LOGAN UTAH - September 23, 2024 - Ornithoper Hosting, a queer owned and operated business and proud Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce member, celebrates their community by sponsoring Logan Pridefest next Saturday, September 28th. At their booth, visitors can pick up pride bracelets and stickers, and can vote between several vibrant creatures, in a demo of their upcoming software launch. For those that know their trivia, special stickers or Gatorade are available for winners.

The company is building an open source software called Bivouac Wiki, with the tagline "healthy group decisions across computers". It allows users to explore voicing dissent while still cooperating. We might be unique characters, but with many overlapping values and priorities, we all have common ground with someone. Sometimes it's not as simple as one thing versus the other, and the runner-up deserves a second look or at seat at the table.

The configurable software allows administrators to create "choice" templates, selecting different election types, deadlines, eligible voters, and so on. When your users reach a (configurable) threshold on a petition, a new "decision" starts. Facilitators allow users to propose additional options, which users select from. Users of the software can employ Liquid Democracy, and temporarily delegate their votes to a representative to save time, or vote directly when they disagree.

Counting methods include ranked choice voting, approval voting, threshold (doer-approver), and consensus (veto). Users can also voice whether they'd help (+1), like an idea but won't help (+0), dislike it but have no alternative (-0), or dislike it and will help with an alternative (-1). Elections can be single-winner or multi-winner, and can involve representatives, proposals, or new projects.

Ornithopter Hosting is seeking interested groups to trial out early versions of the software. It's free as in "free puppy", not "free speech" or "free beer", the company plans to make money off managed hosting and custom plugins. Feature priority is up to the users and they're looking for your group's feedback.

Happy Pride!