Organisational Design for the 21st Century
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 the development of informational and material commons. They provide a viable alternative to the standard internet model based … [Read more...]
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 since 2004 and continue to advocate that the internet provides the ultimate tool to help reorganise society and facilitate the … [Read more...]
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 the Occupy movement camped up on the steps of St Pauls with that huge "CAPITALISM IS CRISIS" banner in 2011, it felt like protest had reached … [Read more...]
Open Value Networks are very similar to Bettermeans' Open Enterprise ideas and variously described as "people creating value together, by contributing work, money and goods, and sharing the income" a "framework for many-to-many innovation" and a "model for commons-based peer production". The idea is probably most clearly outlined by Sensorica's Tiberus Brastaviceanu in … [Read more...]
Enric Duran of the Catalan Integrated Cooperative has taken the time to comment on Michel Bauwens’ recent article on Open Coops, contrasting Bauwens’ proposals with the practical realities already under way in the CIC’s own forward thinking cooperativist environment. Guerrilla Translation, as a sister collective to the P2P Foundation has copy-edited Duran’s replies. Bauwens’ … [Read more...]
At a recent Solidarity Economy event hosted by Locality and organised by Pat Conaty, Robin Murray put a tenner on the table and encouraged others to join him in order that we can together create the first UK based member of RIPESS Europe, the European wing of RIPESS, the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy. I thought it was a great idea, … [Read more...]