Projects

PyExpect (git) is an expectation and assertion library for Python. It provides expect() style of assertions, like how languages like Ruby and JavaScript have pioneered. This allows assertions to be more concise and clear to read, as well as not binding the assertions to the TestCase class, making them reusable in application code.

FluentPy (git) is a library derived from he question: How would Python look and feel if it where made to be programmed with Fluent Interfaces like jQuery or Spark? With FluentPy you can give it a try.

As a part of the #WirVsVirus Hackathons, I have helped multiple teams to work on the idea of a Covid tracing app. I am quite proud to have helped to develop the technology that is now enabling all of the Covid tracing apps. Apple and Google have now implemented this technology on the operating system level, and SAP and Telekom provide the user visible implementation with the German Corona Warn App. I think this is the best piece of open source software that the German government has done to date.

• It all started with the PPTP-Team: Video, Git, Web
• Then quite a few teams with similar ideas started to collaborate and form the ITO projekt Web.
• Later we started international collaboration and formed the TCN-Coalition to organise that.
• Which now has now become part of the Linux-Foundation Public-Health. Whew!
• Andreas Gebhard has written a nice overview of what happened

In the past, the size of a state was constrained by the speed of communication within it. Today with the internet, there is no reason why the whole planet can't live together in a peaceful and democratic way.

But if this means that all decisions move further and further away from us citizens, then it is at the same time a disenfranchisement and an invitation to large organized forces (e.g. companies) to enforce their own interests. (e.g. by privatization of profit, socialization of losses). This problem is showing up very concretely in the climate catastrophe, the costs of which are borne by our entire society, while only a few percent of the world's population, at the moment, still draw an economic advantage from it.

Liquid Democracy is the idea that the possibilities of the internet can be used to expand representative democracy gradually and as needed with elements of direct democracy. Specifically, when

• every vote takes place transparently online, you can participate at any time.
• you can transitively delegate your vote to a trusted person, you don't have to deal with every topic and can benefit from representation.
• you can also cancel this delegation at any time / overwrite it with your own vote on a specific issue. You still have the opportunity to participate without much effort for a specific problem / project or to support someone whose work on this topic is more in line with your own preferences and ideas.

This is inspired by my understanding of how open source software development works. There I can easily do drive by contributions with a low barrier of entry. But I can also dig deeper into projects that interest me and become a maintainer, or even take over the project. And of course it is very easy to create new projects.

Unfortunately, the German Pirate Party has not been able to implement these ideas - but exciting legacies have emerged:

• A good review of the ideas and events was provided by Anja Adler in her doctoral thesis.
• The Liquid Democracy e.V. grew out of these efforts and produces software for interactive participation processes.
• The Interaktive Demokratie e.V. built the Pirate Party's Liquid Tool and supports its development and dissemination in other contexts.
• The Partou Cooperative had the goal to make the software of Liquid Democracy e.V. applicable in the context of companies.