Technology - 1000Manifestos.com

ALL DIGITAL Manifesto

Creator

ALL DIGITAL a European association based in Brussels and represents over 25,000 digital competence or training centres. Previously, they were known as Telecentre Europe.

The Digital Competences Manifesto was first presented at the ALL DIGITAL General Assembly in May 2019, and after the extensive consultation with ALL DIGITAL members was adopted by the Board and then presented at the ALL DIGITAL Summit in Bologna on 11 October 2019.

Why We Exist

We focus to support Europeans that have an insufficient level of digital skills. That means that they’re having less chances to find work, to use online services, to have a better quality of life, to be included in today’s society.

What we believe in

We believe that every European should be able to exploit the benefits and opportunities created by digital transformation.

How we work

We empower our member organisations representation non-formal education providers to support millions of Europeans to success in the digital transform by providing them with training and advice.

Purpose

“Digital competences are necessary in all aspects of life, whether they are social or personal, relate to labour or leisure, in any sector, public or private. IMPROVED CITIZENSHIP IS THE PRIMARY AIM OF DEVELOPING DIGITAL COMPETENCES. It is our conviction that the education and training (ET) on digital competences need a more consistent approach and a cohesive European system of delivery. That is why we have worked with our network of digital competence centres and relevant expert organisations on a Manifesto on digital competences.

This manifesto contains a series of key principles and recommendations on how to maximise the impact of education and training, as powerful instruments towards a continuous development of digital competences for the European citizens.”

The manifesto is currently endorsed by 44 agencies from European countries.

Manifesto

The Manifesto contains a series of key principles and recommendations under five main areas on how to maximise the impact of education and training, as powerful instruments towards a continuous development of digital competences for the European citizens:

1. The education and training offer
2. Access to education and training
3. Quality of education and training
4. European homogeneous validation
5. Sustainability and development

The Manifesto is the result of a grassroots movement in Europe, but we believe it speaks to everyone and everywhere, and ALL DIGITAL is ready to start a dialogue and engage in common actions with partners around the world.

Source

Manifesto

Comment

This is a great example of how I believe organisations should incorporate multiple manifestos into their vision creation and business strategy. (It also fits for individuals.)

The first level is the fundamental and ongoing reasons that underpin the purpose of the organisation. For ALL DIGITAL, they have neatly defined this at three levels:

Why We Exist
What we believe in
How we work

This example is particularly good because these three elements have all been stated in only 1-2 sentences. This shows a clear and precise focus.

The second level is that of a campaign, project or game that translates the reason for being into a direct and typically shorter-term focus – The ALL DIGITAL manifesto.

This includes inviting endorsements and support for their manifesto.

One is enduring and unlikely to change. The other is more specific and usually has a time-frame to achieve a specific outcome.

Startup Manifesto – a Europe based call for supporting startups to take advantage of digital transformation

The Embedded Metadata Manifesto

Wikipedia Five Pillars

Startup Manifesto

Creator

The Startup Manifesto was created by nine leading European entrepreneurs:

Zaryn Dentzel, Founder and CEO of Tuenti
Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify
Kaj Hed, Chairman, Rovio Entertainment
Lars Hinrichs, Founder and CEO of Hackfwd
Martin Lorentzon, Founder and Chairman of Spotify
Joanna Shields, CEO of Tech City UK
Reshma Sohoni, Co-Founder and Partner of Seedcamp
Boris Veldhuijzen Van Zarten, Co-Founder of The Next Web
Niklas Zennstrom, CEO of Atomico

Purpose

A manifesto for entrepreneurship & innovation to power growth in the EU

Manifesto

Headline

Help internet-driven economic growth transform the lives of millions.

Preamble Opening

Economic conditions in Europe remain hugely challenging with the European Commission forecasting that euro-zone GDP is set to shrink by 0.4% this year. Yet the growing importance of internet-driven economic growth could transform this picture by helping improve the lives of millions of people providing them with new jobs, new skills and renewed hopes for a better future.

