Dojo Ascension — One-Page Mission & Funding Story
Public promise
Dojo Ascension helps beginners, artists, educators, libraries, community labs, and small nonprofits teach practical digital skills through missions that connect code to social and ecological responsibility.
Learners gain:
- Basic fluency in Python, Git, JSON, and systems thinking
- A habit of reflective practice, not just task completion
- A contribution path into open source, even without formal CS training
Organizations gain:
- A lightweight digital-literacy system that works in browsers or Python terminals
- Reusable curriculum and learner-state formats without buying a heavyweight LMS
- A contributor pathway that supports educators, writers, reviewers, translators, and facilitators
- Local-first deployment with minimal infrastructure, low dependency risk, and low operating cost
Why this is uniquely solarpunk:
- Teaches technology as stewardship, transparency, and community infrastructure
- Frames coding as a civic and creative tool, not only a job pipeline
- Welcomes interdisciplinary mission authors (journalism, governance, genealogy, climate, arts)
Measurable outcomes (public)
- Learner retention
- Metric: % of learners who return within 14 days after first mission
- Initial target: 40%+
- Mission completion
- Metric: median number of completed missions per active learner per month
- Initial target: 3+
- Contributor growth
- Metric: number of unique contributors with merged PRs each month
- Initial target: 5+ contributors/month
What funding supports first
- Core maintenance and bug fixing
- Curriculum and mission pack expansion
- Accessibility and localization improvements
- Community operations (reviews, pilot facilitation, monthly reporting)
- Privacy-preserving impact measurement and pilot evidence collection
Efficiency story for adopters
- No database or paid SaaS is required for core use
- Browser and terminal clients reuse the same curriculum model
- Mission content can be expanded by non-programmers using JSON templates
- Local learner saves make classroom pilots possible in low-connectivity environments
- Small teams can facilitate cohorts without building custom onboarding infrastructure
Accountability loop
Each month, maintainers publish a short update with:
- Progress on the 3 measurable outcomes
- What shipped, what was learned, and what changed next
- Risks or blockers that need support