Folk Tech Connection Call - August 2026 - Open Source & Decent Design with Eileen Wagner and Eriol Fox!

​Folk Tech is a solidarity-based movement among designers, developers, and people in communities who want digital technology that supports their daily life and interdependence without the extraction, exploitation, or surveillance found in most proprietary technology today.

​In Silicon Valley, people are “consumers” and “users.” We resist a narrative that turns people into subjects of a technocracy. With Folk Tech, we’re all just folks.

​For August, we'll be joined by two leaders in the world of open source and decentralized design. Eileen Wagner, who created the Decent Patterns project and leads product at Tonk, and Eriol Fox, one of the maintainers of Open Source Design and an accomplished product designer and speaker in the space.

​Design is a critical part of making tech in service of life. If people don't love and care for the technology we make, then what's the point of developing it? Many projects are being developed in the open source and decentralized tech world and many of them are doing this without designers. Design isn't making things pretty, it's about understanding real needs, motives, and nuances of use. And vibe coders beware: AI can only repeat patterns, it can't observe, co-design, and deeply understand what we need.

​How can designers interface with open source projects to make them better? How can open source projects make their ecosystem friendly for designers to contribute? And what might happen if we develop a guild of designers who can support newbies, make our open source alternatives better for all, and operate on principles of co-design and solidarity?

​Join us whether you're a designer, want to work with designers, or are just curious about how this all might work.

​We'll have lots of opportunity for meeting other people, finding collaborators, and exploring some of the issues we raise in our interview. Bring your creative thinking and your open-hearted willingness to participate.

​Upcoming live events include an as-yet-unannounced Bay Area convening so stay tuned, and please bring your own Folk Tech-related announcements to share.

​Note that we try to be pretty modular so you can stay for the first hour or the full session depending on your schedule.