Jan-Carel Brand Application 2018

About me
My name is Jan-Carel Brand, most people call me JC. My XMPP/IRC/reddit/HN/mastodon etc. nick is "jcbrand". My JID and email address are jc@opkode.com

I work as an independent contractor and freelancer, often involving XMPP and its ecosystem. I'm a maintainer of Strophe.js, the JavaScript XMPP library and the author of Converse.js, which is a JavaScript XMPP client.

I host the conversejs.org XMPP server.

Although I started using XMPP in 2012, 2017 was my first year as XSF member. In this year I was semi-regular minute-taker for the Council meetings and newbie XEP editor.

I occasionally blog (indirectly) about XMPP (mostly via strophe.js and converse.js). My blog is here: https://opkode.com/blog/category/xmpp/

Why I support XMPP
My support for open standards and free/open-source software stems from my belief and support of liberty and freedom in general. With free software it ultimately comes down to power relations. Either you are at the mercy of the software running on your devices (and by extension the true owners of that software), or you are empowered to take ownership, control and responsibility for the software yourself. Dwd describes it as "agency", which I agree with, I personally place the emphasis on liberty and empowerment. I consider open standards and free software as mutually strengthening and compatible.

I espoused on these themes in two blog posts, if you care to read more:

Antifragile software ecosystems: https://opkode.com/blog/2014/01/14/antifragile-software-ecosystems/ The Solution to Jaron Lanier's "Siren Servers": https://opkode.com/blog/review-who-owns-the-future/