Revamped Task Lists & Tasks labs

We took some of the quiet down time during the holidays and put together a larger change on the task & task lists feature and improved the overall infrastructure around it: in a test-driven fashion we implemented due-date selection and self-assignments as well as the assigned tasks properly showing up on your dashboard. Additionally the UI was completely overhauled and throughout that process several bugs were fixed. You can read more about it on the corresponding PR. Here is a video showing the test runner in action from that PR (it gets interesting from 1m01):

Explanatory Empty States

If you are a new user or are onboarding some other users you will notice that we have adapted many spaces with empty space fillers now. These are explanatory screens instead of just a "no item found" giving a better expression what the user is meant to expect here and, if they have the permission, and invitation to start their own first entry. Stuff like this:

Chat improvements

As with almost every release, we've also made a bunch of fixes on the chat section as well: You can now toggle reactions to chat messages; click on a room id in chat message to navigate to that room and do not have to mess with HTML anymore when editing message containing a user mention. Additionally, we've reworked the way that we handle media download and displaying in the chat to improve bandwidth and caching.

I've recently explained the concept of quests as the way we structure our work at Acter. If you haven't read that yet, I recommend you do to understand what follows next.

Product

We had a really good last quarter, the quest drove our focus and we've built out some great chat and space infrastructure, we shipped Notifications and super_invites.

For building the product our main quests for this quarter are:

• Smooth Unique Products: Out focus on chat led to other main features, like Updates, Pins, and Events falling behind. This quarter we want to build them out fully and make them shine as well. This includes the Notifications and Activities-Sections as well. These need thorough product definitions as well.

• Stabilization & Resilience: We found ourselves repeatedly fixing things that already worked, often because of slight behavioral changes in the undelying components. Too often we didn't notice that for a while and only got them reported by users. This quarter, we want to spend a good amount of time on building up resilience; not only fixing these bugs but building up a suite of end-to-end-UI tests that are run by the CI to ensure certain things never break, or if they do, we notice it early.

• Onboarding: We got some thing going in the last quarter, most notably super_invites, but we are not where we want to be yet. In here we cover any aspect hindering people from successfully onboarding, either themselves or their community members. As building out our community on Acter, we intend to dogfood anything we do. This also includes translations and internationalization and potential onboarding- or welcome wizards or bots.

We will also venture on a few side quests :

• Bugs & Stability, Clean UI: We are still seeing a few bugs and glitches here and there. We intend to take time and care to fix them and others that come up, of course. Ideally, these already feed with their tests into the growing test suite.

• Tech Debt: There are a few FIXMEs we want to get rid of but the biggest part of tech debt is our ffi-gen-layer in between. We are hoping to get the first version of uniffi-dart, our implementation based on gecko macros, ready this quarter. Next to that we intend to streamline our UI components and build up a reusable common widget library.

All these quests are already in our public Github product project:

With all that, after this quarter we anticipate working on Switching over to uniffi-dart, for which a large test suite will be super helpful(!); once that is ready, we want to consider switching to sliding-sync; we might work out a first integration that interacts nicely with our unique products and start on that; and we hope we can implement a lab feature to offer first users encrypted acter spaces and start collecting feedback.

Pending further funding (see below), we might also venture out into off-grid-land: starting the research project of offering all these communications features in a peer-to-peer-style mesh-network system that doesn't require DNS or any internet connection.

Communications

Because we were very busy with merging the companies and building out a first iteration of the app, we didn't communicate that much publicly in the past. That is going to change this year.

As you've already noticed we intend to publish a lot more blog posts, being transparent with what we are up to but also in the way that we work. We #buildinpublic and take this hashtag seriously. In the future, you will learn more about topics, discussions, and obstacles that other companies prefer not to communicate to the outside world. We will publish more about this and the #buildinpublic movement here shortly.

Acter is more than a special type of App, the way we structure the organization (as a people-working-on-it-lead community-driven non-profit) and the way we work all is pretty different and we want to discuss what we are doing here.

But Acter also isn't just about "us". We feel there is a big gap between civic organizing and tech right now that needs to close. That's why we are starting our...

The Digital Activist - Podcast for a new movement

Focusing on the intersection of organizing and tech we are planning to have a guest every month that sheds some light into their corner of this space. If you have a specific topic you want us to cover, or can introduce us to an interesting guest for this, please reach out any time. The first episode is already in the works, expect it to land in February. Stay tuned!

