Liberation Technology 2026 pilot project
What if your technology tools didn’t exploit your community? What if your software truly served your mission? Join rabble.coop’s libre software pilot and take control of your data. We’re working with social movements, campaigning groups, cooperatives, and charities to break from Big Tech and build genuine alternatives.
Why we want to do it
Our social fabric increasingly relies on the freedoms made available through the internet, yet the Big Tech platforms we depend upon are inherently anti-social. Our data – where we are, who we communicate with, who our friends are, what we buy, our political interests, our artwork - is captured, packaged, monetised and sold to entities who use it to profile and manipulate us for commercial and political purposes. The software we use may be functional, but it is often based on a business model which is corrosive to our social fabric.
The Big Tech approach to software also curbs innovation. Organisations are not encouraged to be creative and to build technology that serves their interests and suits their circumstances. rabble.coop’s approach is fundamentally different. We work with organisations to identify challenges and discuss how technology can either help to automate time-consuming or laborious work and/or help their efforts have greater impact.
We want to foster a creative relationship with technology. We want to support communities to lessen their dependence on Big Tech. We want to help the organisations’ save money and maximise their impact by using the right software tools. We want to support communities to manage and own their own technology and data.
What will it involve?
Reliance on Big Tech software is largely a matter of utility, convenience, and habit; we are conditioned to use it from our time in schools, universities, workplaces, and via pre-installed programs on our personal computers.
supporting organisations to adopt free software requires a mix of education, capacity-building, and customised technical support. That’s where rabble.coop comes in.
Free software - software that grants users the freedom to run, modify, and distribute it without restrictions - provides the foundations for communities to take control of their own digital platforms. However, supporting organisations to adopt free software requires a mix of education, capacity-building, and customised technical support. That’s where rabble.coop comes in.
We will work with groups to identify 1-2 software alternatives they can use, we will host them for free throughout the duration of the pilot and we will be on hand to provide any tech support needed. We are currently looking at alternatives to the following everyday software:
Microsoft Office
Google Drive/Sharepoint/Dropbox
Mailchimp
Survey Monkey
Eventbrite
Calendly
Slack
Canva
And we’re willing to try others if there's a real demand.
Interested?
The pilot will last 6 months. You will be asked to complete a survey at both the start of the process and the end of the process as well as taking part in a call to give us feedback on your experiences.
If you are interested, send us a message outlining:
who your group are
where you are based
what type of work you do
what type of software you use
how may people you estimate will be using the software
We look forward to hearing from you!