The Interledger Community 🌱: Maria Bustillos

The Brick House — Final Grant Report

Maria Bustillos — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 19:24:00 +0000

The Brick House's Tom Scocca defending digital ownership: 2022 Press Conference Statement at the Internet Archive

Transcending Goals at the Brick House

We're thrilled to report that the Brick House's Ownership Project for Libraries has met and surpassed our targets for this period. We've set a roadmap, established fruitful relationships, and sparked interest and excitement in a wide spectrum of stakeholders and partners, from librarians to technologists to publishers. We are more committed than ever to ensuring that libraries will maintain their traditional ownership rights in digital media.

At a meeting hosted by Paul Ford at the Postlight offices in New York City on June 3rd, Brick House members Maria Bustillos, David Moore and Tom Scocca presented our vision to a distinguished group of guests, including Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, Chris Freeland and Mek Karpeles of the Open Library, Tom Blake of the Boston Public Library, Sebastian Hammer of Index Data, and Hugh McGuire of PressBooks. This group represents a world-class pool of expertise and imagination, pushing our ambitions and achievements forward.

We've prepared the ground for a major media presence, with new pieces in The Nation, the Internet Archive, Popula and elsewhere sounding the alarm on protecting digital ownership and independent media.

Progress!

Our objectives grew and evolved on multiple levels pursuant to the June 3rd meeting. We're incorporating advances in standards made by PressBooks into our work, and we've met with library partners and specialists to help shape the development of our marketplace. We've spoken with Interledger contacts regarding the progress of Rafiki, which we believe will be a crucial piece of the marketplace puzzle.

Our original proposal envisioned breaking ground on BRIET, the marketplace for permanent digital books for libraries, and we have made excellent progress here. We've split the task of building the BookServer prototype into three functionalities: a bundler, a tagger and the catalog/marketplace itself.

The sanity.io schema we’re building will get makers thinking like archivists, easing the path ahead. And we’re designing a BookServer feed using the OPDS spec that will eventually present a browsable, searchable library-friendly catalog optimized for accessioning in a simple, familiar way.

The first stage of the initial prototype will be available for tire-kicking the week of 22nd August.

In this way, our path has evolved to align with publishers and technologists as well as librarians. Through these growing relationships, our intention is to build BookServer into an ILP-enabled ecosystem that preserves digital ownership for an unlimited range of makers, publishers and individual readers and collectors.

Key activities

In keeping with the three key goals of our original proposal:

• We’re laying the groundwork for a vibrant participant community for BookServer/Briet, forging alliances with many dozens of actively interested librarians and publishers;
• The Brick House’s Tom Scocca appeared alongside representatives for the Internet Archive to defend digital ownership at a recent press conference, and we published his inspiring remarks;
• We have published widely-read articles raising awareness of digital ownership in libraries and Controlled Digital Lending, including “You Can’t Buy These Books,” at The Nation (July 2022), and “What Kind of Writer Accuses Libraries of Stealing?” at Popula (late January 2022);
• We've begun building BookServer in close consultation with leading technologists and librarians.

Communications and marketing

In addition to the above media, we've had notable success in building up our Twitter presence on BRIET and BookServer related issues. For example,

More recently, Eve 6 frontman Max Collins wrote a marvelous piece at Popula in support of digital ownership, which gave rise to the popular and excellent hashtag on Twitter: #OwnBooks

(Here's Max, reading his own book.)

What’s next?

The scope of our work has acquired valuable new dimensions, thanks to the generosity of Grant for the Web. Next up, we'll be working on a more detailed roadmap for the marketplace piece of the puzzle for selling permanent digital media.

What community support would benefit your project?

Our most pressing need is funding, so that we can keep going. We'll be very grateful to learn of additional partnerships, grants or contract work we can do to keep this project afloat.

Please get in touch with us at hello@thebrick.house with ideas, questions, or just to say hi!

And from all of us to Grant for the Web, our very grateful thanks.

The Brick House Cooperative: The Ownership Project for Libraries — Grant Report #1

Maria Bustillos — Wed, 18 May 2022 13:15:11 +0000

STARTING OUR ENGINES

On Monday, May 16th, we began rolling out The Brick House’s beautiful, exciting, long-planned site design, thanks to the generosity of Grant for the Web. Sludge’s David Moore, Hmm Weekly’s Joe MacLeod and Brick House lead developer Jacob Ford worked together, to:

• Incorporate the current proposed Web Monetization API across the Brick House network to encourage microtipping flow from participating browsers and patrons, and

• Create a lively, engaging design that integrates our cooperative and promotes its goals, providing readers with much clearer, more tempting options for reading, participation and support for our work as independent journalists, editors and artists.

