As TIHOMA aims at guaranteeing that the information circulating the platform is trustworthy and generally that it’s beneficial to society by connecting people, protecting their rights, making information of public interest available and so on, people who participate in the organization as members must meet certain criteria. TIHOMA is also a holistic effort that attempts to redefine what a workspace can be and what is the relation of a company with society and different ecosystems. Thus the members have to align with the organization’s values and needs and have no conflict of interest with the organization’s work.
Some of the values and needs important to align with
- Maximization of social impact
- Non-profit mentality and organization
- Non-partisanship
- Civic engagement
- Transparency and accountability
- Anti-dogmatism
- Balance between democracy and meritocracy
- Expertise in the organization’s fields of interest (journalism, digital technologies etc.)
- Journalistic deontology
- Scientific method
- Open-source ethos
- DIY ethos
- Respect for human and non-human animals and life forms
- Innovation
- Work ethics that match the demands of an ambitious entrepreneurial effort
- Team work and community building
- Inclusivity
- Playfulness
Conflict of interest cases
For every rule there may be exceptions and each person has to be assessed individually as well. However, in principle the following cases of people constitute a conflict of interest with the mission of TIHOMA rendering the respective people not eligible to become partners in the organization:
- Political party officials
- State officials
- Army and military organization officers
- People who hold positions in religious organizations
- Members of established secret societies
- Stakeholders of for-profit companies receive dividends of more than 100.000 euros per year
- Stakeholders of for-profit companies with a profit of more than 5 million euros that own more 20% of the company shares
- For-profit company executives with a salary of more than 100.000 euros per year
- People that their fortune has a total value of more than 5 million euros
- People who are members of extremist groups which are advocating for or are guilty of crimes against humanity and ecosystems
- People who are impartially proven to be guilty of felony for crimes against humanity and other life forms
- People with relations assessed to be too close with people that fall within the previous cases