Key Recommendations

Drawn from the combined experience of dozens of Europeans who were lucky enough to imagine, build and grow successful businesses — businesses that created thousands of jobs — we have distilled 22 actions which, taken together, can give European businesses the best chance of future success. We now call on entrepreneurs, investors, advisors and other stakeholders across the continent to engage in this dialogue and share their views on the manifesto to help move us towards the adoption of this singular digital growth plan for the EU.

Our recommendations are:

1. Education & Skills

Make teachers digitally confident and competent to rise to the challenge.
Teach our children the principles, processes and the passion for entrepreneurship from a young age.
Encourage university students to start a business before they graduate.
Prepare graduates for a radically different marketplace.
Encourage large companies to provide training for the general public.

2. Access to Talent

Turn Europe into the easiest place for highly skilled talent to start a company and get a job by rolling out a pan-European Startup Visa.
Make it easy for companies to hire outside their home countries.
Make it easier for companies to let employees go.
Bring the best brains back home.

3. Access to Capital

Increase private and institutional investment in startups.
Make it easier for high-growth companies to raise capital through public markets.
Buy more from smaller businesses.
Institute an E-corp: a new type of cross-European corporation.
Tax share options as capital gains, not income.

4. Data Policy, Protection & Privacy

Revise and normalise data protection laws.
Remove the requirement for data providers to store information in any given country.
Make government data public.
Make governments think digitally.

5. Thought Leadership

Initiate a mentality shift across Europe in terms of how we define success.
Appoint a Chief Digital Officer for every country in the EU.
Create a ‘best practices’ repository.
Establish a Digital European Forum.

Source

https://www.startupmanifesto.eu/#manifesto

Comment

This is an excellent manifesto. Well thought, clearly written with some strong action points. But there is one thing that was a recurring thought for me as I read this:

What’s in a name? A lot.

What you call your manifesto is crucial. It will shape how people will relate to what you have to say. In particular, it will determine whether you can attract people’s attention to even pay attention to your manifesto.

The ‘Startup Manifesto’ is a good name. But in my opinion, it’s not a great name.

It’s a good name because it describes what it is. But it’s not a great name because it doesn’t fully share the power of the vision they are creating.

Essentially, what the authors are suggesting is that if the governments of the EU fully invested in entrepreneurship and startups then the economic potential would go from 0.4% to a predicted 8% and as high as 18%.

This is not about startups. That’s just how you get there.

Let me say it this way. When you tell your friends you’re going on holiday, it’s unlikely that you will talk only about the type of plane you’ll be riding in to get there. No, it’s more likely you’ll talk about the more exciting thing, which is the destination you’re heading to.

I don’t see this as a black and white rule. There are times when you want to stop something (Stop Uranium mining) so your title and manifesto should reflect that. At other times, it’s more likely that you will focus on the aspiration, the goal, the vision of what the future will look like.

While I love startups and have worked for myself for most of my life, when I read this manifesto the thing that stood out was the possibility of a digital Europe. Or even better ‘Startup You’. (Maybe that’s a bit cute, Startup EU). Or perhaps Startup Europe might work.

Even though this was written in 2013, I wish Australia had a document like this!

PS: I would have added a visual – at the least a visual for the cover of the document.

Derek Sivers – A New Kind of Entrepreneur

Manifesto for Smarter Working

Google AI Principles

The Embedded Metadata Manifesto

Creator

International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) Photo Metadata sets the industry standard for administrative, descriptive, and copyright information about images.

Purpose

Critical to Photo and Related Businesses

Photo metadata is key to protecting images’ copyright and licensing information online. It is also essential for managing digital assets. Detailed and accurate descriptions about images ensure they can be easily and efficiently retrieved via search, by users or machine-readable code. This results in smoother workflow within organizations, more precise tracking of images, and increased licensing opportunities.

