💡 In simple words: An open call is an invitation that says 'come help us!' to anyone with good ideas. This page explains how people can join in and build WikiDeal together.

🎯 In 20 seconds (expert summary): The Open Call is WikiDeal's standing invitation to propose improvements or substitutions to the Prototype 1 model. Three early bird open calls are currently open: one on URL naming and general structure, one on the graphic charter and trademark proposals, and one on a spectacular tutorial about small loans between family, friends and neighbours. Proposals are evaluated periodically (cycle dates not yet defined) through a public vote combined with an expert panel. Rewards can combine direct cash, Cash Rewards (no guarantee*) and Miles Credits. AI transparency disclosure is mandatory.

💬 Submit a proposal — open to all. No email needed: just log in, then post your ideas and links in the Discussion tab of this page. You can then raise a Request for Feedback (RFF) to draw attention to your proposal and get community feedback.

Open Call

Current open calls

Three early bird open calls, also called open calls for pioneers, are open:

These calls are launched before the steering committee is formed, and they are especially open to Wikimedians. Their official launch is planned for 21 July 2026, the opening day of Wikimania 2026 in Paris, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of Wikipedia. They have no deadline: each call remains open until a first simple version has been adopted.

The URL naming and graphic charter calls each offer CHF 1,000 in direct cash and CHF 10,000 in Cash Rewards (no guarantee*). The tutorial call offers CHF 1,000 in direct cash. If you want to respond to a call, go to the discussion page of that call and post your proposal there.

The spirit of these calls

These early bird calls are structured a bit like the open calls of European research and innovation programmes, but in a softer, lighter and less administrative way. There is no consortium to build and no heavy paperwork: they are micro calls for ideas, open to anyone who brings relevant and useful ideas to the cause.

The steering committee intends to meet periodically, review all the ideas posted, and attribute the rewards. For each call, the rewards are intended to be distributed across several people: contributors who bring complementary ideas, who comment on the proposals of others, and who help each other. The calls are not a cold competition where one person wins and the others lose. The goal is to have several winners, because they helped each other.

Rules of the game

These rules apply to the three current open calls.

The Ynternet.org Foundation and the WikiDeal founder (see credits) are committed to making the announced sums available only if the proposed added values are judged good. If no contribution is judged good enough, the money is never kept: it is intended to be reinvested in another open call.
Attribution is intended to happen progressively, as good contributions arrive, with explanations for each attribution.
Part of the sum, up to half (for example CHF 500 out of CHF 1,000), can be withheld for up to one year, in order to verify that the ideas last: this is the maturity criterion. If the ideas have lasted, the second half is intended to be paid to the person who brought the main ideas, as an increase of the donation.
What matters is to distinguish a solid base from a flash in the pan.

Open Call at a Glance

Evaluation	Periodic (cycle dates not yet defined)
Cash rewards	Direct cash and Cash Rewards (no guarantee*)
Miles rewards	Miles Credits, usable for services in the ecosystem
Proposal types	Improvement · Substitution
Jury	Public vote + expert panel
Disclosure	AI transparency mandatory

The Open Call is WikiDeal's continuous invitation to the community, and to the world, to propose improvements to or alternatives to the current model. Ideas may be submitted at any time; they are evaluated periodically. The dates of the evaluation cycles are not yet defined: one of the options under consideration is a quarterly rhythm, possibly aligned with the seasons. No first evaluation date is announced for now.

What Can Be Proposed

Open Call proposals fall into two categories. Improvement proposals take the current Prototype 1 model as a given and propose enhancements: a better formula for distributing Cash Rewards (no guarantee*), a new mechanism for onboarding User Groups, an improved arbitration process. Substitution proposals challenge one or more elements of Prototype 1 and propose replacements: an alternative bonding curve formula, a different governance structure, a new approach to Commission calculation. Proposals that entirely abandon the WikiDeal model are out of scope; the Open Call is about improving and diversifying, not about starting over.

A valid proposal must specify: the exact change proposed; the costs of implementing it; the expected benefits and the evidence base for those expectations; compatibility with the membership-based entry system (memberships must remain in all proposals); the proposer's own capacity to contribute to implementation; and the full AI transparency disclosure if any AI tools were used. Proposals lacking these elements are returned for completion before formal evaluation.

Evaluation and Rewards

Each periodic evaluation combines a public vote (accessible to all WikiDeal membership holders) with a structured expert panel review. The expert panel includes platform cooperative specialists, legal scholars, economists familiar with commons governance, and at least one representative from the Living Labs research community. The panel's role is not to override the public vote but to ensure that winning proposals are technically feasible and legally compliant.

Rewards can combine several complementary forms: direct cash payments, Cash Rewards (no guarantee*), which represent a conditional claim on future subscription revenue, and Miles Credits, which can be exchanged for services within the WikiDeal ecosystem. See Rewards Explained for the full picture. Winning proposals in an evaluation cycle are intended to share a prize pool of CHF 10,000 in cash and 1,000,000 WikiDeal memberships. There may be multiple winners in a cycle, a main prize and a complementary prize, to recognise proposals that work well together. The Open Call is designed to remain genuinely community-driven, with evaluation guided by public vote and independent expert review.

Message from the Founder

"WikiDeal Prototype 1 represents a first hypothesis, built on decades of experience in digital commons, platform cooperativism, and internet governance. It is not a finished product, but a solid starting point, deliberately open to collective improvement. The model is grounded in what we know works: free licensing, community governance, at-cost Commissions, and transparent algorithms. I look forward to seeing the community improve on every aspect of it, and I welcome proposals that challenge any element of the current design."

Maturity Score & Open Call Allocation

Open Call resources are not distributed equally across all use cases. Each WikiDeal marketplace portal carries a Maturity Score (1–5 stars) based on 7 indicators: number of active users, dissatisfaction rate, improvement proposals received, urgency of open bugs, deployment breadth, interconnection with other tools, and usage trajectory.

The higher a portal's Maturity Score, the fewer Open Call resources it receives, because mature portals are largely self-sustaining. Conversely, early-stage portals receive maximum Open Call attention and rewards. This mechanism prevents resources from concentrating in already-successful use cases.

Maturity scores are reviewed quarterly by the Living Lab team and displayed in each use case's infobox. Community members may challenge scores through documented counter-evidence submitted via Open Call.

📊 Full methodology: Open Calls & Maturity Score System: the 7 indicators, composite scoring, and allocation table.

See also: Open Calls & Maturity 25 Innovations Prototype 1 Governance AI Transparency