From 5eacc1c11682d3b427e2026363538ae8c6ab70fc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Admin Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2026 04:47:21 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Made explicit Nathan Schneider's founding role --- background.md | 6 +++++- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/background.md b/background.md index e9883a2..e5645d2 100644 --- a/background.md +++ b/background.md @@ -16,11 +16,15 @@ for our governance model, see the [Charter](charter.md). The cooperative launched in September 2026, growing out of research on democratic digital infrastructure through Metagov's [Collective Governance for AI: -Points of Intervention](https://metagov.org/cg-ai/). +Points of Intervention](https://metagov.org/cg-ai/). It was founded by +[Nathan Schneider](https://nathanschneider.info), who formerly co-founded +Social.coop, Start.coop, and the Media Economies Design Lab at the University +of Colorado Boulder. It began with a single privacy-first provider and a deliberately small toolset: a chat, an API gateway, and the basics for membership and payments. From there it grew the way co-ops do: in response to what members asked for. +Green-energy providers were added, along with more diverse models. A member dashboard made usage and spending transparent. A federated [Matrix](https://matrix.inference.coop) server, a [forum](https://forum.inference.coop), and a newsletter gave members places to