Manifesto

Photographers, film makers, videographers, illustrators, publishers, advertisers, designers, art directors, picture editors, librarians and curators all share the same problem: struggling to track rapidly expanding collections of digital media assets such as photos and video/film clips.
With that in mind we propose five guiding principles as our “Embedded Metadata Manifesto”:

1) Metadata is essential to describe, identify and track digital media and should be applied to all media items which are exchanged as files or by other means such as data streams.
2) Media file formats should provide the means to embed metadata in ways that can be read and handled by different software systems.
3) Metadata fields, their semantics (including labels on the user interface) and values, should not be changed across metadata formats.
4) Copyright management information metadata must never be removed from the files.
5) Other metadata should only be removed from files by agreement with their copyright holders.

More details about these principles:

1: All people handling digital media need to recognise the crucial role of metadata for business. This involves more than just sticking labels on a media item. The knowledge which is required to describe the content comprehensively and concisely and the clear assertion of the intellectual ownership increase the value of the asset. Adding metadata to media items is an imperative for each and every professional workflow.

2: Exchanging media items is still done to a large extent by transmitting files containing the media content and in many cases this is the only (technical) way of communicating between the supplier and the consumer. To support the exchange of metadata with content it is a business requirement that file formats embed metadata within the digital file. Other methods like sidecar files are potentially exposed to metadata loss.

3: The type of content information carried in a metadata field, and the values assigned, should not depend on the technology used to embed metadata into a file. If multiple technologies are available for embedding the same field the software vendors must guarantee that the values are synchronized across the technologies without causing a loss of data or ambiguity.

4: Ownership metadata is the only way to save digital content from being considered orphaned work. Removal of such metadata impacts on the ability to assert ownership rights and is therefore forbidden by law in many countries.

5: Properly selected and applied metadata fields add value to media assets. For most collections of digital media content descriptive metadata is essential for retrieval and for understanding. Removing this valuable information devalues the asset.

Source

http://www.embeddedmetadata.org/embedded-metatdata-manifesto.php

Comment

I think there are three things to note here.

Firstly, for many of us, this will occur as an obscure manifesto compared to something as far-reaching and universal as Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech.

While many of us are not that interested in ‘embedded metadata’ it’s a crucial idea for the people it impacts and you can have a manifesto about anything – big or small, personal or universal.

Secondly, the manifesto is offered as ‘guiding principles’. While The Bible offers ‘commandments’ and Four Pillars Gin offers ‘pillars’. This sets the tone for the manifesto.

Of particular note is these ‘guiding principles’ are offered as an industry standard. Clearly this is voluntary, but it is also a call to arms to say ‘this is what we think is the way to do this.’ And indirectly, they’re saying, ‘join us if you agree’.

If you want agreement around a standard in your industry, publishing a manifesto is one way to launch the process, invite discussion and ultimately form agreement.

Thirdly, I like the three layers offered. There is an introduction stating who may be interested in this manifesto followed by five short sentences for the five principles. Then there is a paragraph on each that goes into more detail. (Each paragraph could easily become a page and a page could become an article or chapter.)

Depending upon the purpose of your manifesto, consider the various layers it might have from a brief summary to a longer form, or perhaps words to a visual.

Martin Luther King, I have a dream speech

The Bible – Ten Commandments

Four Pillars Gin

Wikipedia – Five Pillars

Creator

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia and one of the most popular websites on the Internet. Started in 2001, the site now has almost six million articles.

Purpose

Wikipedia is an example of a decentralized organization. Volunteers edit the pages collaboratively. There are currently 70,000 editors who regularly update articles.

To manage this process, the team is guided by Editorial Principles embodied by the five pillars.

Wikipedia Five Pillars - Image from Wikicommons

Manifesto

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia.

Wikipedia has a neutral point of view.

Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit and distribute.

Wikipedians should interact in a respectful and civil manner.

Wikipedia does not have firm rules.

Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Comment

Perhaps the biggest surprise here is that a simple five line statement can be the key guidelines for managing a team of 70,000 volunteers.

