Copying my reply from the design list (this discussion does belong on the general discuss list)
On 09/16/2015 03:54 AM, mray wrote: > Hello everybody, > > > It is time to have a fruitful discussion about our slogan, we don't have > one - but we should. My current mock-ups just use "FUNDING A FREE > CULTURE" but that isn't anything that has been decided at all. > We are about to create promotional resources and eventually I'd like to > make use of a slogan. We need to settle this soon. > > The properties I seek in a slogan are: > * brevity > * concision > * simplicity > * clarity > > Concerning what the slogan could convey have a look at our mission: > https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/mission > or the slogan page: > https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/slogan > > So here is my candidate: > > > "WE FUND FREE CULTURE." > > WE indicates that it is about people (many!), maybe including you > FUND covers our financial angle > FREE is the best compressed version of Free/Libre/Open > CULTURE represents the scope of different content we support > > > Thoughts? Comments? Alternatives? > Obviously, it should be referenced that the current slogan on the site is: "clearing the path to a Free/Libre/Open world" The "clear the path" indicates our snowdrift metaphor (otherwise, with no cue at all, it's far too easy for people to think 'snowball' and think the snow metaphor is about how all the little donations add up, instead of the desired metaphor of a blocked path). This version of the slogan is predicated on a position that there exists no acceptable truncation of "free/libre/open". Why "free" even in "free culture" is a problem: Free is 95% of the time associated with price, whether we like it or not. In fact, there's a whole initiative in Portland, OR where I live to fight back against "free culture" — that exact phrase. It's headed by musicians who are trying to push back against the trend of people downloading music at no charge (which we support, but we want artists funded) and *also* (importantly) against the trend of bars getting live musicians to play for zero pay just for "exposure" and such. In other words, to them "free culture" is the whole trend of people thinking they can get everything at no charge. Now, their whole initiative is misguided, but I mention it for reference. Obviously, "funding a free culture" makes it clear that we *aren't* working against artists being paid. But still. "culture" on its own definitely makes a lot of people thing this is about art and not about science, software, or technology. Of course, we have a strong software audience, so having a lot of software present, we will be clearly about software, so emphasizing the cultural side in the slogan does help offset that. I think if there's one word to be the best truncation it's actually "open" except that is a no-go because (A) tons of open-washing makes it almost meaningless today, and (B) this would draw the ire of the FSF folks who oppose the replacement of "free" with "open". In various contexts, such as "clearing the path to a free world", the term "free" sounds jingoistic, as "the free world" is used to mean America / U.S. versus the Soviety Union etc. Although "creative commons" is taken, various forms of statements around the term "commons" or maybe "public goods" make sense. It is a totally accurate way to describe us to say "we fund the digital commons" or something of that ilk. Please, others on this list, perspective is useful. Please share your thoughts. Best, Aaron -- Aaron Wolf Snowdrift.coop <https://snowdrift.coop> _______________________________________________ Design mailing list des...@lists.snowdrift.coop https://lists.snowdrift.coop/mailman/listinfo/design -- Aaron Wolf Snowdrift.coop <https://snowdrift.coop> _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.snowdrift.coop https://lists.snowdrift.coop/mailman/listinfo/discuss
