This website aims to connect the strong but atomized ecosystem of independent scholars and writers that has arisen over the past few years, partly in response to the growing distrust of mainstream academic institutions. This website aims to help grow the ecosystem, make people aware of what groups exist, the novel ways people are learning and creating, and how to integrate it into their lives.
This website exists to answer three main questions:
The preliminary version of this site aims to help users answer the following questions.
Most people know or have heard of some groups but don’t have a clear picture of what is out there. Nor is it clear to most people that there is an entire movement growing, not merely isolated groups.
We aggregate the groups comprising this ecosystem along with links to their content and showcase them in a gallery view. (Currently, we select groups that we have directly participated in or know someone who has.)
What events are coming up this month? Are there any in my area?
Many groups host events—physical or digital—but have trouble reaching interested participants with their advertising. Conversely, many interested people are unable to keep track of all the events going on or to plan trips to physical events
We aggregate the events hosted by the ecosystem’s groups and showcase them as a calendar and feed of upcoming events, as well as a geographic map showing them. In the future, we will send weekly emails to users updating them on new events.
We will also display past events to show that there is a lot going on in the ecosystem, that there is a large decentralized movement growing, and to give other groups creative ideas on how to host events or engage with the community.