Blog – WP

Platforms vs Protocols
It was almost 2.5 years ago that Ivana started a thread about marrying needs and offers on The Open Co-op
PLANET Pioneers
The Open Co-op was founded in 2004 and has a long history of organising events and running projects to help
catalysing collaboration at scale
In his brilliant book, How The World Really Works, Vaclav Smil concludes: …of all the risks we face, global climate
Google scans your email
Have you ever considered how much information Google harvests about you? Google creates ‘shadow profiles’ of every user by tracking,
The conventional funding model, in which grant making bodies hand out six figure sums to qualifying organizations, is broken. At
Business as usual is unsustainable. Capitalism has legitimised the externalisation of various ‘costs’ to such an extent that it has
Artists in every field want to collaborate with each other and with their own community-supporting audiences. But trusted collaboration without
DecentGov
By definition our government should be decent. But it is not. Being decent requires ‘conforming with generally accepted standards of
OPEN 2020 took place entirely online over two days of talks and discussions and even some poetry - the videos
Bristol pay
This webinar starts with a presentation of the history of the Bristol Pound and the learnings gained from running the
OPEN 2020 was run using an open source video tool, managed by a new platform co-op, meet.coop. But how should
Although Mutual Credit has a strong pedigree, both theoretical and practical, it cannot be said to have ‘moved the needle’
Watch the Introduction to day 2 and discussion with Esther Foreman from the The Social Change Agency. Esther and team
At the end of Day 1 of OPEN 2020 - after 6 hours of focused discussion about co-creating the collaborative
During this session we hear from Iris Schönherr about the amazing Every One Every Day project they have been running in Barking
There are hundreds of thousands of groups and communities working on building a new economy, but no centralised control or
Every group, project or community needs digital tools to enable collaboration. But which tools should we choose? This is the
What is mutual credit? How does it work? How can we enable local mutual credit networks and transition away from
“Throughout history, problems have arisen when the language used to represent reality fails to meet the needs and aspirations of
OPEN 2020 is a collaborative online event for anyone that is interested in creating a world which places people and
building the commons economy - enric duran faircoin
In the run up to OPEN 2020 we interviewed Enric Duran, a founding member of the Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC
In this webinar we hear from Ferran Reyes of Vocdoni. Vocdoni is a FLOSS project building a privacy-centric platform for
In this webinar we hear from Grace Rachmany, Hedayat Abedijoo and Guillem Cordoba about Holochain. Holochain enables a distributed web with
Inn this OPEN 2020 Webinar we hear from Dandelion Mane at SourceCred and discuss how we can reward collaboration. SourceCred
In this third intro webinar of OPEN 2020 we hear from Xavier Damman, of Open Collective –  which lets groups
In this second intro webinar of OPEN 2020 - Christina Bowen, Joachim Stroh and Graham Mitchell introduce the Digital Life
In the lead up to OPEN 2020 we spoke to Nick Meyne from Resonate, the community-owned music network. OSB: How
Watch the first intro webinar of OPEN 2020 with Stacco Troncoso and colleagues from Guerrilla Media Collective discussing DisCos, Distributed Cooperative
The Open Co-op has a vision that we have championed for some time: That an open source platform which provides
OPEN 2020 is a collaborative online event for anyone that is interested in creating a world which places people and
In the run up to OPEN 2020, which will now be an online event, we caught up with Samer Hassan
As event organisers the safety of our community is paramount and for the last few weeks we have been closely
The following blog is a guest post from Daniel Heery, from Charge My Street - a platform co-op that installs
The main challenge we need to solve in the platform co-op community is how to reach critical mass… and how
I see a real need for “scaled connectivity” to advance our work as part of a viable ecosystem. In the
open-protocols
In my previous post on making groups work I argued that a centralised, cooperatively owned platform could be one of
What would a sustainable, universally beneficial economy look like? "Like a doughnut," says Oxford economist Kate Raworth. In this eye-opening
There is a growing consensus that enabling groups, and networks of groups, to work together, is essential to delivering exponential
This excellent animated video came out in 2010 in response to the failed 2009 Copenhagen Summit. It advocates a network
delivering-e-democracy
In his paper on ‘Democracy and E-Democracy - A discussion of the possibility of supplanting traditional representative democracy with e-democracy’,
One of our key projects at The Open Co-op is The Open Credit Network, which evolved out of OPEN 2018
The OPEN 2019 Community Gathering took place on the 27th and 28th of June in the event space at Tech
The Solidfund is offering members of worker co-ops bursaries to cover the costs of travel and tickets to the OPEN
The Open Co-op is proud to announce Paul Mason will be attending at OPEN 2019. Paul wrote the important and
*In this article I use the term ‘progressive movement’ to mean all the people and organisations that are working, or
The exploitation of temporary, freelance and out-sourced workers is a serious issue. As companies get bigger and more powerful, and
The Following talks took place at OPEN 2019 where The Open Co-op community tackled the calling question: How can we
Having re-watched the webinar on Catalysing Collaboration at Scale I wondered if it might be possible to identify some of
As a species, human beings are barely more intelligent than kindergarten kids. We revel at our place at the top
