I doubt that any house like this one was ever built alone by one medieval-fan hippie guy, but that’s nevertheless an interesting house.
I’m not entirely convinced by it. The wooden window made of smoothed boards seems labor-intensive and unnecessary. It’s pretty convincing as a hunting camp. It’s discreet and there’s nothing to steal. If you were caught unawares by a blizzard while out pursuing game, a solid shelter like this one could save your life, and save your companions too.
Welcome to the October edition of the Open Home Foundation newsletter, the place to learn about the latest and greatest things for your smart home that improve its privacy, choice, and sustainability.
The Open Home newsletter is written by Paulus Schoutsen - President of the Open Home Foundation, founder of Home Assistant, and Nabu Casa. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here!
This has been an incredible month for the Open Home Foundation. It started out with a real challenge we worked hard to overcome, but it ended with some of the best news for the future of the open home—that Home Assistant is the largest open-source project. Also, this edition has the results from our recent request to improve our voice assistant’s wake word engine, along with another winning Home Assistant release.
I’m writing this edition of the newsletter from a hotel room in San Francisco, right after taking the stage with Frenck at this year’s GitHub Universe. When we were invited to speak at the day 2 keynote, we were incredibly humbled, and I didn’t think twice about it. Both Frenck and I personally owe a lot to GitHub; it’s a platform that lets us create, connect, and ultimately change the course of our lives. On a professional level, Github makes the work we do on Open Home projects possible, and they have always gone above and beyond to support Home Assistant, along with hosting many of our other projects and libraries. We also knew this was a chance to share everything we’ve learned in building a big community on the platform with other aspiring open-source creators.
Frenck and I on the GitHub Universe Keynote stage with Kyle Dailge, COO of GitHub, and fellow Home Assistant user.
We had just celebrated Home Assistant’s 11th anniversary, and getting to speak at GitHub Universe seemed like the perfect way to cap this all off, but little did we know we were just about to receive our biggest Birthday gift yet. On day one of Universe, GitHub published its annual Octoverse report, highlighting the platform’s biggest trends and projects. It named Home Assistant 2024’s largest open-source project by contributors. Home Assistant had more than 21,000 people contribute over the year, an increase from last year’s roughly 17,000 contributors. We also ranked 2nd for the number of first-time contributors, meaning there are thousands of people who chose our project as their first foray into the world of open-source.
This isn’t the only one of our associated projects on this year’s top projects list, its amazing to see Open Home Foundation collaboration partner Zigbee2MQTT at the 10th spot for first-time contributors. The project provides more choice in the smart home and deserves the support. This win for these projects shows how interdependent we all are, and that a rising tide lifts all boats. It also shows that there is a big appetite to build and share projects that allow people to have a more open home, one that gives them privacy, choice, and sustainability.
Our community meetup at Universe that Missy, our community manager, organized and GitHub graciously provided the space.
This links perfectly to what we said on stage; by designing something that gives people full control and empowers them to build, we have grown one of the biggest and most awesome open communities on GitHub. We explained how the project encourages people to look under the hood, and tinker, and has tools and channels to encourage people to learn, and then share their creations. It’s a virtuous circle in which the community builds cool things that attract new users, who build new things. We also spoke about how our community is our guiding star, keeping us on course. I feel the larger we get the stronger the mission becomes and I’m so thankful for all the support we get from the community - they make this all possible.
When we launched the Open Home Foundation in April of this year, it was the logical culmination of years of work on the Home Assistant project. We sought a lot of advice along the way and eventually found that establishing the foundation in Switzerland would give us the best protections for Open Home projects. We looked for inspiration from other organizations defending our digital rights, and eventually settled on moving ownership of projects to a non-profit Verein (“association”) that would be supported by for- and non-profit partners.
Since establishing the foundation, we have not been sitting still and have been looking for ways to make the foundation even stronger. This is why we’re now moving the Open Home Foundation from being a Verein to a Stiftung (“foundation”); this is even more strict and is an overall better fit. Proton also created a Swiss Stiftung earlier this year, and though it differs structurally from our foundation, they have done a great job explaining why an organization would choose this structure and the benefits. From the outside, it will be hard to see any difference in how we operate, but internally it brings extra protections and helps ensure the future of the foundation and the projects it supports.
Another change we’re working on is to make it easier for organizations around the world to donate to the Open Home Foundation. We’re currently applying to be a 501©(3) organization in the United States, which will make it much easier for companies located there to support our work. We can’t say anything today about new supporters, but watch this space!
THE VIRTUAL POLIS
A strand call as part of the Conference ‘Society. Space. Screens’ hosted by Arizona State University.
Place: Virtual (with in-person presentations in Phoenix, Arizona)
Dates: Dec 11-13, 2024
Abstracts: Oct 20, 2024
Key Words & Themes:
Technology and Urbanism; Cultural and Identity Dynamics; Resistance, Adaptation, and Community Empowerment; Digital Risk and Ethical Considerations; Societal Risk, Futures Thinking, and Urban Resilience; Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Case Studies.
-
EXAMPLE THEME DESCRIPTIONS:
Technology and Urbanism:
Exploring the impact of digital tools such as VR, AR, MR(XR) and HCI, CAD and BIM on architectural design and urban planning. Investigating how these technologies intersect with participatory planning and design, our experiences of space, and the creation of interactive geographies.
Societal Transformations and Digital Citizenship:
Examining the role of social media, digital technologies, and interactive platforms in shaping community connections, political engagement, and spatial interactions. Assessing the implications of digital advancements on democratic processes and the concept of the “virtual polis.”
Digital Risk and Ethical Considerations:
Addressing the ethical implications of digital urbanism and the importance of promoting digital equity. Ensuring that technological interventions respect the integrity of local communities and contribute to equitable urban development.
FULL STRAND CALL:
“The studio’s trajectory took a significant turn around 2012 when they embraced physical computing. Their partnership with Arduino’s founder, Massimo Banzi, led them to experiment with open-source technologies, resulting in a series of prototypes, including lamps and gesture-controlled speakers that redefined conventional electronics. ”
“You May Live to See Man-Made Horrors Beyond Your Comprehension” is a quote spoken by Nikola Tesla at the first Electrical Exhibition in September 1898 in response to a question about militarizing his radio-controlled model rowboat invention
*It sounds bleak, but the past was stupid and the present is stupid, so there’s a pleasant continuity to it
