Why PubHubs for your organization?

Within PubHubs an organization can run and manage its own Hub. To give an idea of what such a dedicated Hub can offer, a number of scenarios is elaborated below. They are meant as inspiration and are only examples. Your organization can shape its own Hub in its own way.

PubHubs is free (of costs) for end-users, but not for organizations that wish to run their own Hub, under the central PubHubs umbrella. PubHubs is non-profit and the PubHubs software is open source. Revenues will be used for innovation and improvement and for stable maintenance of PubHubs.

A dedicated Hub in PubHubs gives you control and autonomy. That is good, but it also means that as organization with its own Hub, you do have to take care of certain tasks. Open source software is freely available for running your Hub. But you have to be registered for the central login infrastructure of PubHubs. You can do all of this yourself, but you can also hire a hoster to do this for you. PubHubs advises one of the hosters listed below. They can take work out of your hands. They know PubHubs and support the initiative. They offer hosting only. You still have to do the daily management of activities within your Hub, via your own Hub administrator and via own community stewards (moderators).

You can make your own arrangements these hosters. The PubHubs central login runs at a different trusted hoster, namely at Rootnet.

Interested? Get in touch via: contact@pubhubs.net.

PubHubs scenarios

Several scenarios are described below, of different organizations using PubHubs for internal and external communication, in a safe manner, with different target audiences. Some aspects are not yet available within PubHubs, like video calling, but are under development.

Scenario: Contact with constituency of public/cultural organisation +

Aim

A public or cultural organisation wishes contact with its own constituency / followers / audience, without forcing these people into the commercial world of big tech platforms, with all associated polarization, threats, and pushing of ads. A growing part of the public is quitting these platforms, but may still be reached via PubHubs.

Features

  • Chats: Group encounters associated with events, before for announcements and afterwards for discussion and evaluation.

  • Videoconferencing: For teammeetings, workshops, and presentations for specific audiences.

  • Documenten storage: Secure storage and sharing of relevant documents.

Example user roles

  • Organizator: Can inform audiences about events and can facilitate interactions between followers.

  • Citizen: Can get information and exchange experiences about relevant events.

  • Administrator: Manages access, permissions, and create Rooms for specific groups

Step-by-step plan

1. Registration & authentication

  • Citizens can directly access public discussions and can participate in closed meetings after appropriate authentication via Yivi.

  • Organizers have tools to keep public discussions about sensitive topics under control, for instance by requiring that participants need to disclose their real name.

2. Access to PubHubs

  • In principle for everyone, but restricted where needed.

  • Organizators can be recognizable as such.

3. Communication

  • 1:1 chats: Private conversations (with authentication) for instance between civil servants and citizens about personal circumstances.

  • Group chats: Thematic or local groups, e.g. for neighbourhoods, with access based on postal code.

  • Video conferencing: For teammeetings, workshops, or public lectures.

  • Document storage: Sharing of flyers and other announcements.

4. Management & moderation
  • A Hub administator keeps a technical overview, while organizers (as community stewards) monitor conversations, guide discussion participants, if needed, and remove certain (inappropriate) content.

Advantages

✅ Security: Only verified users gain access.

✅ Independence: Data are under own control, not under control of big tech.

✅ Trust: Citizens can communicate within a safe environment.

✅ Ease of use: Intuitive interface for chats, video, and documents.

✅ Privacy: Data remain under own local control.

Conclusion

PubHubs (with Yivi) offers a safe verified and user-friendly platform for public institutions (eduction, health) and cultural organisations, in line with public values.

Scenario: platform voor client contacts +

Aim

A company or office sells products and/or services that involve regular (confidential) contacts with customers. Such a company/office can run its own Hub and create for each customer a secure Room within that Hub, to which only employees of that customer and specific own people have access.

Features

  • Chats: Separted contact with verified customers.

  • Videoconferencing: For personal meetings with customers.

  • Documenten storage: Secure storage and sharing of product information and feedback, per customer.

Example user roles

  • Customer: Can confidentially ask questions and share experiences via chats, videocalls, document viewing/sharing.

  • Own employee: Gets certainty that sensitive information is shared only with the appropriate customer.

  • Administrator: Manages access, permissions, and create Rooms for specific groups

Step-by-step plan

1. Registration & authentication

  • External customers can access their own Room, via Yivi, for instance involving checks of domain name of the customer, emailadress or mobile number.

  • Internal employees can make themselves known in a similar manner to the customer, for mutual certainty.

2. Access to PubHubs
  • After central registration all users get access to the platform.
3. Communication

  • 1:1 chats: Private conversations (with authentication) between own employees and customers.

  • Group chats: Thematic groups, possibly jointly for multiple customer groups.

  • Video conferencing: For teammeetings, workshops, or public lectures.

  • Document storage: Targeted sharing of relevant documents.