Below is a recording of a session from the OPEN 2018 conference about "When communities of practice meet the collaborative
Below is a recording of a session from the OPEN 2018 conference on "The BIG Questions: Tech, Power and Society"
See also the videos from the Main Hall, Workshop space and Open space. What happened at OPEN 2018? Connections Aside
OPEN 2018 - Welcome and reflections from day 1 Oliver Sylvester-Bradley provides an explanation of platform co-ops and a few
Here's the list of questions that were asked via Slido at OPEN 2018 on the Main Stage... a lot of
DAY 1 The workshop space at OPEN 2018 featured a range of session covering many different projects and approaches to
DAY 1 The Open Space sessions at OPEN 2018 were a chance for attendees to put forward their own discussion
OPEN 2018 is not just about showcasing platform co-ops. It’s about the ownership revolution and forging a path to a
Have you ever wondered why the world works like it does? Why things seem skewed in favour of the rich
In the run up to OPEN 2018, Oliver Sylvester-Bradley from The Open Co-op interviews Claire Tolan, a developer at Resonate,
This article is the second part of our interview with Matthew Schutte, Communications Director at Holochain, which covers their plans
"Politics does not have to be a grim thing - sitting in a chair listening to someone talk at you
Holochain is a new technology project with huge potential for the cooperative economy. Members of The Open Co-op have been
Resonate is a music streaming co-op and a great example of a platform co-op which is changing the way business
The following post is transcript of a recent webinar on "Decentralized co-operation at scale. What patterns work? What are the
The Solid Fund is offering members of worker co-ops bursaries to cover the costs of travel and tickets to the
We're very excited to announce that Riverford Organic's boss, Guy Watson, will be speaking at OPEN 2018 about giving the
It might come as a surprise – but something innovative is happening in Hull. Hull is one of those cities,
Co-owned web infrastructure is a clear goal for the co-op movement. As well as ensuring our data is not abused
There are now 7.1 million precarious workers in the UK. That is more than 20% of the UK workforce and
At OPEN 2018, one of the in-depth breakout workshops where we dig into the practicalities, will feature co-op experts explaining how
There's something exciting happening in the world of co-ops which harks back to the very beginning of the movement. Although
Trebor Scholz speaks at OPEN 2017 about the new role for co-ops, unions and tech within the burgeoning cooperative economy.
This little 1 min video highlights what to expect at OPEN 2018, the Platform Co-op conference on "Collaborative technology for
After an extremely successful event in February 2017 at Goldsmiths University The Open Co-op conference is back with a new
co-op-coins
Co-op coins are not a new concept but the days of trading locally minted coins for a pint of milk
This superb discussion about Platform Co-ops entitled "What happened to the future?" was the plenary at the recent event "The
If you work in any type of co-op, or non-hierarchical group, with open and inclusive values and aspirations for horizontal
At OPEN 2017 one of the open space sessions which was proposed by Phil Carey focused on "Inter-generational Collaborative Platforms".
Watch the videos from OPEN 2017 - The two day conference on Platform Co-ops, organised by The Open Co-op on
Brianna Wettlaufer is the CEO and Co-founder of Stocksy, a platform co-op which offers a highly curated collection of royalty-free
If you've ever wondered about how a new, collaborative, sustainable, democratic economy might work the new book 'Ours to Hack
In this mini video the Rt Hon John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaks about Labour's thoughts on
The following post presents a vision of an open source operating system, which we at The Open Co-op believe would
Budding tech entrepreneurs offered chance to win £2,000 PRIZE and business support for co-op tech entrepreneurs. People with ideas for
Technology is disrupting outmoded industries at an unprecedented rate. As the gyroscopic effects of the neoliberal model wobble out of
Douglas Rushkoff is a writer, documentarian, and lecturer whose work focuses on human autonomy in a digital age. He is
In 2015, Nathan co-organised “Platform Cooperativism,” a pioneering conference in New York, which kick started a wave of global discussion
Just like traditional co-ops, platform co-ops are organisations that are owned and managed by their members. While traditional co-ops are normally
What are ‘Platform Co-ops’? Platform cooperatives are online organisations which are owned and managed by their members. Platform co-ops follow
Platform co-ops, and the burgeoning movement behind them, are big news. For the first time since the inception of the
In 2010, when Transition Towns started growing into the hundreds in the UK, with another 250 worldwide, it felt like
Corbyn's Digital Democracy Manifesto supports Platform Co-ops
Platform Co-op Support The Open Co-op welcomes the support for Platform Cooperatives outlined in Jeremy Corbyn's Digital Democracy Manifesto (pdf).  Recent
Last month Shareable wrote a great article entitled "11 Platform Cooperatives Creating a Real Sharing Economy".   It's a really nice list of
Open Value Networks are very similar to Bettermeans' Open Enterprise ideas and variously described as "people creating value together, by
Originally published on 3CR Community Radio A podcast on The Internet of Ownership and Platform Co-ops with Nathan Schneider and
Image: Shareable Originally published on ABC Radio National Life Matters Show   Are you part of the virtual sharing economy?
A video from OuiShare Fest 2016 Speakers: Marc-David Choukran (La Ruche Qui Dit Oui) Yassir Fichtali (Up Group) Nathan Schneider
This article was originally published on Imperica High-tech tools of exploitation are being repurposed to build a fairer economy. The
Saturday night is not the time most people chose to meet to discuss disrupting democracy.  But that's what happened at