Community

As already hinted towards above we want to build out Acter as a great online (mobile-first) community (building) app. While you join a group for the purpose, we all know, that everyone sticks around because of the people:: "it is fun and fulfilling to work with them". Replicating those social bonds and relationships is harder in online spaces. While we believe Acter's sweet spot will be in the space of partial online-offline groups, onboarding and using Acter needs to be a rewarding experience for communities to grow.

In the first quarter we will focus on getting those features ready for primetime in the app but also the infrastructure around it and start using them to help us engage the existing community. Over this year we intend to expand on that and offer more ways to engage and contribute even more directly, through co-creative and feedback sessions. We want this to become a community-driven project and invite everyone to become a supporter or active contributor.

Operations

This though also feeds into operations. While the last focus has very much been on the "internal" us, this year operations will focus on stabilizing what we have by filling certain operations roles (that the board is currently taking care of on the side as well) and getting both the employee-side but also the "open collective" -side into a functional shape. We will have our first General Assembly in April (open to all supporters as well) and will vote on some legally binding structure measures. Among other things, we are actively improving the work processes to facilitate volunteer contributions better and allow for more community-driven in- and output.

Funding & Partnership

With the current financial backing from our existing partners and supporters, we have secured resources to sustain our entire team in the short term.While our long-term goal is to achieve self-sustainability through supporter contributions, the nature of our work involves substantial upfront costs. Therefore, sustained support from partners and funders remains crucial, particularly as we aim to expand our team, enhance operational efficiency, and delve into larger projects such as off-grid organizing.

If you want to support what we do, you can become a contributing supporter yourself  or if you are an organization interested in supporting our work, we would love to engage in a dialogue.

Acter is available on the Apple Store for Mac Desktops now

Whop. Whop. Pew. Pew.

It is hard to overstate how happy we are to have finally found that really annoyingly small bug that lead to Apple rejecting our submissions. We might be posting an extended explainer about our journey there so others don't run into the same issues. But for now, we celebrate that it is done and we are officially supporting Acter on Apple through the convinient Apple AppStore for Mac now.

Message Edit and multimedia viewing

And that release brings some interesting updates none-the-less. As you know we are releasing a preview to all distribution channels every week with all the latest fixes from our workshop at the moment. But we aren't always advertising each one on the blog (but you can see a changelog for each release on github if you care), but only when major changes have been deployed, like the SuperInvites two weeks ago.

But aside from being available on the Mac AppStore we have also added a few improvements that are interesting to everyone: For once, you can edit chat messages now:

Additionally, we have reworked the way multi media messages are dealt with in chat, which fixes several longer-standing bugs. For once you can now choose a different source for the attachment on iPhone and Android, including using the photo gallery and camera and you can video the image and video right from the chat as well as in full-screen mode:

For the user ✊

Acter is not your regular venture-backed startup, as we strongly believe this is bad for the goals we want to achieve: eventually, we want to serve a super-long tail of small groups and communities, in particular in hard-to-reach and disadvantaged communities. This is inherently incompatible with a high-profit margin that venture capital-backed startups want as these people will not have the funds to pay for the service or development. Accepting venture capital would compromise our stated goals.

Additionally, we are strong believers in user-driven building in the open. While we are working Acter to "scratch our itch", too, we are well aware that we are (still) far more privileged in terms of access to the internet, hardware, and money, than many people we want to ultimately serve. The only way to ensure we are building an app that truly serves its user base is to spread that build process as broad and wide as possible and feasible—making surveys, hosting co-creation sessions, broadly, and listening to user feedback directly are all things we are already doing and intend to increase.

Don't trust, verify!

If you are cynical—as I might be on my bad days, too—you might exclaim that many startups have promised similar things before, but then go public or being bought out by large investors or companies. And you'd be right in mistrusting a blog post by the founders. That's why we've recently extended the website to make it more transparent that we put our money where our mouth is: explain how Acter, the Association behind the App is set up, organized, and governed to ensure these goals.

Acter is a self-owning non-profit association under Danish law. Its members consist of the (paid and non-paid) developers and contributors of the App (essentially a "worker-owned" coop) as well as organizations using Acter. Additionally, the articles know of a third non-voting membership status called "supporter": individuals who contribute financially to the association.

