@OpenITP Call for Grant Proposals (2013, Round 1) #netfreedom

Open ITPThe OpenITP Project has opened its first round of 2013 project funding for proposals. The grants are meant to support specific technical efforts to improve users’ ability to circumvent censorship and surveillance on the Internet. “Technical” doesn’t have to mean software or hardware — for example, they also consider efforts to improve user experience through translation, testing, projects to improve documentation, meetings that get developers together in person to solve specific problems, etc. The main consideration is that a proposed project is finite (e.g. has a deadline, is scoped) and contributes to OpenITP’s core mission of enabling freedom of communication on the Internet.

Grants are in the region of 5k-30k USD. While all proposals are welcome, proposals that improve user experience (UX) and in translation (of both software and documentation) are a priority. Deadline is March 31 2013.  More info.

Examples of projects that received funding in the previous round:

  • An implemention of Off-the-Record (OTR) in Javascript, initially for the Cryptocat project but reusable by other projects.
  • Improvements to the GPG Tools project for developers (e.g., build process improvements, etc) and for users (better address book support, documentation improvements).
  • Improvements to Serval to ease user adoption (lessening reliance on root access to handheld devices, better peer-to-peer distribution of updates, more end-user documentation).