Where open meets co-op
In his paper on ‘Democracy and E-Democracy - A discussion of the possibility of supplanting traditional representative democracy with e-democracy’, Ehud Shapiro asks “Why has an Internet revolution of democracy not yet occurred?” He concludes that delivering e-democracy is more difficult than it seems, highlights the core values of democracy and uses these to detail the … [Read more...]
One of our key projects at The Open Co-op is The Open Credit Network, which evolved out of OPEN 2018 and our previous work on ideas for a co-op coin. Having tested a proof-of-concept and visited Sardex, a successful mutual credit network in Sardinia, we have now developed a bespoke directory and accounting system to enable UK businesses to trade via mutual credit. The … [Read more...]
The Open Co-op is proud to announce Paul Mason will be attending at OPEN 2019. Paul wrote the important and extremely timely book ‘PostCapitalism’ in 2015 and has recently published ‘Clear Bright Future: A radical defence of the human being’. He is a journalist, writer, documentary film‑maker, and international speaker about the impact of networks and automation on politics … [Read more...]
*In this article I use the term ‘progressive movement’ to mean all the people and organisations that are working, or would like to work, on creating a world in which people and planet come before profit. If the term does not sit comfortably with you please substitute ‘solidarity economy’ or whatever term you prefer that encapsulates the widest possible breadth of … [Read more...]
The OPEN 2019 Community Gathering will feature a selection of lightning talks explaining ideas and solutions that support the development of the collaborative, regenerative economy. Join us to tackle the calling question: How can we support each other to take more effective action to catalyse the collaborative, regenerative economy? Secure your place at OPEN 2019 … [Read more...]
Having re-watched the webinar on Catalysing Collaboration at Scale I wondered if it might be possible to identify some of the key themes of collaboration. Truly effective, synergistic, collaboration is an elusive beast at the best of times and the idea of making it work at scale, for decentralised projects and organisations, is possibly the essential challenge of our … [Read more...]
What happened at OPEN 2018? Connections Aside from all the presentations on the Main stage, the workshop sessions and the open space gatherings the main benefit, that people who attended highlighted, were the connections that were made at the event. Our mission brings together so many people from inter-related fields … [Read more...]
OPEN 2018 - Welcome and reflections from day 1 Oliver Sylvester-Bradley provides an explanation of platform co-ops and a few thoughts from Day 1. OPEN 2018 - A shared social vision Gary Alexander presents ‘A shared social vision’ including a few instant polls to get a sense of where those present agree and disagree. What might our collaborative, sustainable … [Read more...]
DAY 1 The workshop space at OPEN 2018 featured a range of session covering many different projects and approaches to building a more collaborative, cooperative future. We'd like to extend a big thank you to everyone who contributed and especially Simon Borkin and Alice Casey for facilitating the discussions. If you're interested in finding out more about any of the … [Read more...]
DAY 1 The Open Space sessions at OPEN 2018 were a chance for attendees to put forward their own discussion topics. People put forward proposals on Loomio in the run-up to the event, others voted and the most popular sessions took place over the two days of the event. We'd like to extend a big thank you to everyone who came and got involved, and Simon Borkin, David Bent and … [Read more...]