Operations
FASSAG has three main branches, to facilitate the development of our resources; The documentation group, the research group, and the software development group. It's what we think are the three most important aspects to focus on to achieve our goals.
Documentation
Free means that their should be as little costs as possible to everyone involved. Free to contribute, and free to read. Getting permission to contribute is as simple as asking in the [matrix] space. It's important for our community model that we can talk to and discuss changes that people have made if we need to.
Accessible documentation isn't just about screen readers. The text should be written so that it is easy to read, and tries to avoid overly-technical explanations with a lot of jargon. Paragraphs should be capped at 5 or so sentences to avoid the "wall of text" effect. Docs should also try to target different skill/knowledge levels. But besides the documentation being accessible, it's important to document how to *make* computers be more accessible. That means testing things like:
- Screen readers
- High-Contrast modes
- Magnification
- Scaling settings
- Clear design
- Good documentation
- Translations
- Low-end hardware
Safe software focuses not just on privacy and security, though of course those are important, but also things like no user-hostile features. Addictive design patterns for example, are very dangerous for many people. Things like, Infinite scrollers, algorithmic recommendations. It's also important to have guide rails to prevent the user from breaking their system, though of course experienced users should be able to lower them.
Advocacy
It is important that people understand the importance of safe, secure, and private computing, especially now. A general malaise seems to have gripped much of the current populous about this, a feeling that it's not possible or feasible to have these goals. This however, is very important to fight against! Privacy, Security, and Safety are rights that everyone should have, especially when using a computer.
Being safe online is not just about making sure your accounts get stolen, but also thinking about what data you put where, and how that could be used against you. Make sure you are only trusting as much as you have to, and don't assume that a corporation is safe and has your back. Corporations are made of people, and their cloud, or servers, are just computers that they control. Think about where you're sending your data before you post a message or upload an image.
Part of advocacy is making sure that if there is no good solution, that we help to create one. While we're in early stages, our development capacity will be limited, but whenever we have the ability to, we should try to either improve existing software in these regards, or if impossible, make our own. Be reasonable though! Big goals like making an entire OS would be amazing, but we have to keep in mind how much time and effort we have at our disposal.
We'd also love to have some way to share computers with each other. Some of us may not have a laptop, maybe just a tablet, or a phone, and helping them get access to good computing hardware is critical for our mission. Figuring out how to do this safely and respectfully is a very important goal!
Organization Main Page
To facilitate work being done well, and also to help people figure out what role to play within FASSAG, we have created several Teams and Roles. These teams and roles are fluid, and it's encouraged to switch between them if necessary or desired. These teams and roles are also not meant to indicate a power-structure, are goals require us to cooperate as equals.
Remember, it is very important that you do not over-work yourself. Pushing yourself too hard and burning out is the easiest way to hurt yourself while participating in a group like this, and we do not want you to hurt yourself! Also, check on your Teammates, to ensure they are not overworking themselves, but do keep in mind, everyone has different limits.
Different people also respond well to different types of motivation. You are encouraged to describe how you like to be motivated on your wiki profile! If you do not know, then you can ask your Teammates to try out different strategies with you and see how it works for you. For example, some people like reminders/management, and some don't want to be pressured. Some ground-rules though, deadlines are always soft. If you fail to meet a deadline there *must* not be any serious consequences for this. Rushing to meet hard deadlines is an easy way to burn yourself out.