Despite the apparent simplicity, there is a lot of information that is presented in these five pillars.

The first pillar states precisely what Wikipedia is – an online encyclopedia. This provides an important boundary – online only.

The second pillar states crucial assessment criteria – a neutral point of view. This means any one of the editors can judge if an article meets this criteria. While not perfect, it provide a basis for discussion.

The third pillar described the organisation of the information – free, anyone can edit, anyone can distribute. As the name suggests an open-editing system, a wiki, is therefore needed.

The fourth pillar states two crucial things. Firstly, it gives a name to the people who edit: Wikipedians. While not an easy word, it is useful. Secondly, it provides a simple rule for how these people will interact with each other – respectful and civil.

The fifth pillar is perhaps the most crucial and allows such a simple set of guidelines to work: there are no firm rules. Most people and most organisations would struggle with such a concept. In this case, as a decentralized organisation it throws the power over to the editors (the Wikipedians) to manage, control and sort out any problems amongst themselves.

In summary, Wikipedia works because these Five Pillars call a community together and gives them permission to lead and create the online encyclopedia, which is the mission of the organisation.

The proof that this works is the way the community safeguards the information. Given anyone can edit, it means anyone can also vandalise what has been created. And this does happen often.

However, it’s the power of the community that bands together to monitor what has been updated and to self-enforce pillar two, to keep a neutral point of view.

Ironically, the strength of these simple organisational principles is that the community of editors is in charge and takes ownership of the site and its content.

Geelong Football Club Theme Song – one way to unite a community

The Cloud Appreciation Society Manifesto – uniting people around their love of clouds

Stephen Johnson – The Third Place Manifesto – the importance of community as capital

Acumen Poverty Manifesto

Creator

Jacqueline Novogratz founded Acumen in 2001 with seed capital from the Rockefeller Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation and three individual philanthropists.

Purpose

“At Acumen, we believe that innovations have the power to transform low-income communities around the world. From frozen treats that are sustaining post-conflict farmers to solar-powered lights replacing toxic kerosene lamps, explore the ground-breaking ideas Acumen supports design to solve even the most difficult challenges.”

Manifesto

Vision

Neither the markets nor aid alone can solve the problems of poverty. More than two billion people around the world lack access to basic goods and services—from clean water and electricity to an education and the freedom to participate in the economy. We’re here to change that. Our vision is a world based on dignity, where every human being has the same opportunity. Rather than giving philanthropy away, we invest it in companies and change makers.

Manifesto

It starts by standing with the poor, listening to voices unheard, and recognizing potential where others see despair.

It demands investing as a means, not an end, daring to go where markets have failed and aid has fallen short. It makes capital work for us, not control us.

It thrives on moral imagination: the humility to see the world as it is, and the audacity to imagine the world as it could be. It’s having the ambition to learn at the edge, the wisdom to admit failure, and the courage to start again.

It requires patience and kindness, resilience and grit: a hard-edged hope. It’s leadership that rejects complacency, breaks through bureaucracy, and challenges corruption. Doing what’s right, not what’s easy.

Acumen: it’s the radical idea of creating hope in a cynical world. Changing the way the world tackles poverty and building a world based on dignity.

Source

Manifesto

Patient Capital

Comment

This is an uncommon pair of manifesto and vision – not what I have seen previously.

For me, the archetypal worldview manifesto is Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. It describes the world he wants to see in both literal and metaphorical form with strong elements of detail.

In contrast, the Acumen vision is light on the details of what the future will look like. All it says is: “Our vision is a world based on dignity, where every human being has the same opportunity.”

Instead, the vision focuses on the problem. It’s an example of the ‘not this’ or ‘end this’ vision. (See Yvonne Rainer’s No Manifesto)

This can be very powerful. Research shows that our ‘away from’ motivation is more powerful in having people act (at least in the first instance) than a ‘toward’ motivation.

The manifesto is also unusual because it describes a process. It’s how Acumen delivers their value.

