages - page per link
Status codes:
🆕 = nothing done
🗺️ = collected existing materials
🦴 = skeleton
📝 = drafted (v0.1)
🚢 = shipped
combine ⏭️ with any of these to indicate that is next ...
Short essays introducing the topic
UPDATE: 2023-03-27 already have 3 good options. Just need to act 🚢. Suggest taking 16 Jan one (see below)
I've studied the digital economy for over 20 years as a leading researcher, consultant and entrepreneur. I'm distilling key principles I've learned into a simple guide.
Sign up for free early access here 👇
diginomics.io/guide
Learn the rules of the digital economy from an expert
v1 I'm distilling everything i've learned over twenty years about tech and digital economy into a simple guide.
v1.2 [design principles] I'm distilling key design principles for digital economy into a simple guide. Sign up for early free access here 👇
(Optional Context): Cambridge research fellow, #opendata pioneer, adviser to some of largest governments and companies, and digital social entrepreneur, founder of leading digital NGO and a data business.
v2 I've spent over twenty years studying the digital economy - as Cambridge research fellow, adviser to some of the world's largest governments and companies, and founder of a leading digital NGO and a data business.
I'm distilling everything I've learned into a simple guide. Sign up for free early access here 👇
v3 I've studied digital economy for over 20 years as researcher, consultant to govs and companies and as a successful social entrepreneur. I'm distilling the key principles learned into a simple guide. Sign up for free, early access here
v3.1 I'm distilling 20 years of study into how digital economy works into a simple guide. Sign up for free early access here 👇
v3.1.1 I'm distilling 20 years of study into how digital economy works as researcher, consultant and entrepreneur into a simple guide. Sign up for free early access here 👇
v3.1.2 I'm distilling 20 years of studyᵃ into how digital economy works into a simple guide. Sign up for free early access her
ᵃ Cambridge research fellow, consultant to leading govs, companies and NGOs (including US, EU, Finland, World Bank)
variant 2
Credibility
I'm distilling everything i've learned over twenty years1 about tech and digital economy into a simple guide.
[Call to action e.g.]
v1
Hi I'm Rufus, I've spent twenty years studying and working in the digital economy. I've taught at Cambridge University, created successful startups and advised leading governments and companies.
v0.1
Hi I'm Rufus, I write about the digital business and policy
Here's what I've learnt 👇
[Proof of expertise] as an academic, entrepreneur and adviser to governments. ↩
Metaphor: baking …
We are going to teach you how to “bake” [design] the funding of your database or software (or really any digital good).
Imagine you were set to make bread … and you knew nothing about baking or the ingredients involved. It would be a struggle, right. Well, frankly that’s what happening most of the time today when people come to “bake” aka design the funding and provision of their database or software – especially in complex areas such as …
Stop wasting time and reinventing the wheel: learn …
We are going to teach you …
What are the key ingredients
How you can combine them together (some combinations just won’t work! Don’t waste your time trying to invent a solution that’s impossible. It would be like trying to create a baguette using only sourdough!)
Also, don’t waste your time overengineering things with little consequence e.g. maybe charging $5 vs $10 a month isn’t going to make a difference - choosing what to dust your finished loaf with isn’t going to make or break the recipe
What are the resulting major options (what types of bread can you make)
How do facts of your industry or ecosystem limit or shape the options you have
INSERT: metaphor table … (bread vs digital ecosystem)
Subject: models for funding databases, software and other “digital/information” goods – and their ingredients and typology
Question: what options do I have for resourcing [incentivizing] the production and distribution of these digital goods – and which should i choose
Question: is this reader …
[policymaker / funder / an ecosystem weaver 🤣]
Have technical expertise but not economists
Responsible for creation and proper running of systems that rely on information goods being shared
[Entrepreneur]
Someone building a business
[A consumer]
What’s the best option for generating (social) value from the database / software etc we are producing / distributing
What’s the best option for incentivising the production/distribution of the information good i want to be produced/distributed, and why?
Answer: “We’ll teach you how to bake” Good, specialist, mechanism design is needed for sustainability and functionality. There is this basic list of ingredients to creating a “economic/business model” and using combinations of these you can create [4] main types of model.
Situation
You want to build/fund a digital goods (e.g. database or data ecosystem)
These goods are different somehow from e.g. a bakery or making steel
Digital goods present specific issues (not found in our old school economy) re funding etc
Costless copying: marginal cost is not a good guide to pricing.. Rise of open
Hyper complex value chains. Aggregation is often central: data usually valuable aggregated and can be thousands or even millions of “suppliers” (think of openstreetmap or carbon emissions in consumer goods).
