About Open Civic Systems
Who We Are
Open Civic Systems is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation with a pending application for federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. We develop publicly accessible digital infrastructure, tools, and archival technologies that empower communities to document, verify, and preserve historical and civic records.
Factkeeper is our initial platform—providing the infrastructure and workflows that enable community-maintained historical archives.
Our Role in Factkeeper
Open Civic Systems provides the technical infrastructure, software, and support services. Communities provide content and curation within distinct Chronicles.
We do not create content. We do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of what is published. The views and assertions in a Chronicle are those of the contributors, volunteer reviewers, curators, and administrators who build each Chronicle.
Our job is to ensure the infrastructure works and the records survive.
Custodianship
Open Civic Systems serves as custodian of Chronicle content to ensure its long-term preservation. This custodial role does not make us the author or publisher of the content. We maintain the archive. We enforce platform standards. We ensure records remain accessible. But the historical judgments regarding what to include, how to describe events, which sources to cite belong to the Chronicle communities.
Why This Matters
History doesn't document itself. The records we preserve today become the raw material for future researchers, journalists, historians, and citizens. Factkeeper Chronicles provide verified facts, anchored to sources.
Long-Term Preservation
Factkeeper integrates a multi-decade cold storage strategy designed to outlast individual organizations, hosting providers, and technology platforms:
Redundant storage across multiple geographic locations
Open data exports so records are never locked in proprietary systems
We're not just building a website. We're building infrastructure designed to serve your grandchildren.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.”
–from George Orwell’s Novel, 1984
Open Civic Systems Board of Directors:
Steve Miley, President
Frank Mack, Treasurer
Dan McGuire, Secretary
Contact us
Use the form here or send an email to support@opencivicsystems.org