I've settled on a short-eared owl (Asio Flammeus) to serve as the mascot
and icon for Owltide. This is not a settled and final decision, but
rather a branding that's good enough for now.
To create the mascot I sketched some owls that I have saved to
/assets/mascot/owl-sketch.png and then selected one I liked. Going
clockwise from the top right the sketches were based on the reference
photos [1], [2], and [3] found by searching for "owl" on Wikimedia
Commons. I then lightly refined it to work as a small icon.
To avoid confusing terms that only make sense for software the artworks
are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
License. This has a similar spirit to the AGPL and ensures that should
improvements be made upon them they can be incorporated in the project.
[1]: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Athene_cunicularia_-near_Goiania,_Goias,_Brazil-8_edit.jpg
[2]: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hibou_des_marais.jpg
[3]: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uhu-muc.jpg
I firmly believe in free software.
The application I'm making here have capabilities that I've not seen in
any system. It presents itself as an opportunity to collaborate on a
tool that serves the people rather than corporations. Whose incentives
are to help people rather, not make the most money. And whose terms
ensure that these freedoms and incentives cannot be taken back or
subverted.
I license this software under the AGPL.
