About this project
[Update 12/28: Check out our coverage in the San Francisco Bay Guardian! http://www.sfbg.com/2011/12/27/iprotest]
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In Case You Don’t Have Time to Watch the Video . . .
First, thanks for checking us out! The Dovetail Project is designing a free smartphone app for sharing text messages that can’t be censored or shut down by third-parties. Dovetail is a direct response to the real-world crackdowns on digital communication we’ve seen this year in Egypt, London, and San Francisco. In each case, government (and complicit cell companies) censored digital speech by shutting down the cell and Internet grids, or by gathering a person's private cell data after the fact. So we’re designing a group text-messaging app that can’t be censored or shut down so that peaceful citizens can take their voices back.
What exactly is Dovetail; how does it work; and why do we need your help? Here are the bullet points (and please read further below for in depth answers on each issue):
1. Dovetail Is a Group Text Messaging App for People Physically Near Each Other: Dovetail can’t send a message to a particular person. Instead, Dovetail transmits text messages to and from people physically near you. Dovetail is designed to create giant, instant, ad-hoc “chats” with everyone who’s sharing the same space. Everyone can be a perfect stranger and join right in, because connections are based on physical proximity instead of who you’re already “following” or “friends” with. Dovetail will instantly connect big groups at rallies, protests, or just everyday big events (like concerts, festivals, sports, etc).
2. Dovetail Uses Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi Instead of Cell or Internet Connections: Third-parties can censor and shut down our digital speech because almost all our communications rely on the cell and Internet grids. Dovetail frees itself by using only your phone’s built in wi-fi transmitter to communicate with the people near you. And to increase a user’s transmission range, any phone that receives a Dovetail message automatically “re-broadcasts” the message to all other nearby users, until a single message is distributed throughout the entire group. More on the technical side below, but that's actually a very special idea.
3. Dovetail Messages Are Free: Yep. Because all messages are distributed via peer-to-peer wi-fi, we’ve cut out cell companies entirely. Your messages are 100% free of charge (and Dovetail is free to use and download)!
4. Dovetail Has All Sorts of Other Cool Uses: Our inspiration was helping people take back their digital voice, but we're also excited about so many other uses for Dovetail: natural disaster knocked out the cell grid? Dovetail re-connects neighborhoods. Got tickets to the big game? Dovetail lets you chat with all the other fans at the stadium in real time! Want to know which is the freshest item at Saturday's farmers' market? Dovetail lets you see what everyone else is chatting about (and eating). The possibilities are almost endless!
5. Dovetail Needs Your Help! Here’s the honest truth. We've got a small group, and we’ve been working hard for the past few months on the early versions of the app and this kickstarter presentation. We’re using our own phones as test devices, computer equipment to develop the app, and our own cash to pay for all the little incidentals that have come up. But we estimate we need another $30,000 to make the app usable and polished, and to bring it online. After Kickstarter/Amazon take out their fees, we’ll use every penny to buy all the test devices we can get our hands on (right now we’re doing a lot of modeling in MATLAB to make up for our relatively small number of phones), plus some modest upgrades to our development equipment. Whatever is left over will go towards paying an additional programmer to come in and help us finish/port the app as quickly as possible. If you believe in the idea, please think about donating $5 or more right now.
6. Remember – Dovetail Is Free: I know, I know. Our “rewards” aren’t very sexy. Hey, I could say we’d give you a “free” copy of Dovetail for your $5 or $20 donation, but that defeats the whole point of Dovetail. We want people in Syria, Beijing, Oakland, and everywhere else to just grab the app and start using it. In other words, anyone can get the app for free, even if you don’t donate. Instead, what we’re offering is a BIG thank you; official recognition on our webpage; a cool dovetail bumper sticker; and some one-on-one time with us so we can get to know each other better. For everyone who’s already donated – THANK YOU. We love looking at your profile, learning about you, and it’s just plain awesome that you believe in Dovetail.
Spread the word!
Thanks!
2012-01-04
Dovetail: Voice to the People by Kevin Vogeltanz — Kickstarter
via kickstarter.com
