Principles¶
These principles outrank features, deadlines and technical convenience. When two of them collide, the earlier one wins.
1. Knowledge belongs to its holders¶
Communities and individuals who hold knowledge decide who may see it, how it is attributed, and whether AI may use it. These controls are in the core data model (knowledge sovereignty), not bolted on. We align with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance — Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics — and complement them with FAIR practices for the data that is open.
2. Safety before cleverness¶
Plants heal and plants kill. A confident wrong answer is worse than no answer. The system shows confidence honestly, flags toxic species and dangerous look-alikes prominently, and never presents traditional use as medical instruction. See the safety model.
3. Human first, AI assisted¶
AI proposes; people with the relevant authority decide. The AI never invents tradition, never silently "fills in" a gap, and never publishes community knowledge without human review. Every AI-produced output is labelled as such.
4. Every claim has a source¶
No orphan facts. A claim is traceable to a contributor, a community, or a published source — and the user can see which.
5. Free, forever, for people¶
No ads. No paywalls on knowledge. No selling or brokering of user or community data. Sustainability comes from grants, donations and institutional partnerships.
6. Languages are first-class¶
Every language is presented in its own orthography, reviewed by its own speakers. Low-resource languages get priority and investment, not an "also available in…" afterthought. Machine translation is a draft for a human custodian, never the final word.
7. Offline by default, light by design¶
Built for 2–3 GB Android phones, patchy coverage and expensive data. Core features work without a connection. Heavy features degrade gracefully.
8. Protect the living things too¶
Locations of harvest-sensitive, threatened or protected species are obscured. The project promotes sustainable harvesting and conservation, never over-collection.
9. Openness with care¶
Code, schemas, docs and decisions are open. Community knowledge is open only where its holders choose; "open by default" does not apply to other people's heritage.
10. Build slowly where it matters¶
Speed is fine for UI. For consent, safety and attribution we move deliberately, with the right people in the room.