Network rules for use of the Sensorica brand
This is a sub-part of the Network Governance doc
This document explains the rules related to the use of Sensorica brand.
What is your interest?
- Only read the rules: go directly to the Rules and Procedures section.
- Understand the context, read the Introduction.
- Contribute to the development of this new rule, read everything and start editing. This is a co-creative document. Please follow Content rules
Dec 18, Tibi modified Sensorica’s main communication channel from the old mailing list to the new Discord, everywhere in this text. |
Contents
Impact of use of Sensorica brand
Using the Sensorica brand in searching for contracts
Events under the banner Sensorica
Public associations with Sensorica
Rationale behind these rules and procedures
With respect to the case of association
Procedure to modify these rules
Procedure for creating new rules
Impact of use of Sensorica brand
In order to reduce complexity and make processes more dynamic we can decide on a few levels of importance, related to the scope of use of the brand. We propose 3 levels, but this is up for discussion.
Important use | Moderate impact use | Low impact use |
Extensive definition - by examples: commercializations of products, acquisition of resources, add others | Extensive definition - by examples: deliver an important presentation in a conference, add others | Extensive definition - by examples: communications, small presentations, add others |
Intensive definition: | Intensive definition: | Intensive definition: |
please help provide a definition for Important Moderate and Low impact use |
Introduction
This document describes norms, rules and procedures with respect to the use of the Sensorica brand in any type of activity by Sensorica affiliates. See more about branding on OCN wiki.
NOTE that the Sensorica brand is defined as a sensitive digital asset and is also governed by the (S) Governance - Digital Assets.
Definitions
Brand
Sensorica brand
Brand is a signifier for a group, a project, a purpose, a culture...and more. At a basic level in representing OVN, brand name is like a tag for outputs, including artifacts and messages. It is an important proxy for the aggregated reputation of the network. As such, it is important to utilize it with care and precision.
The Sensorica brand is an intangible asset, a commons, all affiliates can leverage the brand for benefits, while nurturing it.
Historically, people have associated Sensorica with fairness (with respect to sharing of benefits), openness, transparency, individual opportunity and economic freedom, sharing and helping each other.
Use of brand
By using the brand we mean
- communicating about the network (expressing personal opinions)
- communicating on behalf of the network, in a limited and positive way (ex. promo materials)
- endorsing a product or service as an offering of the network
- putting the network in an explicit stance or relationship
Affiliate
Exchange Firms
Registries
The official registry for logos used as part of the image / identity of the Sensorica OVN is here https://www.sensorica.co/governance/legit#h.p_rTsqroqvXSUv
The Sensorica brand can be used in various important activities, which are registered in the Sensorica legit registry
Rules and procedures
Modify the brand |
Under development… Description Procedure Methodology Precedents |
Acquisition of new resources |
General description
Affiliates of Sensorica or any other entity (individual or organization) that is not considered as an affiliate can find themselves in a situation where they need to use the Sensorica brand to acquire Resources for the Sensorica OVN, but not exclusively for the Sensorica OVN (as in a joint process with other entities).
By Resources we mean physical resources like tools, equipment, a new lab or office space, funding (as in grants and crowdfunding) or non-physical, like a website, a forum, etc.
By using the brand we mean placing the Sensorica logo and name on communication materials (documents, presentations, website or other virtual tools) used in these initiatives, or by using language describing the Sensorica OVN.
Crowdfunding |
[remixed from Grant procedure] |
Description
Affiliates of Sensorica or any other entity (individual or organization) that is not considered as an affiliate can find themselves in a situation where they need to use the Sensorica brand to acquire funding for a Sensorica project, via crowdfunding.
Procedure
- Space - Create a shared main document where you provide all the relevant information about the initiative. This is also the main working space for this initiative, also containing the grant proposal itself. It is important to make this document available to ALL Sensorica affiliates, at least with commenting rights, if not editing rights.
- Surface - Announce to the entire Sensorica community the initiative and provide a link to the already established working space - point 1. Use Sensorica’s Discord to do the announcement. Use the following subject line “NEW CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN!”.
- Feedback - You need to allow Sensorica affiliates at least one full week to react after surfacing your initiative.
- If someone disagrees with the use of the Sensorica brand in this particular case you need to generate a discussion and embark on consensus building.
- Lazy democracy can be used to establish if the initiative can go ahead or not. If the community decides not to approve, the initiators cannot use the Sensorica brand. They can still go ahead with the initiative as an independent endeavor. You can use Loomio.
- If no one opposes the measure, go ahead with it.
- Enter the initiative into the Legit registry of Sensorica
- Formal relation - You need to formalize a relation with Sensorica’s custodian. You have two choices.
- Present to the Custodian the Governance doc for this initiative
- Present to the custodian how the funds will be allocated, and provide trigger mechanisms for releasing the funds.
- See the Custodian’s internal policy. You need to sign an agreement.
Optional
Decide if those involved share a % from the funds generated, and produce a Value Equation doc to split it. You can use the Sensorica’s NRP-VAS for process planning and management, and for logging everyone's contribution.