Potentially significant fixed costs of production. Even if creation/production of individual items can be close to zero eg. data stream from a single IoT device or data produced as side product of existing activity. “quality production” is expensive (aggregated, consolidated, unified data). A working software product.
Gap between private and social (or even sectoral) cost-benefit equations re data production/sharing - incentives aren’t “baked in” like they are for saleable physical goods (excuse the pun) - Adam Smith butcher and baker parable breaks down. .Even in cases of private benefit, these can be subtle and not apparent to key decision-makers (e.g. efficiency gains in ways that aren't apparent upfront) => disinclination to invest
This makes it (uniquely) hard (you don’t need a special session on how to run a bakery vs another type of business. The European Commission is not involved in funding bakeries. But they are involved in databases)
Lots of struggle: e.g. databases that disappear, or have repeated sustainability crises, key data sources that become monopolized and very expensive.
People who are funding or building data systems often … create things that aren’t sustainable
[especially in multi-stakeholder environments (e.g. firms sharing data across a supply chain, public environmental databases etc etc).]
Don’t know much economics or mechanism design
Focus on tech vs the economics: people often spend more time designing the structure of their data than they do thinking about the funding of their data (and its distribution)
=== too general ===
Digital goods are widespread
Development and sharing ever more important (both for profit making and social value creation)
People are struggling:
Monopolies and price gouging
Open databases that aren’t maintained
Market failures abound
Complication
Trial and error invent baking on your own
Muddle through
Reinvent the wheel
=> often fail, or at very least suboptimal outcomes
=> highly inefficient
Alternative (earlier) one in A10: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1USSez4_suV3FqXuG6HY0uwLRMhSKbb6gX9Sytg6FGig/edit#heading=h.599vpyhb8naq
Distill the essence of diginomics: what are we about exactly.
Learn the rules of the digital economy [aka digital economics]
So that ...
You can design better business models / digital ecosystems
The rules of digital economy and how to fund innovation and access
and what they mean for funding innovation [data, software] and promoting access.
what they mean for designing successful business model
How to fund innovation and promote access to digital goods and services.
Especially if you are policy-maker or want to make open stuff.
The rules of digital economy
And …
Production and distribution of digital goods
-> production of and access to digital goods
-> increase access to digital goods like software and data
| Money | Digital Economics | Digital business models | |
|---|---|---|---|
| V0 | money | digital economics | Digital business models |
| v1 | investing money | rules of the digital economy | Designing “business” models for digital |
| v2 | investing money in your 20s. | rules of digital economy and what they mean for business model/mechanism design | Designing digital business models for databases |
| v3 | investing money in your 20s so you can buy your first rental property in your 30s | rules of the digital economy and what they mean for business model design so that socially important databases and software are sustainably funded and accessible to more people | Designing better models which improve access to information goods |
For example: let’s say you want to write about “money.”
It’s fine to start there, but right away you probably realize how BIG the topic of “money” is. “Money” could mean everything from investing money to saving money to picking stocks to buying real estate to even the emotional relationship you have with money as a societal construct. Which means you need to niche down: pick one direction, and get more specific.
V2: “I want to write about investing money.”
V3: “I want to write about investing money in your 20s.”
V4: “I want to write about investing money in your 20s so you can buy your first rental property in your 30s.”
Migrate Open revolution/Diginomics to Flowershow
Early pieces with details of ideas (pre-book)
Maybe
We want a twitter account so that we can tweet from there about the project (and Rufus can stop tweeting from his account about this!)
Future
List (and excerpt model summaries into this one post) all our existing lists of models.
TODO: extract notes from #36 (and meeting notes).
Post with
Post here: https://github.com/life-itself/diginomics/blob/main/content/notes/summary-past-work.md
...
🚚 to #52
https://github.com/open-revolution/research/ contains research-y stuff and can move here in this main repo.
/notes/ section e.g. https://diginomics.io/notes/researchMigrate
Integrate
content/notes/notes/research/
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Laravel
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Bring data to life with SVG, Canvas and HTML. 📊📈🎉
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Some thing interesting about web. New door for the world.
A server is a program made to process requests and deliver data to clients.
Machine learning is a way of modeling and interpreting data that allows a piece of software to respond intelligently.
Some thing interesting about visualization, use data art
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We are working to build community through open source technology. NB: members must have two-factor auth.
Microsoft
Open source projects and samples from Microsoft.
Google
Google ❤️ Open Source for everyone.
Alibaba
Alibaba Open Source for everyone
D3
Data-Driven Documents codes.
Tencent
China tencent open source team.