Jacob also began research into more standardized typologies for written content—consulting with Hugh McGuire and others working on the OPDS/BookServer open specification—so content can more easily be packaged, syndicated, and and remain beautifully and appropriately formatted, no matter its original medium or CMS used for initial publication.

THE BRICK HOUSE CONTINUES TO BE EXCELLENT TO READ

Our grant permitted Brick House publishers to fund new journalism, art and essays from all over the world. A small selection of recent favorites:

• At OlongoAfrica: grappling with the future of the post-colonial museum in Nigeria, and a eulogy for the “doyen of African linguistics,” Ayọ̀ Bámgbóṣé

• Preachy's meditations on the Trinity River in north Texas

• Uncanny correspondences: Batman vs. NFTs considered at Hmm Weekly, plus the all-American opening day of Hotdog Season

• FAQ NYC hosted an in-depth talk on the election maps of New York City and a fascinating conversation with Lucy Sante about cities that were

• In a viral post, Sludge broke new information establishing that Trump administration pick for federal judge Jennifer Rearden—who was recently re-nominated by the Biden administration—worked on Chevron's infamous case against environmental attorney Steven Donziger

• Awry published a sobering comic about Russia’s possible invasion of Ukraine, a few weeks before the fear became reality

• The story of an Indian family’s social media rupture appeared at Popula, as well as “What Kind of Writer Accuses Libraries of Stealing?” a wrangle on the subject of digital ownership rights

• At Tasteful Rude, a Nigerian essayist's moving thoughts on the everyday slaughter of animals, and a “pie person”'s enlightened baking philosophy

• Taipei-based No Man Is an Island published scores of thoughtful and piercing reviews of films and music, as well as this extraordinary story of a rediscovered Taiwanese sculpture

We had a setback early in the year with a near-miss on a Kickstarter, based on a printed version of the Brick House anthology that we sold, in permanent digital form, to the Internet Archive’s Open Library last fall. We’ve planned some improvements (and simplification) of our fundraising pitch, and will be revisiting the crowdfunder in the coming weeks.

Our major goals for the grant period are two:
• Brick House website completion
• Complete plans and make connections to advance the BRIET plug-in/marketplace for library accession of permanent digital assets

Our first objective has launched, and we’ll be continuing to expand, refine and improve the site over the remainder of the grant period. Before we update you on BRIET's progress, though, we’d like to pause for a shoutout regarding

THE JOY OF MICROTIPPING

Particularly exciting for the Brick House this year: The opportunity to participate in the recent MozFest experiment in microtipping, a long-sought feature for us.

For the MozFest experiment, we decided to devote all of the Brick House’s microtips to the special project of one of our members, OlongoAfrica: the founding of a new book imprint, Olongo Books. We wrote a short piece to this effect and publicized it as widely as we could. The fundraiser brought $136 in microtips to this worthy cause. We thought this an extremely successful experiment, in view of the fact that so many readers aren’t yet familiar with Coil, wallets, etc.

We can’t wait to coordinate and promote microtipping and microfunding of individual stories and projects at the Brick House.

PROTECTING LIBRARIES WITH BRIET

Digital ownership rights in the United States have come under fire on multiple fronts in recent months. Corporate publishing is attacking the right of libraries to own digital books, with some publishers outright refusing to sell certain ebooks to libraries at all; we're also seeing serious pushback against states’ efforts to control ebook price gouging. These moves are taking place in the shadow of ongoing litigation by corporate publishers against the Internet Archive, plus an alarming increase in book banning in schools and libraries in the U.S.

The Brick House aims to counter these developments through BRIET, a simple, user-friendly system whereby publishers large and small can offer permanent, library-ready digital assets to libraries, for sale or for free distribution. We’re participating in the development side of this effort with a large number of experts and leading lights of the publishing and library worlds, including the Internet Archive and the Open Library, the Library Futures consortium, Hugh McGuire of Pressbooks and Librivox, and Paul Ford of Postlight.

The Brick House will also do its part to demonstrate IRL how ethical publishers can ensure that their work will remain circulating in libraries. To that end, we met with Alice Waters, food activist, educator, legendary chef and founder of Chez Panisse, whose Edible Schoolyard project incorporates a wealth of fee-free, freely distributable lesson plans and teaching materials for schools and libraries. Publicizing the distribution of free educational materials from Edible Schoolyard is high on our list of first steps for when BRIET becomes a reality.

We’ve had productive meetings with all the key members of the development group, and look forward to a next meeting in New York in early June to begin nailing down specifics, budgets and timelines.

SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS

With this valuable funding, we’ve been able to get our newsletter program back on track, with increasingly appealing, well-designed original short essays that readers look forward to each week. We’ve more than doubled the number of our tweets and are hitting 200 likes per week on Twitter for the first time since we got started.

The new website launch incorporates an evolution in our thinking on paywalls and subscriptions. We’ve decided, rather than hampering the growth of our small project by lowering a paywall, to focus on a donation rather than a subscription model, and continue to make all our content freely available.

For our next crowdfunding promotion, we will be giving away copies of our book to high-level and longstanding supporters, while broadcasting the larger message of our support for libraries: EBOOKS ARE BOOKS. This way we will demonstrate our independent editorial values while giving readers more opportunities to support our work.

Our participation in the OptOut independent publishers’ group is also picking up steam. We’ve helped create a video highlighting the crucial role independent media plays in the information ecosystem, and will publicize this effort along with others in the group. This will be released in the next few weeks, and will open up new opportunities to spread the news of our new website and initiatives.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE BRICK HOUSE?

In the time remaining in our grant period, we’ll be publishing great stories, comics and podcasts, launching promotions, refining the website and, especially, making more progress on our work in protecting libraries and archives.

We mean to complete all the tasks on our timeline and more.

If you support our work and would like to help, please follow us on Twitter at @brickhousecoop, and sign up for our weekly newsletter here. Every retweet, read, and mention helps us.

Grateful thanks from all of us at the Brick House to everyone at Interledger and Grant for the Web and all our colleagues and fellow grantees.

Help OlongoAfrica bring a classic memoir back to life: a Web Monetization Action Plan

Maria Bustillos — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 21:17:39 +0000

OlongoAfrica is a member of the Brick House Cooperative, a group of nine publishers working on new models to protect speech rights and journalistic independence. OlongoAfrica's Founding Editor Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún is at work on an in-house book imprint, which will debut this summer with the classic Nigerian travel memoir, An African Abroad.

Everyone at the Brick House is beyond excited to kick off OlongoAfrica's fundraising for the new book imprint, starting right here at MozFest, through a fun Web Monetization experiment. We hope you'll stop by and tip this worthy project!

To participate, please make sure to click the link in the email you received with your MozFest ticket, to receive $10 of Mozfest tipping credits from Interledger/Coil!

Then visit the article at OlongoAfrica to learn more about the history of An African Abroad, which features movie stars, a bike ride thousands of miles long, trysts, courtroom drama and a handshake with Kruschchev. If you love this idea, like we do, please consider sending OlongoAfrica a tip! It's easy: just click the Coil icon at the top right of your browser and choose a tip amount.

All of us independent publishers at Brick House so appreciate your support of our colleagues at OlongoAfrica. Web Monetization is a brilliant way for any independent media provider to publicize worthwhile projects, and drum up interest and support--directly and independently between ourselves. Readers and publishers, listeners, viewers, artists and authors, all coming together outside the influence of corporate middlemen. We're very proud to be part of this groundbreaking movement.

Follow us at @brickhousecoop on Twitter, read us at thebrick.house, reach out at hello@thebrick.house! and thank you for helping OlongoAfrica bring this lost treasure back to life!

Microtipping at MozFest

Maria Bustillos — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 10:02:32 +0000

I was so thrilled to see Ayesha's recent note about microtipping at the forthcoming MozFest, because it's one of my most prized goals for the Brick House. We'll be enthusiastic participants in this experiment for sure.

It's my first MozFest, though, so any tips/impressions on how to maximize the value of the experience will be most welcome for us.

Hope everyone is well and keeping safe,

Maria Bustillos
Brick House

Brick House news: Internet Archive, a new book and a bodega calendar

Maria Bustillos — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 01:31:59 +0000

We're so proud that the Internet Archive has taken notice of our advocacy for digital ownership, linking our recent Popula piece in their monthly email newsletter.

Libraries can only protect and preserve digital culture if they own their collections outright; books that are not owned are books that can be taken away. This issue has gained new urgency in light of the sudden rash of book bannings and the removal of classics like Maus and Beloved from school curricula.

The Brick House will be pursuing its goals of strengthening press freedom and independence through the many alternative funding routes enabled by Web Monetization, and we will be sharing all we develop and learn with our media and library colleagues and associates.

The time for writers, journalists and publishers to step up for libraries is now, and the journalist-owned Brick House cooperative allows us to do that in ways that corporate media often can't. Our current Kickstarter will allow us to print a paperback version of the (really fun and good!) Brick House anthology we sold to the Internet Archive, and keep this work going. Plus the new Brick House 2022/2023 bodega calendar is gorgeous. Please share this post, and support us if you can!