Methodology
Use the Crowdfunding manual / template
Precedents
Grants |
Description
Any Sensorica affiliate or group of affiliates can initiate a grant proposal using the Sensorica brand, only if the following procedure is strictly respected AND if the funds will be used in a way to benefit the network, not only the initiators.
Procedure
- Space - Create a shared document where you provide all the relevant information about the initiative. This is also the main working space for this initiative, also containing the grant proposal itself. It is important to make this document available to ALL Sensorica affiliates, at least with commenting rights, if not editing rights.
- Surface - Announce to the entire Sensorica community the initiative and provide a link to the already established working space - point 1. Use Sensorica’s Discord to do the announcement. Use the following subject line “NEW GRANT APPLICATION!”.
- Feedback - You need to allow Sensorica affiliates at least one full week to react after surfacing your initiative.
- If someone disagrees with the use of the Sensorica brand in this particular case you need to generate a discussion and embark on consensus building.
- Lazy democracy can be used to establish if the initiative can go ahead or not. If the community decides not to approve, the initiators cannot use the Sensorica brand. They can still go ahead with the initiative as an independent endeavor.
- If no one opposed the measure, go ahead with it.
- Enter the initiative into the Legit registry of Sensorica.
- Formal relation - You need to formalize a relation with Sensorica’s custodian. You have two choices.
- As an employee of Sensorica’s Custodian (ACES/CAKE). You need to be hired by the Custodian’s administrators and respond to their authority.
- As a sponsored project, see the Custodian’s internal policy. You need to sign an agreement. In this case, you have more autonomy.
Methodology
Precedents
Up to the end of 2013 all the grant applications were done in the name of Tactus Scientific Inc. These initiatives were mainly driven by Francois and Tibi. There was no formal methodology involved, but the activity was well-communicated to the entire network.
In the beginning of 2015 Abran, Tibi and Steve started to formalize grant proposal writing, by putting in place a methodology. A few weeks later, Tibi, Alice and Bruce started working on A Go proposal and adopted a more cautious approach to the use of Sensorica’s brand in grant applications, in tune with other rules around the use of the brand. The idea was to avoid an event where someone can use the Sensorica brand for a grant application without anyone knowing, and to divert funding elsewhere, effectively parasitizing the community and potentially damaging the image of Sensorica.
Selling of products |
General description
Affiliates of Sensorica can form Exchange Firms (open definition) to distribute or market products designed and produced by the Sensorica OVN, but not exclusively (as in selling products that have nothing to do with the Sensorica OVN).
Moreover, any established commercial entity can commercialize Products produced by the Sensorica OVN.
By Products produced by the Sensorica OVN we mean any tangible and transferable value produced by affiliates of the Sensorica OVN, using the NRP-CAS, using Sensorica commons and pool of shareables non exclusively (other resources can be remixed too) and respecting the Product design philosophy.
By using the Sensorica brand we mean to print the Sensorica logo on the Product itself, on the packaging, to put the logo on documents, presentations, web sites (or other virtual spaces), or to use language describing the Sensorica OVN.
Co-branding is also a possibility, where the Sensorica brand is used in conjunction with the Exchange Firm’s own brand.
Procedures
...describe |
Precedents
Tactus Scientific Inc. is an Exchange Firm created to distribute the scientific instruments line of products designed and produced by the Sensorica OVN.
Using the Sensorica brand in searching for contracts |
General description
Sensorica affiliates are free to engage in any parallel economic activity outside of the OVN. When searching for service contracts as individuals, if they use the Sensorica brand and if their services are related to Sensorica’s activities they need to be transparent to the network and respect the rules related to services.
Procedures
Open document with governance for services
Precedents
...describe |
Public communications |
General description
Affiliates of Sensorica are often called to make presentations about the Sensorica OVN and therefore they need to use the Sensorica name, logo, and language that describes the Sensorica OVN.
Procedures
Precedents
Events under the banner Sensorica |
Description
...describe |
Procedures
Follow the (S) HELP - How to organize an event.
The event must be put into the event registry and communicated to Sensorica in advance. If someone blocks the event a negotiation takes place.
Precedents
...describe |
Public associations with Sensorica |
Description
People communicate and represent themselves using profiles, and in doing so they can associate themselves with Sensorica. If the association does not reflect reality it can be misleading for the receiver of the information, which can form a wrong opinion.
Procedures
...describe |
Precedents
Yasir, who is not a Sensorica affiliate anymore, presenting the Sensorica lab and associating himself to Sensorica and Sensorica assets by using expressions like “we have this...”, “we do that...”. Case pointed out by Tibi to the community in June 2014.
Other cases of false or exaggerated association have been observed. People exaggerate about their degree of affiliation or their influence within the community in order to make their presence worth more.
Infrastructure |
Description
Sensorica affiliates use different online services to communicate, store data, share content and code, etc. These online services are branded as Sensorica, for example the Sensorica Youtube channel.
Procedures
Accounts to these services need to be reported to the community as soon as they are created. In order for them to become legit accounts, they need to be recorded in our legit registry. The custodian of an account needs to sign the Sensorica Virtual Infrastructure Agreement.
