Web Hosting: A Shared & Sustainable Virtual Community
By Vincent Roman , Oct 22nd, 2003
During the last two years, I have spent increasing amounts of time in the foothills west of Denver, in a place called Coal Creek Canyon. The canyon differs in so many ways from the urban environment of London that its refreshing to be able to escape there, even if it is to carry on the IT consulting business that takes me throughout Europe and the USA. One thing that is clear to me in this area, and increasingly so as you head further into the mountains towards the remoter and smaller towns and villages amongst the peaks of the continental divide, is the sense of community and sharing. This really differs from London in so many ways. It would seem almost impossible for the native Coloradoans to cope otherwise with events such as last Easter’s 8 to 10ft snowstorm – 1 in every 100 years I am assured!
In some ways it was simply a natural progression for me to put the idea of community and sharing together with the grounding in technology that I have. In fact for many months, if not years, I had been thinking of ways to try and setup a ‘mechanism’ for bringing together people, like-minded or otherwise, to create a community based on self-help and learning. Ever since the user group I had been running through the height of dot com boom had disbanded I was more or less at a loose end to try and regroup and reform as some new entity or other.
It was around the first weekend in October that the idea of setting up a hosting co-operative came to my mind as I sat reading a pamphlet I had picked up at the local food co-op down in Boulder. Having read around on the net about similar things and also on matters of organizing and starting a co-op, I more or less came to the conclusion that I had to set up a web site of intent. That is to say, create a web site through which I could inform potential members of the provisional aims and intents of the co-op and collect names and emails of people, so as to be able to inform them of progress and creation of the co-op.
The initial response from people when I tell them that I want to start a hosting co-operative is to give me a “huh?” or a “What’s a co-operative?” or some perplexed look! Now admittedly, running a web hosting operation as a co-operative isn’t a conventional model, but co-ops are by no means a secret, hidden or underground organization! They take on many forms whether they be financial institutions, charities, lobby groups or even supermarkets.
So! What’s the benefit? You may ask! Well, amongst other things, the shared cost of equipment and support means that the prices of services can be reduced the larger the community becomes. It also means that we can attempt to ensure that the quality of service offered to members is at the highest level possible. As it stands, the hosting co-op’s four primary aims, as they are laid down on the web site are to:
1. Provide cost-effective, reliable and supported hosting to members, as the network and hardware details are laid down on the web site.
2. Assist and support in the understanding on using open source projects (CMS, Groupware or otherwise)
3. Develop methods of increased awareness and knowledge of online matters through various forms of training, online, media and seminars.
4. Create dedicated areas for members to be able to interact in the online environment for networking and learning purposes.
The hosting co-op isn’t necessarily aimed at a specific age group, background or person, although there are of course individuals who might visualize a more immediate benefit in their mind’s eye in relation to there own circumstances, than others. It is all-inclusive, and the aim is to try and help individuals in finding a cost effective reliable host, whilst at the same time getting the kind of advice and support you might find in some form of user group network where members come from all kinds of industries and points of knowledge.
Overall I am aiming to provide 100% quality of service, and in no way do I expect members to demand anything less. Despite the cluster of servers being operated under a different ‘business’ model, I don’t see why members of the co-op should be anything but pleased with the conditions under which service is provided.
Should the idea of being a member of a hosting co-op be enticing to you and you are interested in finding out more information and/or to sign up for more information/news about the co-op then please head to the web site: www.hosting-coop.org . Contact information can also be found there should you wish to discuss the ideas and potential further…
If anything, as the founding force behind the co-op, I would hope that it may be both productive, useful and educational at the very least to all its members. I hope you can share my vision... and join us.
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