This is clever because it highlights what is unique and special about Acumen. It also suggests the leaders of the organisation are very clear about who they are and what they provide.

A third element of interest is the section on Patient Capital. As they suggest, it’s “a new approach to solving poverty”. This is Acumen’s approach. It’s a manifesto in it’s own right – a powerful idea with a strong call to action.

Together, the Acumen vision, manifesto and Patient Capital form a powerful trinity for their business to both internal staff and external stakeholders.

Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream

Yvonne Rainer, No Manifesto

UN Sustainable Development Goals – “End Poverty in all its forms.”

I Fix It Repair Manifesto

Creator

iFixit is a wiki-based site that teaches people how to fix almost anything – it was started by Luke and Kyle in a collage dorm room.

Purpose

The purpose of the I Fix It Repair Manifesto is to empower individuals to share their technical knowledge with the rest of the world.

What started out as a personal question to fix things and going through the experience of doing it blindly with no instructions, Luke and Kyle decided to create and share manuals for fixing just about anything.

Manifesto

We hold these truths to be self-evident

If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it

Repair is better than recycling – Making our things last longer is both more efficient and more cost-effective than mining them for raw materials

Repair saves you money – Fixing things is often free, and usually cheaper than replacing them. Doing the repair yourself saves you money.

Repair teaches engineering – The best way to find out how something works is to take it apart.

Repair saves the planet – Earth has limited resources. Eventually we will run out. The best way to be efficient is to reuse what we already have.

Repair connects people and things
Repair is war on entropy
Repair is sustainable

We have the right:

To devices that can be opened
To repair documentation for everything
To repair things in the privacy of our own homes
To error codes and wiring diagrams
To choose our own repair technician
To remove ‘do not remove’ stickers
To replace any and all consumables ourselves
To non-proprietary fasteners
To troubleshooting instructions and flowcharts
To available, reasonably-priced service parts

Because repair

Is independence
Saves money and resources
Requires creativity
Makes consumers into contributors
Inspires pride in ownership

Source

https://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

https://www.ifixit.com/Info/background

Comment

This is the second Repair Manifesto on this site.

There are no rules that say you can’t have a manifesto on the same topic as someone else. However, there is a risk of confusion if you don’t clearly articulate your manifesto from the other one(s).

In this case, both manifestos are titled ‘Repair Manifesto’. While one was clearly created before the other, one of these will also be more popular than the other. That’s the risk you take.

I believe a better way forward to create a subset of the original one. For instance being clear that you are declaring ‘The Platform 21 Repair Manifesto’ or the ‘I Fix It Repair Manifesto’.

Also, I was attracted to the I Fix It Repair Manifesto because of it’s eye-catching visual.

While most words, I do love the clenched fist holding the wrench. It’s a neat update on the use of a fist eg Black Power salute as a display of strength.

Also, a visual like this makes it easy to be shared – as either an image and as a pdf – which is crucial if you want your movement to grow.

Platform 21 Repair Manifesto

Google: AI Principles

Creator

Google

Purpose

Google uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) in lots of ways – to help customers, create better products and to help people tackle urgent problems.

“We recognize that such powerful technology raises equally powerful questions about its use. How AI is developed and used will have a significant impact on society for many years to come. As a leader in AI, we feel a deep responsibility to get this right. So today, we’re announcing seven principles to guide our work going forward. These are not theoretical concepts; they are concrete standards that will actively govern our research and product development and will impact our business decisions.”

Manifesto

Objectives for AI Applications

1 Be socially beneficial

2 Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias

3 Be built and tested for safety

4 Be accountable to people

5 Incorporate privacy design principles

6 Uphold high standards of scientific excellence

7 Be made available for uses that accord with these principles

AI Applications we will not pursue

Technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm.
Weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people.
Technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms.
Technologies whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights.

Source

Google Blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Comment

What I love about this manifesto is that it address both sides of the equation. Part One offers some objectives – this is where we would like to go. And Part Two offers ‘applications we will not pursue’ which tells where we’re not headed.

