At Hitchhikers, we’re passionate advocates for open source software and tools—particularly in the realms of governance and democracy. We believe that the platforms enabling political discussions and public deliberation should be owned, shaped, and guided by the communities that use them. These aren’t just abstract ideals. For us, they are practical necessities.
Our view is clear: the only way to make these platforms truly accountable and trustworthy is to build them under open source principles. That means the code, the structure, and the governance mechanisms must all be transparent, publicly accessible, and maintained collaboratively. In this way, the very tools that shape public discourse remain in the public’s hands.
Part of the current crisis in public trust—particularly trust in institutions—stems from how dramatically the architecture of public conversation has shifted. Our institutions have been left behind.
Today, the platforms where most young people and modern thinkers engage in debate and share ideas are dominated by private entities. These platforms are incentivised not by the desire to foster meaningful, truthful dialogue, but by the pursuit of advertising revenue. This business model unavoidably skews content towards drama, controversy, conspiracies, and clickbait, pulling attention away from genuine policy discussions and thoughtful exchange of ideas.
We see it as vital—foundational, even—that at least part of this public space is reclaimed. It needs to be restructured, reimagined, and redeveloped without the corrupting influence of ad-based business models. This is at the very heart of our ethos at Hitchhikers.
Equally important is our commitment to open source not just as a guiding philosophy, but as the actual infrastructure upon which we build. That includes not only the technology we use, but the legal and governance frameworks—particularly the licensing models—that enable sharing, collaboration, and accountability.
Yet, while we hold open source close to our core, we also recognise its limitations. Historically, open source has struggled to sustain itself financially. Many of the design and infrastructure elements we rely on every day remain underfunded and unsupported—despite their global utility. So, we want to go further. We’re investigating new approaches—participatory business models and open finance systems—that can provide sustainable support for the development and maintenance of open source tools. We're exploring licensing models that go beyond traditional paradigms, aiming to create both higher quality and greater quantities of open content and public-interest software.
Ultimately, our measure of success will be simple: how much valuable open source software and open creative content have we enabled the world to build? Everything else is a means to this end.
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This is a draft statement of intent, which we need to formalise as part of our Future Consitution. This is my personal statement, and I work on tools and code each day that embody these principles.
Perhaps you have some software you think we could use, or perhaps you can help us build the ones we need. If you would like to help, or have a suggestion - Let's Meet.