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Design Principles

In designing Guardian Connector for long-term viability and sustainability, Conservation Metrics adheres to a strict set of principles. The tools included in the solution must meet the following criteria:

📦 Free or Affordable Software, Hardware and Services​

As much as possible, we prioritize tools that are free to use and hardware or cloud-based services that are available at low cost. This ensures the long-term sustainability of the system for our partners.

🌐 Translatable to Local Languages​

While translating an entire tool interface may not always be feasible or necessary, the most mission-critical elements should be translatable to local languages to ensure comprehension and usability.

🔒 Data Sovereignty and Control​

In alignment with the OCAP principles, our partners must be able to:

  • Own the infrastructure where data is stored
  • Control data collection, storage, and transmission across the project lifecycle
  • Access their data at all times
  • Be assured that no external parties have unauthorized access to their data
  • Make their own decisions about sharing data with third parties
  • Opt out or remove their data from the system at any time with minimal friction

These rights are fundamental and non-negotiable.

👥 Community-Operable Software Stack​

While not every persona will be able to use every tool, we will not include tools that cannot realistically be operated by anyone within our co-creation partner teams without external support. Initial setup may require the involvement of a technical service provider, but ongoing operation should be feasible for local users. We aim to select tools that are accessible, user-friendly, and straightforward to learn and maintain.

🏠 Self-Hosting Capability​

Although Conservation Metrics maintains cloud-based Guardian Connector instances available to co-creation partners (and potentially others, under an affordable fee-for-service model), we are committed to building a toolchain that can be fully self-hosted. This includes:

  • Avoiding proprietary solutions that are inaccessible to partners
  • Providing sufficient documentation and automation to enable independent setup and administration
  • Ensuring compatibility with a wide range of hosting platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, and country-specific clouds)

This enables deployment in specific jurisdictions according to partner needs.

📴 Offline-First Design​

Nearly all tools should be usable entirely offline. At a minimum, the core data workflow—from data collection to visualization (and some curation)—should not require an internet connection. Offline readiness is essential for rural and remote use cases.

🔗 Built for Interoperability and Extension​

Even as we commit to a focused stack of integrated tools, our system must remain open and flexible. We will structure our data storage and APIs to enable easy integration of third-party tools in the future. This makes it easier for partners to plug in complementary systems as their needs evolve.