The tl;dr is: Acter is a coop of active contributors and using organizations & a club of supporters

That's it. No shares, no options, crypto-tokens, or anything similar. No way to 'acquire' the organization, no way for single partners to have swaying power or minority veto rights. Just these members decide on the faith and strategy of what we do and elect a board to run the day-to-day. Which also makes it highly uninteresting for any kind of venture capital. But highlights the importance of the supporters.

Become a supporter today!

Next to the active contributors and larger organizations that constitute the core of the membership, the supporters—the wider community of individuals—are crucial to the success of Acter: with a donation from as little as 1Eur per month, anyone can become a supporter and join the Acter supporter community of exclusive access to the team, learn latest updates before anyone else and be invited to co-creation-sessions.

To highlight the importance even more, we are offering several additional services exclusive to Acter supporters donating 10Eur/month or more, like guaranteed access to SuperInvites, a custom short-handle for your space, and being listed in the public directory so new users can find and join it easily. You can learn about all the details in the various ko-fi membership levels. If you have any further questions about the supporter membership, check this common questions answered section, which also covers how you can gift the supporter membership to someone.

Up until now, the new person had to first register than tell someone else their username, who'd then have to manually invite that person to the every single one of the chats and spaces and finally that invited person would still have to accept each individual invite. This isn't only tedious, time consuming labor intensive, especially for large groups or if there are several sub groups to manage, it can also be quite disruptive for the new person, who has to sit and wait, all excited and anxious to get going.

Introducing: ️SuperInvites

But with latest Acter, this is no more! Thanks to a server extension we've released last week and that has now been severely tested and released in Acter as well, which allows you to configure so called "super invite tokens" associated with a set of spaces and chats (the creator needs to have invite-permissions for) on the home server, you can share with anyone. Upon redeeming the token, the server ✨automagically✨ adds them into the chats and spaces, including accepting the invite on their behalf. Acter, too, has an auto-redemption mode built in that attempt to redeem the registration token as a super invite leading to a neat user-registers-and-is-right-at-home-flow.

See yourself:

Neat, isn't it? The same registration path you know and love from other chat apps: one token to rule them all. Oh, and I forgot to mention the "create a DM with me"-flag allowing the creator to directly be invited in a chat created by the redeeming user. The screen shows that first chat at the end.

Stateful navigation

Another enhancement we made recently and that is available in the latest released version is an overhaul of the navigation infrastructure. Among several fixes (you might noticed weird opening of the chat or space views) the so-called stateful navigation allows for a much smoother nicer back and forth between several parts of the application with the subtree staying at the last opened route...

Did I lose you? Too much tech mumbo jumbo? Well, just take a look. Starting from the previous screen, pay attention to the different state being held on the bottom navigation. *chefs_kiss*

And more

Of course there are several other bug fixes and enhancements in this release again, as for every we release we do every week. Like a cleanup of the activities screen, removing the double-session entry upon registration, a fix for the accepting chat invite stalling bug, and several more.

So, if you haven't used it in a while, we recommend to go ahead and give it a spin again. A lot of great things have changed since we initially went to the app stores. Just search for "acter" in the Apple AppStore, Google PlayStore, the Microsoft Store or—and that is also new—use our Flatpak Repo for Linux Installations.

Finally the video recordings of the Matrix Community Summit 2023 are up! Big thanks to the organizers and everyone working so hard to make that happen. Now, without further addo, here you can watch me explain the ideas behind and show case Acter live on stage. Enjoy!

As this still an early preview, it doesn't yet have all the features we want to have eventually, but it should give a good impression of what we are after. You can use your existing Matrix Account (in which case we recommend joining the Acter Global Community Space so you get some actual content) or register a new Account with the secrect registration token:

Looking forward to your feedback!

We will be sponsoring the event

As a non-profit foundation we do not much money ourselfes, but it is important to recognise the ecosystem you are in and the work of others you depend on. As for any openly developed protocol its users and thus its community are vital for its adoption, growth and the realisation of its potential.

So far most of that community growth has happened online and tangent to other conferences like FOSDEM (where the yearly "State of the Matrix"-talk is held), but since last year some Matrix Community members are trying to start a Matrix-dedicated format. We were already present at the first edition last year, back then as EFFEKTIO and for the Element Matrix-Rust-SDK-project. The more proud I am to announce today that the board has granted that we'd be buying a sponsoring ticket for this years edition as well.

With this modest contribution we want to double down on our commitment to grow the Matrix ecosystem and continue helping the adoption of this great technology.

See you there!

