UXMAL user designed and developed (UX) for mutual aid and liberation (MAL)
For this project we are recruiting from the vast part of our galaxy. Calling all who are Artists, Designers, Coders, Storytellers, and YOU, we need user feedback throughout development.
October 29–31, 2025 · remote & async-friendly
October 30th - in-person option TBD but likely near Capital Grille
(masking required, other covid precautions will be utilized.)
To get involved: UXMAL@riseup.net
This Hackathon was born out of an opportunity to be a part of Seattle AI Week but UXMAL has been evolving for fifteen years from Google Pages to a Wiki and then a Facebook Page and then a Discord Group which is now being built as a community platform that blends a pixel-art “social justice dungeon”, a collaborative wiki, and groups governed by decentralized autonomous community organizing groups (COGs) or hubs if you are familiar with that organizing theory. At its core, the platform will use ethical AI that is trained only on a limited, community-defined dataset — to make learning and access easier while keeping security and values intact. You can read some thoughts about AI here:
Side Article About AI and Women in Tech.
Passing Dungeon levels unlocks access: as people complete themed levels (e.g., Trans 101, Disability Justice), they gain entry to groups, editing privileges on the wiki, and pathways into shared decision-making.
NO CODING SKILLS NEEDED. We welcome artists, writers, organizers, testers—and coders too.
If you are a developer, UX researcher, accessibility advocate, or other tech builder interested in shaping an app from the ground up, we especially invite your contributions.
Our goal is that this app will contribute to the wellness of our community which will help our community make more art/create to combat erasure…
And create a living history of these turbulent times we are going through.
UXMAL stands for user designed and developed (UX) for mutual aid and liberation (MAL), think ancient Mayan city in Mexico that was thought to be a pyramid of knowledge. The etymology is disputed; another possibility is Uchmal which means “what is to come, the future.” Tbh the app acronym (name) came and then there was an aha this word is familiar and realized it fit really well. We are not stuck on it though.
To be clear these are some ideas – this is just a place to start – nothing is set in code, er, stone. This will be collaborative and we will adjust these ideas as the community involved see appropriate. If any of this resonates please reach out to collaborate.
Please visit: https://qtbb.org/about-us/uxmal/ to learn more about our concept.