ilot is a cooperative corner of the internet. We operate different free and open-source platforms, like Nextcloud and Mastodon, all integrated together by a shared authentication system. We aim to eventually incorporate as a cooperative to create a digital infrastructure that is by and for its users as an alternative to the siloed and privatized internet of today. Members fund our operations and decide how to set our community policies, steward our data, and manage our shared technologies. Members also provide the labor to run ilot at all levels.
The project is currently in beta, as there is still a lot of work left to do. While the technical infrastructure is setup and stable, the governance and community guidelines are still a work in progress. If you are interested in joining ilot, visit our registration form.
ilot was started in 2021 when AESA-CIRI, the sociology, anthropology and immigration studies sudent association of UQAM, wanted to create its own digital infrastructure. Since then, we have worked toward the goal of making the project useful to other organisations and individuals.
The Cloud is an instance of Nextcloud, a productivity collaboration platform analogous to Google Drive. An instance is an autonomous version of a web service. In Nextcloud’s case, even though there exists an official service maintained by the developpers, we are totally indendant from them. The only thing that ties us to the official instance is that we use the same underlying technology, hosted on our own infrastructure.
The Agora is an instance of Mastodon, a decentarilized microblogging social media network that exists within a larger federation in community called the Fediverse. Presenting itself as an alternative to Twitter, it represents a federated alternative to the siloed model of traditionnal social media networks. It’s as if you could follow your grand-mother from Facebook, with your Instagram account. In practice, this allows you to follow accounts that are hosted on other independant instances, from your account on Ilot. A post that you like can be boosted, which can then be boosted by those who follow your account. It is thus a social network model where the propagation technology is human rather than algorithmic.
The Wiki is an instance of Wiki.JS, a wiki engine that acts as a knowledge base for the community and for the membership. Since the membership is engaged with various causes, we can expect this space to eventually become a resource for those whose values matches ours.
The Lab is an instance of GitLab, a forge based on Git that enables easier collaboration between developpers. As of now, it is the main developpment space for ilot, thus it is more used by the technical working group. If you are a developper, or use Git in your workflow, this is a cooperative alternative to GitHub. If you are curious, all of our known issues our tracked here. Our very own website uses GitLab Pages as its backend and its source-code can be found here.
Our Auxiliary Services
The following platforms are more there as a support role. They allow better management of the other platforms, and they are here to give you an overview of our infrastructure. • Auth, an instance of Authentik, is our unified authenticaton system. It is the service that allows a membre to access all of our platforms using the same account. From this space, you can also see all of the different spaces that you have access to. It is also through Auth that you can change account settings, like your password or email. • Support, an instance of Freescout, is our technical support platform where you can find guides on how to use ilot and where you can open support tickets. You can go here for more details on how to ask for help. • Status, an instance of Uptime-Kuma, allows us to keep track of the state of the network. If something goes down, Status will alert the technical working group. If you have issues connecting to any of our platforms, you can go there to see the state of the network. • Notif, an instance of listmonk, allows the working groups to easily communicate with the rest of the membership in case of announcements or technical issues.
