RFP-5: Community Hubs [CLOSED]

Hey @Erikazee - please reach out to speak@devcon.org to discuss further. Thanks!

Thanks @heather_claire - will do!

hello @franzihei ! I have some clarification questions regarding the community hub and hope to have a response soon!

  1. Do you have the venue size available for the entire area? I’m assuming its 24m² * 10 spots
  2. As an organiser is it alright to have sponsors so that we can support travel costs for contributors etc?
  3. Is there a rendering of the Devcon stage so that we can ensure that what we design complements the main Devcon program aesthetically?

Thank you!
QZ

Hi @QZ.Gitcoin

Did you already create a proposal?

  1. Wondering why you need the size of the entire space? Space allocation is still a bit in flux at the moment as we shuffle different areas around, but it will most likely be 6 x 24m²
  2. There should be no branding or product specific marketing at Community Hubs (see Community Hub Guidelines). You can have sponsors if this is necessary, but they shouldn’t take over the space or be marketed heavily.
  3. Please first hand in a proposal and get it accepted before starting the design process. :sweat_smile: All renderings that are currently available can be found on devcon.org

Thank you!

I don’t see this question being asked or answered, so I’m going to ask a challenging question that may open a whole can of worms and could need to become its own DIP.

What financial resources are available for Community Hubs?

Community organizing is work that I am happy to do:
facilitating conversations, organizing interactions, arranging collaborators, building event programs, generating visibility, inviting participants, seeding the vibes.
None of these things happen at a level of quality that makes people stand up and high-five without a lot of care going into them.

I think its awesome to have community interaction and genuine engagement as a feature at Devcon. I would love to enable that. I would also love to be reimbursed for that care work in such a way that enables me to also put food on the table and a roof over my kid’s heads.

The challenge I see is that so fare nowhere in this RFP is there a mention of how we might consider what that could look like. Is it just the expectation that everyone involved in a community hub volunteer their time, resources/energy and skills?

I notice that I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder, and defensive attitude, as I import frustration that care work is generally under-resourced. I feel a sense of aggression that makes me want to explain and justify why the work I do is worthy of reimbursement.

I’m happy to open this topic, @franzihei would you help me care for it and guide the conversation to a conclusion that everyone feels awesome about?

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Hi @JeremyGospelOfChange and thank you for your comments!

Community hubs is one of Devcon’s many experiments of dipping in the toes into a more community-curated and organized conferencing experience. They are inspired by amazing other community-effort based conferences like the Chaos Computer Club Congress (there, they call community spaces “assemblies” and they are much bigger :slight_smile:).

Community hubs should be from the community and for the community, and, at this point we don’t indent to financially “reimburse” people that collaborate on community hubs.

I’ve been doing a lot of “free” work for many years in form of honorary / voluntary work (e.g. core organizer of ETHBerlin here) and I love it! I think from a philosophical standpoint, Community Hubs should not be where you seek to earn money, but where you get fulfilment by meeting up with your communities, talking about your passions etc.

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This is what concerns me, that we place fulfilment in opposition to earning money so that leaves us to choose either-this-or-that between them. This keeps the care work of community engagement stuck in a scarcity trap and leaves those who choose fullfilment impoverished.

I’m here to invite us all to entertain the Wicked Question that is:

How is it that we might find fulfillment in our work with our communities AND earn a living doing it at the same time?

I love that you love your community care work, @franzihei. I believe that you should also be able to earn a living from it. I’m also in your sub-group, having hosted at least 50 free meetup events, like last year where I hosted a workshop at an assembly of the CCC.

There is one glaring difference with the CCC, that is important for me to point out: Devcon Bogota is charging quite a substantial ticketing fee compared to a voluntary contribution to participate in the CCC. I will be so bold as to be maximaly assertive, noting that even inviting community organizers to volunteer time and effort, providing an experience for participants that have paid to enjoy, is a form of value extraction.

From the philosophical or ethical perspective of what should and aught-to-be, I have an objection on the ground that this causes a form of meaningful harm, and I would like to integrate this critique into a DIP.

Now I may very well be ALL the way up in my feelings and have things properly twisted. Are we disagreeing in ways that reasonable people may come to a conclusion or am I viewing things through a dusty or warped lense? Is there anyone who recognizes the validity of my objection or am I totally on-one?

And if I am supported, how do we upgrade this toe-dipping community experiment into the most awesome version of itself imaginable, that leaves all parties involved feeling empowered, appreciated and fulfilled?

Hi :wave: Joining in this convo. I feel for @JeremyGospelOfChange.

In my opinion, it’s in the interest of Devcon to get the people who are most aligned with the Devcon/Ethereum ethos.

Giving a physical space is already great and I personally think it’s an amazing initiative, but by not financing the flights/accomodation I believe you’re filtering for the most successful and well-funded projects.

I say this as someone who has not applied for a community hub yet because, after talking to the rest of A group I’m part of, the cost did outweigh the benefits.


Context
I’m part of a creative commons web3 advocacy group that I’d qualify as a “public goods” initiative.

It’s a smallish group of people (20) that participate regularly from the comfort of their computer.


All DIPs responding to this RFP must be submitted by August 15, 2022.

The RFP asks for DIPs, but I can see no hub proposal yet on Github. Can you confirm whether posting on the forum will be enough? Thanks.

Hi! For the deadline, posting in the forum is enough. :slight_smile: We will ask proposals that we move forward with to later create a DIP so that they will also show up on our DIP page here → Contribute — Devcon Bogotá, Oct 11 → 14