<link>https://jwheel.org/</link><description>Homepage of Justin Wheeler, an Open Source contributor and Free Software advocate from Georgia, USA.</description><generator>Hugo -- gohugo.io</generator><language>en-us</language><managingEditor>Justin Wheeler</managingEditor><lastBuildDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://jwheel.org/rss/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Legal Notice and Declaration of Licensing Termshttps://jwheel.org/legal/Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://jwheel.org/legal/
Table of Contents

1. Declaration and Intent

This document (hereinafter "Notice") serves as a public declaration by Justin Wheeler (the "Original Creator") of the default licensing terms governing all Code and Content (as defined herein) created by the Original Creator (collectively, "Contributions").

It is the Original Creator’s intent to proactively establish clear, open licensing for all Contributions. This Notice applies to any company, enterprise, organization, or individual offering digital services (the "Service Provider") that stores, hosts, processes, transmits, or otherwise interacts with any Contribution.

Service Providers are put on notice that by choosing to store or otherwise make use of any Contribution from the Original Creator, they acknowledge these terms. Service Providers agree that such Contributions are governed by the "Current Default License" (as defined herein), unless a separate, explicit written agreement signed by the Original Creator dictates otherwise for a specific Contribution. An exception exists where the Service Provider’s own published terms of service, affirmatively and explicitly agreed to by the Original Creator for a specific service, directly and unavoidably conflict with a specific provision herein regarding the scope of license granted to that specific Service Provider for the operation of its service.

2. Application of Default Licensing

  1. All Contributions made available by the Original Creator are offered under a "Current Default License" as defined in this Notice.

  2. A Contribution is governed by the Current Default License from the moment of its creation and fixation.

  3. This applies especially if the Contribution is not accompanied by separate, explicit licensing terms by the Original Creator that override this Notice.

  4. The Service Provider is expected to fully comply with all terms and conditions of the applicable Current Default License for any Contribution they store, host, process, or otherwise utilize.

  5. This includes, but is not limited to, requirements for attribution, modification, and redistribution as specified by the respective license.

  6. Non-compliance with the terms of the Current Default License by the Service Provider constitutes a violation of the license under which the Contribution is offered.

3. Primacy and Interpretation

This Notice establishes the foundational licensing terms for all Contributions. Any ambiguity between this Notice and any other general terms or policies of a Service Provider (not explicitly and separately agreed to in writing by the Original Creator) shall be resolved in favor of the terms set forth in this Notice. This resolution applies to the maximum extent permitted by law. This Notice acts as the Original Creator’s standing instruction and licensing declaration for all Contributions.

4. Definitions

The section below contains definitions needed to understand other aspects of this legal notice.

4.1. CC BY

"CC BY" means the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), as published at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. You have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered version, or of any later version published by the Creative Commons.

4.2. Code

"Code" means:

  1. Software code;

  2. Any other functional material whose principal purpose is to control or facilitate the building of packages, such as an RPM spec file;

  3. Font files;

  4. Other kinds of copyrightable material that the Original Creator explicitly classifies as "Code" and states is subject to this Notice.

4.3. Content

"Content" means any copyrightable material that is not Code, such as, without limitation:

  1. Non-functional data sets;

  2. Documentation;

  3. Wiki edits;

  4. Music files;

  5. Graphic image files;

  6. Help files;

  7. Other kinds of copyrightable material that the Original Creator explicitly classifies as "Content" and states is subject to this Notice.

4.4. Contribution

"Contribution" means any original work of authorship created and fixed in any tangible medium of expression by the Original Creator. This excludes any portion that was demonstrably created by another party and not incorporated with permission or under license. A Contribution consists either of "Code" or of "Content" as defined herein.

Contributions are intentionally defined broadly. They may include, but are not limited to:

  • Software, scripts, and configuration files;

  • Digital artwork, photographs, videos, and multimedia productions;

  • Written texts such as articles, blog posts, comments, documentation, and literary works;

  • Musical compositions, sound recordings, and podcasts;

  • 3D models, schematics, blueprints, and design specifications;

  • Scientific or research data sets, analyses, and visualizations;

  • Educational materials, tutorials, and presentations;

  • Social media posts, forum entries, messages, and other forms of digital communication;

  • Any other sequence of characters, data, or digital artifact that embodies the Original Creator’s original expression.

If the Original Creator explicitly designates a specific item as a "Contribution" subject to this Notice (for example, through metadata or an accompanying statement), that designation is definitive.

4.5. Current Default License

"Current Default License", with respect to a Contribution, means:

  1. If the Contribution is Code, the 3-Clause BSD License;

  2. If the Contribution is Content, the CC BY.

]]>Federation of Intersectional Communitieshttps://jwheel.org/federation/Mon, 07 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000https://jwheel.org/federation/
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DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

License: *CC BY-NC-SA 4.0*

© 2020, Justin Wheeler, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

This page is a concept note for the Federation of Intersectional Communities (shortened F.I.C.). It provides an overview of the following topics:

  1. Goals

  2. Anti-Goals

  3. Common Values

  4. Member Communities

  5. Gain Membership

Goals

The Federation of Intersectional Communities (FIC) is a group of aligned representatives from several different, but intersecting, communities. Underneath our Common Values, FIC offers unity and collaboration with other like-minded people to further our shared mission in pursuing these Common Values.

Before reviewing the Common Values, first consider these deliberate intentions and goals of FIC:

Offer networking, community meta discussion, and peer advice.

FIC members come from a variety of communities. Often, important and useful work is repeated many times over in different isolated pockets. FIC offers community to the friends of communities. It is our hope to offer shared wisdom with Member Communities to better enable our shared mission in pursuing our Common Values.

Offer shared resources (digital and non-digital).

