This impulse has arisen from the desire to have and offer a private webspace for ourselves and others who resonate with doing things differently. PureGold is an evolving platform for collectives, individuals and businesses to store and share information, work together, communicate and build resonant communities.

Core values that are informing this are trust, truth, transparency, togetherness, care, community, sharing, collaboration and co-operation, peace, each honoring our own true source – the essence of what we wish to share is at the core of what is supported.

The PureGold Server is founded in friendships and conversations around things that matter to our hearts, emerging from our shared integral desire to communicate in freedom and with respect for privacy. What is possible as we move to the next octave of fresh, finer inter-relationship and togetherness.

The PureGold Server provides a protective container outside the mainstream data surveillance space. It has been built from the bottom up, with independent hardware and open source software, which means the server is truly private. Choosing to host your internet usage with the PureGold Server means your data resides outside the realm of mainstream data harvesting and trading, and you step out of contributing to all that is implicit in that mainstream system.

It includes private email, file storage (250GB each) and sharing, video conferencing & messaging, calendar, contacts and an online collaborative document management system via the Nextcloud interface we have installed on our server.

The server is built using open source software which is all well-established and tested, and is offered freely due to the passion and generosity of its developers. The costs involved in our server arise from the need to pay for computing capacity, storage space and email delivery services, and including a monthly fee for maintenance, upgrade and a little admin.

The foundational premise of the server is grounding a new way with tech – with consent, clarity, no harm, privacy and freedom: the essence of the server platform itself becomes stronger through our attentive usage and interaction. As we do things differently: how can we use digital technology as an ongoing positive contribution to our future, recognising this is as much an idealogical choice as a technological choice. In these times of change it is crucial we focus on what we wish to see more of, rather than remaining engaged in systems and structures we no longer resonate or agree with.

The invitation envisages a grouping around common purpose: coming together to share the cost, infrastructure and generative nature of this independent online space.

Finally, we are experiencing the frequency of PureGold bringing and being part of a much larger paradigm shift. What we are doing here radiates out into the field of communication and cooperation at large. We will be hosting regular membership community circles, to explore what changes using the server is bringing into our lives.

PureGold engages new ways with money.  Building and maintaining the server incurs costs that have to be covered to maintain the integrity of it over time.  See more in the ”Culture Shift section below, and in the server ‘Agreement’ which you can access within the ‘In the Private’ section.  We are offering this service as a private membership club with a minimum contribution system.

One-off joining contribution: €11

Monthly contribution: minimum €16

If you are able and it feels joyful to invest more in support of the server’s thrival, we welcome a monthly contribution of €21 or €30.

Finally, if you would like to support this initiative and impulse, bringing a new  way of being online, whether you have an account or not, a one-off or recurring gift to the PureGold Server is appreciated.

This includes the cost of the computing capacity hardware, softwares, security maintenance, software updates, regular backups and admin.

The PureGold Server arose through an exploration of how to purify and re-calibrate our IT into a healthier and decentralised model: the idea of having our own collective, private server was born – along with a strong impulse to invite others who might be interested.

We were a group coming together through multiple streams of friendship, co-creation and exploration, engaged in individually and together, over many years. Developing the server has been a process of energy sensing, technical and coding exploration and innovation, language refinement and organisational challenge. It has been a steep learning curve involving hundreds of hours, largely freely given, and supported with some seed funding.

In summer 2023, an initial web-invitation, with ‘Expression of Interest’ was shared … inviting a wider circle to engage in testing & developing the infrastructure. We are now at a stage where the server can be offered out more widely.

The core group standing behind and hosting the server is now Louise Carpenter, Kamyar Houbakht and Sarah Whiteley, with thanks and appreciation to Heather Cowen and Gabriella Kapfer who were part of the initiating impulse, and to Helen Titchen Beeth, Wendy Ruddick, Annalieke van der Sluijs, and Buffy Noel-Smith who stepped into the testing and development phase.

The PureGold Server is personal and collective. The invitation is that we are a small community of members (25-30 at this stage) choosing intimacy and connection rather than anonymity and unlimited usage. This means in practical terms that we have aimed to find the balance between overall computing capacity, bandwidth and the number of emails we can send per month; and, membership size. This relationship determines the monthly membership cost per user and we have endeavored to find a sweet spot for this first small scale stage to be workable.

Practically this requires both an awareness of the shared nature of the server, and, consideration regarding personal usage and best practice: for example, we will have a shared calendar to book in video calls if you wish to record because recording takes up a large proportion of the bandwidth of the entire server.  Our members’ Community Forum will be where we can support each other with ‘help’ and queries, forming a community of care.  There will be opportunities to meet up with other members via regular Community Calls.

We are also engaged in finding new ways with money. The majority of the work done has been freely given and we have received some seed funding gifts – we offer our thanks to those who have contributed in this way. We are offering membership on a non-profit basis, to cover ongoing costs. We are inviting a minimum monthly contribution and welcome top-ups and additional contributions which would allow more of a buffer and potentially some compensation to the core group in recognition of the gift of the server, and in time, compensating the open source software developers.

Thousands of hours have been dedicated by the open source software developers whose work forms the technical container of the PureGold server and is offered freely. Open Source is a culture of passion, transparency, collaborative working and generosity with the ethos of ‘do what you love to do’, and shared via collective stewarding ensuring integrity of the whole system. This is the pioneering impulse that forms the bedrock that we are building on and benefiting from.

In the development of our PureGold server, Kamyar (our coding expert) has developed code to connect several pieces of software, and automate linking each new member into them as they join. His intention is to share this with the Open Source software community to enable others to build their own servers with much more ease. We also foresee sharing our process development as a prototype for others to create their own server communities.

We offer a sound-wand to immerse yourself in and receive the frequencies which underpin this invitation. We suggest you get comfortable, put your headphones on and relax for ten minutes.

Soak in the frequency of what is on offer, as part of moving out of the surveillance fog into clear open-source skies.

There is potential for an unlocking – a shift which allows things to change.

Thanks to Gabriella and Heather for tuning into the frequencies of PureGold, and for recording this sound-wand.

Responsibility for the PureGold server rests with the core group – Louise, Sarah and Kamyar: we are the ones standing behind it, hosting and maintaining it.

We are offering the PureGold server as a Private Membership Club. This allows us to be sovereign in terms of how we organise, and keep financial contributions in the realm of private transactions. Operating in the private means relating to each other simply as men and women, rather than via the titles, obligations and identities of the Legal Society system. (See Knowledge Share). By joining the server you will agree to the private membership club agreement, which you can preview here.

Agreement

Our PureGold server is up and running and our small membership circle is enjoying private email, calls etc.

If you have been invited to join by a current member, please ask them to send you the link and password to the request to join form.

We are also happy to share our model with those who are interested in setting up their own private server. If you would like to join a call to learn more about what we’ve done, please add your email here and we will be in touch. Your email will not be shared, and we will only contact you regarding the call.