Precedents
Matthieu, who is not a Sensorica affiliate anymore (see reputation case), created the LinkedIn Sensorica page. This account is still not regulated by the community.
Projects |
Description
Only projects that are considered Sensorica Projects can make use of the Sensorica brand or be formally associated with Sensorica. Example of type of projects:
- Service Project (open governance template)
- Endogeneous Projects (open governance template)
Procedures
Use the Procedures to Kickstart a Sensorica Venture / Project
Add other cases...
Rationale behind these rules and procedures
Brand is a shared asset. As such, it is part of Sensorica OVN’s commons. Any affiliate can use the commons while respecting the governance of this commons.
Brand is a non-rival asset, meaning that an unlimited number of affiliates can use it at the same time.
The brand is not depleted in use, but can be depreciated. Not a good use of the brand can destroy the brand. This is why the Sensorica OVN needs to have strict rules for the use of its brand.
The brand, as a shared asset, is not fixed. It can evolve through time, adapt to different situations and contexts.
Other ideas
With respect to the case of association
Proposed solutions to the problem
[Tibi]
We are an open network and people can, and will, say whatever they want. No one can police this, and putting rules in place is useless, because they can never be enforced. One idea would be to make it more visible who is active and who is not active in Sensorica. Bob and I already had some exchanges around this. Coincidentally, today I was working on a way to extract data from VAS and deploy it to profile pages - see issue on github and some design ideas.Active affiliate would mean someone who has logged something within a given period of time. After this period of time someone would be marked as non-active affiliate. Non-active affiliates can activate themselves by starting to log again. Perhaps we need to put a threshold there too since logging 1sec or 1$ seems unreasonable.
[Lynn]
A few very clear and attractive signs in the Sensorica lab:
- -Values and mission of Sensorica
- -Rules of the lab (being developed, I understand)
- -Notes on pieces of equipment showing ownership/custodianship/managership (or whatever), clarity on what is commons/shared, what the rules are
Basically whatever would be useful for any people coming into the lab for whatever reason to know, whether the person is a potential investor in somebody's private enterprise or an intern.
Most people won't see info on the website, especially at that depth. (Sometimes low tech is more effective.)
[Bob]
Another possible sign could list the known organizations that are using the lab, and their operating principles and differences, so people would understand that Sensorica's name (and equipment) should not be used in ways that violate Sensorica's principles.
[Kurt]
That (visible signage and asset tags) is an excellent idea.
I will leave the governance question open right now, but it would seem that governance of the use of the brand can and should be sorted out. While I agree with Tibi that enforcement may be impossible, this does not mean you should not bother making clear the rules and the governance basis of those rules (establishing the legitimacy of the rules as a social contract).
Having the rules are the basis of censure, if only reputational censure. The rules are also then clear and available to third parties, who can assess whether the person in front of them has the rights to make the claims they are making, and whether they should trust them as a result.
[Frederic]
I definitely agree that there should be clear signs. YOUR lab is YOUR show-room.... you should have big posters and signs showing what Sensorica is, what you do, what you have.....
As for the "active" or "inactive" status, that is a bit tricky, most specially in an open network. My case is (I believe) a good example... I have not logged any time over almost the last year or so.... so would that make me "inactive"??? I would be a bit unhappy...
Procedure to modify these rules
NOTE: before doing anything, read the Introduction, History and Rationale behind the rules and Procedures sections. Make sure you are not proposing something that has already been considered in the past.
Only active Sensorica affiliates can change rules. See organizational structure.
To modify these rules contact the Sensorica affiliates by using Sensorica’s Discord to propose your changes. Your message should have the following subject: IMPORTANT - governance - change of rules!
Have a discussion on the rules and try to reach a consensus. You can use Loomio for consensus building. If a consensus is reached, apply lazy democracy to institute the rules: create a form, send it to everyone using Discord and invite everyone to vote. You can place this decision on Sensorica’s decision making page. Decisions are also listed on the Working space page. If a consensus is not reached, submit the different versions of the rule to a vote using lazy democracy as described above. Majority wins.
Procedure for creating new rules
NOTE: New rules are proposed and created only in response to problems. You need to present a pattern of problems or to justify the proposition of new rules based on a pattern that can lead to problems in the future.
Only active Sensorica affiliates can create new rules. See organizational structure.
Use the (S) New rules document - Template to create the space for the new rules. Do not use the template directly, make a copy and place it in ...GOVERNANCE/NORMATIVE SYSTEM folder. Contact the Sensorica affiliates by using Sensorica’s Discord to propose your new rule. Your message should have the following subject: IMPORTANT - governance - new rule!
{Signalization tools}
{symbol for process/status updates - use this to signal important milestones in the process} |
{symbol for notes - use this to post reminders or short messages for self or to collaborators} |
{symbol for important information - use this to attract collaborators’ attention} |
{symbol for ToDos - use this to signal to your collaborators about what they can do} |
Alternatives The Alternatives box enumerates possible solutions to consider. ... |
Reasoning The Reasoning box presents arguments about possible choices. ... |
Information The Information box tells you how stuff works. ... |
Growing consensus The Growing consensus box is a summary of a section of this report ... |