FIC may act as a shared collective of some resources among Member Communities. These could take the form of digital resources, like web infrastructure, or non-digital resources, like workshops, trainings, and/or mentorship. Shared resources underneath FIC are intended to be shared equitably among Member Communities in ways that furthers our shared mission in pursuing our Common Values.

Anti-Goals

There are also a few things that FIC explicitly does not try to be. This section is an overview of those things:

Make decisions on behalf of other communities.

FIC does not have decision-making in management of Member Communities. It is not designed to be a diacritical institution. We respect the unique contexts and shared experiences of Member Communities in their local contexts. However, if a Member Community takes repeated and/or severe actions that appear to contradict our shared mission in pursuing our Common Values, it may be grounds of removal from FIC membership.

Define policy or engage in a widely visible forum.

FIC is a federation and represents many groups and organizations. We believe it is the delegation of our Member Communities to pursue policy or engage more visibly. FIC aims to be a common forum and shared resource for Member Communities to network and seek support. FIC is not intended to be represented as a brand or even a single voice. The only thing indisputably shared among all Member Communities is a commitment to our shared mission in pursuing our Common Values.

Common Values

The Common Values are the foundation of the Federation of Intersectional Communities. All Member Communities are firmly committed to pursuing meaningful work and collaborative contributions to objectives and tasks that align to our Common Values. Changes to Common Values are proposed by discussion or Pull/Merge Requests. All changes to Common Values require affirmative acknowledgement of all Member Communities.

Compassion.

Member Communities affirm the importance of Compassion in our communities.

Compassion

: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

Our work, our interactions, and aims are to alleviate distress, not add to it. While we recognize our humanity and moments where we may make mistakes, we affirm compassion as a foundational part of who we are and what we do.

Teamwork.

Member Communities believe in the value of Teamwork in accomplishing our overlapping missions.

Teamwork

: work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.

FIC is best able to meet its goals when we approach our work with attitudes of collaboration and cooperation. We recognize that each Member Community is doing important work in a subsection of our Common Values. Each Member Community approaches interactions internally and externally with a collaborative spirit.

Care.

Member Communities value the role of Care in shaping sustainable communities.

Care

especially : responsibility for or attention to health, well-being, and safety.

Communities are collections of people. Groups of people are what form and define a community. Therefore, it is important to value the role of Care in our actions (or non-actions), and in our collaborations. We are better able to succeed in realizing our Common Values through our overlapping work when we take care of each other.

This is inclusive of Self-Care in the form of non-action, if taking action comes at a great personal cost or health risk (physical or mental). The recognition of what is valid for Self-Care intersects with other Common Values.

Integrity.

Member Communities depend on Integrity in order to accomplish our shared missions underneath the Common Values.

Integrity

firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility.

We believe our individual and collective actions must be bound by rigid Integrity. To help serve as reference for FIC’s interpretation of Integrity, we pledge commitment underneath the values of two doctrines:

  1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

  2. Declaration of Digital Autonomy (v0.1 or a later version)

Our work must never stand against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our collaborations and collective work are informed by the Declaration of Digital Autonomy.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (excerpt)

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

— Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Declaration of Digital Autonomy (excerpt)

We therefore call for the adoption of the following principles for ethical technology:

  1. In service of the people who use it

  2. Informed consent

  3. Empowering individual and collective digital action

  4. Protect people’s privacy and other rights by design

— Declaration of Digital Autonomy

Learning.

Member Communities recognize our humanity and natural ability to err; and we believe mistakes are valuable opportunities for Learning.

Learning

: modification of a behavioral tendency by experience (such as exposure to conditioning).

Being intersectional is sometimes challenging. We come from different backgrounds. We have different view points on some topics. And in this natural tension, there is great opportunity for Learning and personal growth.

In recognizing the mistakes of our own teams and fellow peers, we recognize the shared commitment to our Common Values. We encourage our peers to make mistakes Learning opportunities to inform us how to most effectively pursue our shared missions.

Member Communities

Below is a documented list of Member Communities to the Federation of Intersectional Communities.

Currently, none! This is an idea in pilot mode right now.

Convener

The current Convener is Justin Wheeler.

Gain Membership

This is an idea in pilot mode. Currently, the only way to gain Membership is by contacting the Convener, Justin Wheeler. If this idea goes beyond a pilot, this section will must be revised for sustainability purposes.

]]>About Mehttps://jwheel.org/about-me/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://jwheel.org/about-me/Justin Wheeler is an experienced Open Source enthusiast with a passion for building vibrant, sustainable communities. He is currently the Fedora Community Architect (FCA) at Red Hat, where he supports and enables the Fedora contributor community.

With over a decade of experience in Open Source, Justin has a proven track record of fostering collaboration and innovation. He’s worked on various projects, from contributing to the CHAOSS community to leading open source empowerment programs at UNICEF. At UNICEF, he supported the UNICEF Venture Fund and other Open Source activities within the Office of Innovation. Together with a team of mentors, Justin mentored twenty-three start-up companies of diverse start-up companies from nineteen countries and five continents. Of these companies, fourteen achieved global recognition as Digital Public Goods and three were acquired in multi-million dollar acquisitions.

As a Fedora community member since 2015, Justin has played a pivotal role in shaping its direction. He serves as a team leader, advocating for diversity and inclusion and representing Fedora at international events. Outside of Fedora, Justin is a frequent speaker at conferences like OS Community Africa Festival, CHAOSScon (Africa & Europe editions), FOSDEM, DevConf CZ, All Things Open, OSCAL, and others. He’s also a current or past contributor of other Open Source projects, like SpigotMC, Opensource.com, MusicBrainz, and Wikipedia.

Additionally, Justin is an avid traveler and always tries to learn something new from the places he visits and the people he meets. He is a music and coffee enthusiast!

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