garmir.io directory posts

Community and Tech

Building digital sovereignty through community infrastructure and privacy-preserving technologies.

Digital Sovereignty

Building technology that serves communities rather than extracting value from them. This means creating infrastructure that is:

  • Self-hosted and community-controlled
  • Privacy-preserving by design
  • Interoperable and standards-based
  • Sustainable and maintainable

Community Infrastructure

Technical infrastructure should strengthen community bonds and enable collaboration while maintaining individual privacy and autonomy.

Core Principles

  • Local Control: Communities own and operate their technology
  • Mutual Aid: Resource sharing without exploitation
  • Privacy First: Personal data never leaves community control
  • Open Standards: Interoperability prevents vendor lock-in

Practical Implementation

Building community tech requires both technical solutions and social coordination:

Technical Stack

  • Self-hosted git repositories (Gitea, Forgejo)
  • Mesh networking for resilient communication
  • Distributed storage and backup systems
  • Privacy-preserving analytics and monitoring

Social Coordination

  • Shared governance models for technical decisions
  • Skills sharing and mentorship programs
  • Sustainable funding without extraction
  • Documentation and knowledge preservation

Moving Forward

The path to digital sovereignty is both technical and social. We build better technology by building better communities, and we build better communities through technology that serves human needs rather than profit extraction.