Will technology companies become like banks?

Meaning:

Will we become tethered to a digital system we feel uneasy about, yet can no longer live without?

Will usage of that system shape what we can and can not see, undermine our ability to imagine alternatives, and prevent us to see new opportunities?

To say this, is not to say that we should do IT ourselves (or not have banks) obviously.

Quitting glebes (i.e. territories users have no agency over¹) does not mean going DIY².

You can have an organisation taking care of your IT needs, yet maintain agency over your systems.

You don’t have to give up agency when you adopt digital tools.

For some of us this is hard to imagine. We think of digital adoption as a trade-off where we have to give up agency in exchange for some services. We think there is no alternatives to this model.

Yet alternatives exist.

My job is to help organisations use digital tools to do business while maintaining agency over their digital systems.

What can I do?

• assist you to adopt digital tools which you have agency over (that does not mean that you have to host applications yourself)

• set up an emailing system (e.g. with a domain name of your own, on servers you have agency over)

• set up your website so you can focus on work that matters, instead of spending time managing an unnecessarily sophisticated website³

• help you with copywriting so your message can spread word of mouth

• help you understand how you can use PGP or Autocrypt to encrypt emails, data, et cetera; and train you to do so you become autonomous using these programmes

• help you implement a password management policy, and train your people
  

• help you manage information as an asset to support marketing, project management, et cetera

• provide you and your people with laptops which you have agency over (e.g. you can’t have agency over Apple products)

• set up your own end-to-end encrypted conference call system (e.g. I invite my clients to do calls on my system: https://talk.yctct.com, not on the servers of Zoom & co.)

• and finally, transfer my know-how to you, or members of your organisation, so you don’t become tethered to me or other digital vendors.
  
  I don’t want to lock you in⁴.

How do I do things?

• I use freely (that is different from gratis⁵) distributed & copyleft-licensed⁶ software

• I set up digital infrastructures to minimize usage of energy⁷

• I set up digital infrastructures locally, or on remote servers which you have agency over e.g. servers governed by its users (e.g. as a cooperative)

• I use programmes that have withstood the test of time⁸, so you don’t have to revamp your infrastructure anytime soon

• I apply principles of digital accessibility & inclusivity⁹

Contact

You can contact me on (My PGP public key).

My PGP fingerprint is:

2E0F FB60 7FEF 11D0 FB45 4DDC E979 E52A 7036 7A88

We can work in English ou en Français.

-Roman

Postscriptum: I am in the process of publishing some documentation for others to replicate this agency model.

agency.yctct.com © 2024 by Roman Philip is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0.

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