Matrix Village at Chaos Communication Camp

This summer the German Chaos Communication Camp is inviting again for their week-long hacker camp taking place every four years. After two successful runs it will take place in the former brick factory (now museum) in Mildenberg, about an hour north of Berlin, August 15.-19th. 2023. You can find all details about it here.

As many other communities some of us Matrix people also got together and convinced the best c-base to allow us to cohost a Matrix Village at camp. For all those days, you may find yours truly - Ben from Acter - at that tent we will call our home. It's gonna be great! Swing by and say hello!

Matrix Community Summit in Berlin

A very same group of people you might find at the CCCamp will also be organizing a Matrix Community Summit again this year. After last years success we agreed that a new installment at the same location is to happen. Aside from myself being a coorganizer and helping out at the event, Acter will also be presenting the latest state of the App there -- and you might get an early access to a freshly released app version as well.

So come by, September 21st-24th to the Matrix Summit at c-base in Berlin.

We are thrilled to have our first AMA (Ask Me Anything) with yours truly, Acter Engineering Lead Benjamin Kampmann. Join us on Thu, the 15th on Zoom. All details in this LinkedIn Event.

You can submit questions via Google Forms. Please find the link in the description. 

We will record the event. If you would like to participate anonymously, please contact us in advance. We will find a way for you. All our channels are open, especially on Element Messenger.

Edit: Thanks all for joining! And for everyone else, here is the recording on Youtube:

We are pleased to announce that Acter and Effektio are merging. Late last year the teams of Effektio and Acter came together and decided to join their efforts in working on the decentralised community organzing app of the future. Based on the technology stack of the Effektio App combined with the long history of user-centric design from Acter we are embarking on building the third generation of Acter ("a3"): a mobile-first matrix.org-backed decentralised community organizing app.

We are still in process of merging the team and figuring out all the details, a few things are clear to us:

• We are intending to release an App on the AppStores some point later this year

• We will continue to build the app in the open, publicly accessible via Github

• The project will be run by the non-profit Acter Association (located in Denmark), which will also continue to hold all the assets, with an initial executive board comprising of the leaders from both previous entities

• We will continue to focus on creating the future for bottom-up grassroots organizing tooling

With that, we want to keep it short and real. Just quickly let you know. More information will follow.

If that's not enough for you, here you can read a generic merger-blog post, that Chat GPT created for your entertainment. We recommend to play a round of bullshit bingo with it.

Title: A New Chapter Unfolds: Acter and Effektio Join Forces in a Momentous Merger

Dear Valued Community Members,

We are thrilled to share with you a momentous announcement that marks a significant milestone in the evolution of our organizations. Acter and Effektio are joining forces through a strategic merger that promises to bring about exciting changes and enhanced opportunities for all.

A Fusion of Strengths: Acter and Effektio Unite

Today, we are excited to announce the merger of Acter and Effektio, two organizations that have individually played pivotal roles in their respective fields. This strategic alliance is not just a merger of companies; it's a fusion of strengths, ideas, and a shared commitment to excellence.

Why Merge?

The decision to merge Acter and Effektio was driven by a shared vision for the future. By combining the technological prowess of Acter with the strategic consulting and business optimization expertise of Effektio, we aim to create a unified entity that is uniquely positioned to meet the diverse needs of our community and clients.

What Does This Mean for You?

As a valued member of our community, you can expect a host of benefits from this merger:

1. Expanded Solutions: The merger will result in an expanded range of solutions that seamlessly integrate cutting-edge technology with strategic business insights.

2. Enhanced Support: Our commitment to providing top-notch support remains unwavering. The merger will enable us to serve you even more effectively, with a broader set of resources at our disposal.

3. Innovation at the Forefront: Together, Acter and Effektio will be at the forefront of innovation, delivering products and services that not only meet but exceed your expectations.

4. Community-Centric Approach: The merger strengthens our ability to listen to your needs and incorporate your feedback. Your input will continue to be a driving force in shaping our offerings.

What's Next?

The merger process is already underway, and we are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for all stakeholders. Our teams are working diligently to integrate our operations seamlessly, with a focus on minimizing any potential disruptions.

A Heartfelt Thank You

We want to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support. Your trust in us has been the foundation of our success, and we are eager to continue building on that foundation as Acter and Effektio come together.

As we embark on this exciting journey, we invite you to stay connected with us for updates and insights into the innovative solutions that will emerge from this collaboration.

Thank you for being an integral part of our community.