A five-minute introduction

1) What is the Commons platform?

The  commons.redesperansa.tl platform, also known as the "Network Commons" or in short, "Commons" is a shared platform that helps communities build, document and operate Internet access infrastructure as a commons.

It brings together people, governance rules, infrastructure data and digital tools so that community members and service providers can collaborate on neutral, sustainable and collectively governed network infrastructure.

2) What problem does it address?

Building Internet access infrastructure is not only a technical challenge. Communities must coordinate participants, service providers, physical assets, responsibilities, access rights, costs and collective decisions.

These activities are often managed using disconnected tools—when suitable tools exist at all—or proprietary platforms controlled by only a few actors. Smaller communities may lack access to these tools or the necessary expertise, and often have to reinvent the wheel. Commons aims to provide a shared foundation through which infrastructure can be managed neutrally, transparently and in the collective interest.

3) What does the platform bring together?

• People and organisations — participants, communities and service providers.
• Identity and access — who users are and what they are allowed to do.
• Infrastructure information — networks, locations, devices and connections.
• Participation and governance — how decisions, responsibilities and resources are shared.
• Integrated services — the tools needed to manage the commons as a whole.

A community can use Network Commons to register its participants, assign responsibilities, document its physical network, coordinate service providers and maintain a shared view of the infrastructure.

4) How does it work?

Network Commons connects several specialised components through a shared platform designed to support multiple domains and adapt to local contexts. Identity services represent people, organisations and their permissions; infrastructure tools maintain a shared view of networks and equipment; and the web platform provides the common space through which participants access information and services.

Together, these components support the deployment, configuration, day-to-day operation and collective governance of the infrastructure.

5) Who is it for?

Network Commons is open to anyone willing to run a community network: individual participants, community organisations, network operators, service providers and anyone involved in building, operating or maintaining shared Internet access infrastructure.
Users do not all need the same level of technical knowledge. Each participant interacts with the platform according to their role and responsibilities.

6) What makes it a commons?

Infrastructure managed through Network Commons is conceived as a shared and neutral resource. Participation is open to different actors, responsibilities are distributed, and governance is collective rather than controlled exclusively by a single owner or vendor.
The platform promotes technological flexibility, open-source solutions, transparent information and sustainable and fair economic models.

7) Where should I go next?

• Why does Commons exist? → Motivations
• How did it evolve? → Background & Evolution
• What can it do? → Main Feature Set
• How do the components fit together? → Infrastructure
• Do you want to implement or operate it? → Commons Technical Guide 🚧

You have more than 5 minutes? The narrative...

Network Commons platform is the third generation of a platform framework designed to enable everyone to build network infrastructure for Internet access as a commons.

It aims to provide a holistic foundation that empowers communities to build and manage their commons from technical, governance, and dissemination perspectives. The platform consists of multiple components combining open-source projects with custom developments, continuously evolving to meet changing needs.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide a simple, intuitive, and user-friendly platform that enables anyone to build and manage last mile Internet access using varied technologies, while providing functionality to manage it as neutral infrastructure—not tied to a single vendor and friendly to Community Networks requirements and their inherent collective, participative governance. This approach is open to anyone (community members and service providers), in stark contrast to proprietary infrastructures that are privately owned and asymmetrically controlled by their owners and prioritizing their private interests.

Thus, it provides state-of-the-art technology to enable participatory Internet access for everyone, based on principles of sustainable and fair economic models.

The platform comprises a complete, integrated architecture and is not advised for on-premise deployment. Instead, it delivers full functionality as a ready-to-go cloud platform available to all who share its vision and values.

It is built on open-source components, though proprietary components may exceptionally be used when suitable open-source alternatives haven't been found... but we're actively looking for them!