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We write about systems change, project updates and ideas to encourage collaboration at scale.
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PLANET - An open source operating system for a collaborative, sustainable economy
The following post presents a vision of an open source operating system, which we at The Open Co-op believe would help create a collaborative, sustainable economy. See the video at the end of this post for an introduction to the concepts and ideas behind...
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£2,000 prize and business support for co-op tech entrepreneurs
Budding tech entrepreneurs offered chance to win £2,000 PRIZE and business support for co-op tech entrepreneurs. People with ideas for new digital co-ops are being invited to pitch their ideas in a dragon’s den-style panel, with the chance of winning...
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Disrupting capitalist democracy
Technology is disrupting outmoded industries at an unprecedented rate. As the gyroscopic effects of the neoliberal model wobble out of control Paul Mason suggests the end of capitalism has begun and even the IMF is questioning whether their capitalist...
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Re-writing the core code of business: A Q&A with Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff is a writer, documentarian, and lecturer whose work focuses on human autonomy in a digital age. He is the author of fifteen bestselling books on media, technology, and society, including Program or Be Programmed, Present Shock, and most...
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Democracy spreads like a virus: A Q&A with Nathan Schneider
In 2015, Nathan co-organised “Platform Cooperativism,” a pioneering conference in New York, which kick started a wave of global discussion about online democratic platforms. He recently co-edited the book, Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform...
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An introduction to Platform co-ops
Just like traditional co-ops, platform co-ops are organisations that are owned and managed by their members. While traditional co-ops are normally based around a physical community of members, platform co-ops live online and are normally populated by...
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Platform Co-ops - Definition and history
What are ‘Platform Co-ops’? Platform cooperatives are online organisations which are owned and managed by their members. Platform co-ops follow the principles of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA). They are democratically governed and support...
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Introducing Open 2017 – what are platform co-ops?
Platform co-ops, and the burgeoning movement behind them, are big news. For the first time since the inception of the internet a consensus is forming around a new model of economics and governance. At The Open Co-op we have been working on this concept...
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The murmurations of a collaborative, sustainable economy
In 2010, when Transition Towns started growing into the hundreds in the UK, with another 250 worldwide, it felt like something was really happening. Like ‘the people’ might me about to start taking control of their town’s futures. When...
Corbyn's Digital Democracy Manifesto supports Platform Co-ops
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 Deliveroo and UberEats strikes highlight the importance of “the inalienable right of...

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