Community Gearbox's stated mission includes "disrupting individual consumption [to facilitate] the sharing, co-ownership, and mobilization of resources amongst people who –specifically– know and trust each other."

The sentiment fits well with a new wave of virtual development centered on accountability through decentralization. Cryptocurrencies may be the most (in)famous example, but many others exist in the space all under the vague umbrella of Web3. What is Web3? According to Dante, entire conferences are devoted to answering that question.

Our interview wraps with Dante describing the origins and goals of Community Gearbox, the changes we may see to the web sector in the coming years, and how ordinary people can take control over their own networking.

Community Gearbox: https://communitygearbox.com/

Outro track On Top Of The World by Cecelia Lindh feat. Lilla My
https://soundcloud.com/epidemicsound/es-on-top-of-the-world-instrumental-version

Intro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

We hear about "Big Tech" all the time in political and business coverage, but what does that term actually mean? This becomes a pertinent question considering the influence the name itself has on a startup's IPO price and success projections. WeWork notoriously billed itself as such when its business model resembled that of a real estate firm more than anything else.

Dante helps investigate the origin and meaning of the term in the 21st century, it's shifting nature over that time, and his entry into the space.

Community Gearbox: https://communitygearbox.com/

Intro/outro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

We here on the show explored the globalizing tech sector in our last episode with AI specialist and data scientist Kathleen Siminyu. Now we return home stateside to analyze its effects on the cultural dynamics of the United States. Industry giants like Facebook, Google and Apple once carried with them an air of endless possibilities; a road to a new age led by charismatic white guys in turtlenecks. Skepticism of the web sector seems at a fever pitch in 2022, and as we transition into what the industry dubs “Web 3”, questions of ownership become more important than ever, especially as this industry appears in literally every part of our lives.

Dante Garcia joins WorldBeat to discuss how Web designers and other technicians have been thinking about these questions.  Dante has ten years of visual design, and community organizing experience and holds a B.A. in political economy from The Evergreen State College. He co-founded Story 2 Designs, a POC led, worker-owned design cooperative dedicated to supporting progressive projects and organizations and he is now building the app Community Gearbox. 

Part 1 details Dante's upbringing in an activist household, his father's roots in civil action in the Philippines, and his own journey through college into the social and political action sphere.

Community Gearbox: https://communitygearbox.com/

Intro/outro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

Computers, artificial intelligence, and machine learning carry reputations as great equalizers free of human error and false judgement, yet these devices require inputs from humans to function and therefore reflect the prejudices of their programmers, 

Scholars such as Kathleen herself and the American sociologist Ruha Benjamin explain this phenomenon in their writing and organizing. Here Kathleen details the dynamics of a design world dominated by a select group of elites, the promise of decentralized AI in creating a more equitable tech sector, and the importance of people around the world creating and expressing themselves in their languages.

Outro track Shinkansen 2 by Lost Integrity:
https://lostintegrity.bandcamp.com/album/super-express

Intro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

The British science magazine Nature reported in August 2021 that "There’s no original isiZulu word for dinosaur. Germs are called amagciwane, but there are no separate words for viruses or bacteria. A quark is ikhwakhi (pronounced kwa-ki); there is no term for red shift. And researchers and science communicators using the language, which is spoken by more than 14 million people in southern Africa, struggle to agree on words for evolution."

African languages have long been shut out of the scientific world, creating questions about who this knowledge and work is for both among speakers of these languages and those working to spread scientific education on the continent. Kathleen is one of many scientists dedicated to increasing the accessibility of science and technology among populations speaking the more than 2,000 languages found in Africa. Here she shoots on the significance of language as a medium and how organizations can bridge the gap.

Intro/outro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

Computers have taken over the world as one of my old high school teachers once said. Indeed this here podcast wouldn’t be possible without them. And we become more conscious of their role in our lives as the group of new technologies collectively sitting under the “digital” label pull greater scrutiny of their impact on our everyday interactions.

We in North America and Europe talk about these effects of social media flexing on suburban white kids and our coworkers at the water cooler, but we don’t talk about the effects on kids in middle and lower-income countries. The author Amitav Ghosh wrote of Syrian refugee children who believed they’d be safe in rickety boats crossing the Mediterranean so long as their phones were charged.

On a macro level, the digital space has set new stages for economic development, especially on the African continent which has served as a laboratory for global development policies for decades. Computerization, and our guest’s specialty machine learning, will play pivotal roles in the next century of societal change across Africa, and questions of whom that technology serves and who owns the digital space will be pivotal in ensuring equitable access.

Joining George Collins on WorldBeat is Kathleen Siminyu. Ms. Siminyu is an AI Researcher who focuses on Natural Language Processing for African Languages. She works at The Mozilla Foundation as a Machine Learning Fellow and prior to that was the Regional Coordinator of AI4D Africa. She has vast experience as a community organizer having co-organised the Nairobi Women in Machine Learning and Data Science community for three years.

Intro/outro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

COVID-19 stalled efforts to campaign for a new Scottish independence vote, but the dream hasn't died. Voters may not think of the European Union when they cast the ballot, but the organization plays a pivotal role in Scotland's future. Kat argues EU membership is the best conduit to avoid becoming a client state of the United States, China, or any other world power.

Outro Track I Feel Numb by Faddy Datty
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6GDXXghVvkh7fCLViq6iKy

Intro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/

The 2014 Independence Referendum and the Brexit vote forced Scottish political parties o confront some hard truths about their place in the Kingdom. Kat breaks down the realignment taking place in Scottish politics in the wake of the seismic changes in 2010s UK politics and the hindrances remaining for those looking to capitalize on these shifts.

Intro/outro music by Batata K1ng
https://www.batatak1ng.com/home

Graphic design by Kirk Whayman

Part of the Ungagged podcast network
http://leftungagged.org/