4. Management & moderation
  • A Hub administator of the company/office keeps a technical overview, while custom managers run conversations with customers.

Advantages

✅ Security: Only verified users gain access.

✅ Independence: Data are under own control, not under control of big tech; no dependence on (fragile) submarine cables.

✅ Efficiency: Central place for communication and documents.

✅ Flexibility: Additional specific functionality can be added easily since PubHubs is open source.

✅ Trust: Safe environment for possibly sensitive conversations.

✅ Ease of use: Intuitive interface for chats, video, and documents.

✅ Privacy: Data remain under own local control.

Conclusion

PubHubs (with Yivi) offers a safe verified and user-friendly platform for targeted and safe contact with clients, in an environment that works uniformly for all clients.

Scenario: Communication platform for a patient association +

Goal

A patient association wishes to provide a safe environment for communication between patients, relatives/caregivers, and medical professionals, where people feel comfortable to share personal experiences. PubHubs acts as the communication platform, while Yivi provides authenticated access and identity verification (including of medical professions).

Features

  • Chats: 1:1 chats, group chats, and thematic Rooms (e.g. per medical condition).

  • Video conferencing: For group consultations or individual conversations, with optional certainty about identities of participants in secure Rooms.

  • Document storage: Secure storage and sharing of medical documents and experience reports.

Example user roles

  • Patient: Can participate in chats, video calls, and view/share documents.

  • Medical professional: Verified medical roles via Yivi. Can create groups, share documents, and organize video consultations.

  • Administrator: Manages access, permissions, and create Rooms for specific groups

Step-by-step plan

1. Registration & authentication

  • Users log in via Yivi.

  • Medical professionls are additionally verified.

2. Access to PubHubs

  • After registration, users gain access to the platform.

  • Some Rooms have restricted access, for instance for employees or voluteers only of the patient association

3. Communication

  • 1:1 chats: Private conversations between patients, relatives, or doctors.

  • Group chats: Thematic groups (e.g., on diabetes or cancer).

  • Video conferencing: For group consultations or individual appointments (with authentication).

  • Document storage: Medical professionals and patients share documents (e.g., treatment plans).

4. Management & moderation
  • A Hub administator keeps a technical overview, while community stewards (moderators) monitor conversations, guide discussion participants, if needed, and remove certain (inappropriate) content.

Advantages

✅ Security: Only verified users gain access.

✅ Independence: Data are under own control, not under control of external organisations that profile patients and exploit their data for other purposes.

✅ Trust: Patients can be sure they are communicating with actual medical professionals.

✅ Ease of use: Intuitive interface for chats, video, and documents.

✅ Privacy: Conversations happen locally, within the Hub, real names are used only when certainty is required, users can express themselves safely.

Conclusion

PubHubs offers with Yivi a secure, verified, and user-friendly platform for patient associations. Patients, relatives, and medical professionals can communicate with confidence while the association does not need to worry about the technical infrastructure of the platform.

Scenario: Communication platform for a research association +

Scenario: Collaboration platform for a research organization

Goal

A research organization with teams in different locations wishes a secure, verified platform for internal communication, knowledge sharing, and document management. PubHubs serves as the central communication platform, while Yivi provides authenticated access and identity verification for researchers and external partners.

Features

  • Chats: 1:1 chats, project groups, and thematic Rooms (e.g., per research topic).

  • Video conferencing: For team meetings, workshops, and presentations.

  • Document storage: Secure storage and exchange of research documents within the designated group only.

User roles

  • Researcher: Can participate in chats, video calls, and view/share documents.

  • External partner: Limited access to specific project groups/documents.

  • Project leader: Can create groups, share documents, and organize video calls.

  • Administrator: Creates Rooms, manages access, permissions. content.

Step-by-step plan

1. Registration & authentication

  • Staff and external partners log in via Yivi.

  • Researchers receive additional verification (e.g., via organization account).

2. Access to PubHubs

  • After verification, users gain access to the platform.

  • Project leaders receive a recognizable badge.

3. Collaboration

  • 1:1 chats: Private conversations between researchers or with external partners.

  • Project groups: Thematic groups (e.g., ‘Climate research’, ‘AI development’).

  • Video conferencing: For team meetings, workshops, or presentations.

  • Document storage: Researchers share documents (e.g., reports, datasets).

4. Management & moderation
  • Hub administrators keeps a technical overview, while research leader can moderate as community stewards ongoing discussions.

Advantages

✅ Security: Only verified users gain access.

✅ Independence: Data under own control, not under control of big tech; no dependence on (fragile) submarine cables.

✅ Efficiency: Central place for communication and documents.

✅ Flexibility: Suitable for distributed teams and external collaboration.

✅ Privacy: Data remain within own context.

Conclusion

PubHubs with Yivi offers a secure, verified, and user-friendly platform for distributed research organizations. Teams can collaborate efficiently while the organization meets privacy and security requirements.