There's little reason to blindly trust organizations, especially in these times of mass inequality. We recognize that Liberate Science is new—we want to earn your trust as we work on projects like Hypergraph. Supporting memberships are about building community and building trust.
One way we aim to build trust is by reinforcing that we won't sell out. Liberate Science is not owned by venture capitalists or other third-parties, and we want to keep it that way. Ownership will remain with the people working on Liberate Science.
To that end, we will sign contracts with each supporting member that puts in writing that we will not sell or give any shares to third-parties. The more people sign up for supporting memberships, the bigger the lock-in.
We don't want to be the next Mendeley.
Another way we aim to build trust is by giving supporting members the tools to hold us accountable. As a supporting member, you get to be part of our Assemblies, where we share information about the business and where we're headed. You can request information, get to share your voice, and be part of the journey to liberate science. We want to co-create with you, not create for you.
We don't want to be the next Elsevier.
Finally, supporting memberships allow us to start generating income that helps keep us financially independent on a structural basis. The funding from the Shuttleworth Foundation runs for at most another two years. Our mission to reset research work will take longer than two years — it'll take another ten to fifteen. We won't purely rely on supporting memberships, but every bit counts.
If you read our manifesto and support that vision, you could consider signing up for a free account, join our community chat, and discover whether you want to become a supporting member.
After you've signed up for a free account, you can change your supporting membership in your account settings at any time. A monthly supporting membership costs €7, a yearly supporting membership €70. It's just like a society membership, so we recommend getting it reimbursed by your institution if you can.