You might like to think of this as creating a pair of railway tracks. We want to steer in this direction but not too far here or there.

If you’re in a delicate, hotly debated or fast moving space it might be appropriate to include both ‘toward’ and ‘away’ from guidelines as part of your manifesto. If this fits your situation then Google’s AI Principles is an example worth following.

Google: Ten things we know to be true (an early manifesto from Google)

The Science Code Manifesto (software guidelines in science)

Eric Raymond – The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Open Source software manifesto)

Astronaut Hopefuls Manifesto

Creator

Brian Shiro is a NOAA geophysicist, a NASA researcher, and co-founder of Astronauts for Hire. He’s also an astronaut hopeful!

Purpose

Brian Shiro wants to be an astronaut. And, now that NSAA has started to recruit more astronaut candidates he offers his top eight things that he has learnt from talking with astronauts and astronaut hopefuls.

Want to be an Astronaut? Here's 8 tips to launch your career #manifesto Share on X

Astronaut Hopefuls Manifesto

Clarify why you want to be an astronaut
Set realistic expectations
Every decision counts
Prepare your body and mind
Work well with others
Meet people and learn from them
NASA isn’t the only path one can take to become an astronaut
Be authentic and enjoy the journey!

Source

http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2015/12/15/the-astronaut-hopefuls-manifesto-an-insiders-guide-to-nasa-astronaut-selection/

Image: Wikipedia

Comment

A classically simple rule based manifesto written as a simple easy-to-read article. It also shows that you can write a manifesto about almost anything.

Most of his suggestions sound simple and would fit well in other manifestos. However, #7 stands out because it’s so specific to his topic.

Wikibon Community: Big Data Manifesto

Creator: “Wikibon is a professional community solving technology and business problems through an open source sharing of free advisory knowledge.” (from their website)

Purpose: Business Analytics drives business decisions and the better the date the better the analytical insight. Small data is centrally controlled data. Big data proposes a new way to structure and organisation data in response to the flood of data now coming from a wide variety of sources such as the internet, mobile devices and other networked devices.

Manifesto (Introduction only)

Big Data is the new definitive source of competitive advantage across all industries. Enterprises and technology vendors that dismiss Big Data as a passing fad do so at their peril and, in our opinion, will soon find themselves struggling to keep up with more foreword-thinking rivals. For those organizations that understand and embrace the new reality of Big Data, the possibilities for new innovation, improved agility, and increased profitability are nearly endless.

Source

Full Manifesto and image from Jeff Kelly on Wikibon.org

The Science Code Manifesto

Creator: Nick Barnes has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, as a researcher, programmer, software engineer, consultant, and manager. In 1997 he co-founded Ravenbrook Limited, a software consultancy firm, for which he worked until starting the Climate Code Foundation, and for which he continues as a director. In 2008 he founded the Clear Climate Code project, which is now part of the work of the Foundation.

Purpose: In response to and contribution to the Royal Society’s policy study on “Science as a Public Enterprise”. And, to express the belief that “Open Source publication of all science software will be one outcome of the current revolution in scientific methods”.

Manifesto

Software is a cornerstone of science. Without software, twenty-first century science would be impossible. Without better software, science cannot progress.

But the culture and institutions of science have not yet adjusted to this reality. We need to reform them to address this challenge, by adopting these five principles:

Code: All source code written specifically to process data for a published paper must be available to the reviewers and readers of the paper.

Copyright: The copyright ownership and license of any released source code must be clearly stated.

Citation: Researchers who use or adapt science source code in their research must credit the code’s creators in resulting publications.

Credit: Software contributions must be included in systems of scientific assessment, credit, and recognition.

Curation: Source code must remain available, linked to related materials, for the useful lifetime of the publication.

Source

Blog on JohnCarlosBaez.wordpress.com

Science Code Manifesto

Climate Code Foundation