Where open meets co-op
The following blog is a guest post from Daniel Heery, from Charge My Street - a platform co-op that installs and operates community chargepoints for electric vehicles, which is currently raising money through community shares. An the first Open Conference back in 2017, I took part in the #DigiDen session with 2 other putative Platform Co-ops. We all pitched our ideas, … [Read more...]
In my previous post on making groups work I argued that a centralised, cooperatively owned platform could be one of the most effective ways to catalyse the co-creation of a new economy, right now. My argument for centralisation is based wholly on practicalities - and the urgency of the need. The climate emergency, coupled with the other systemic challenges we face (debt, … [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...]
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 PLANET. PLANET is not actually a software project, it is a vision which aims to illustrate some of the concepts and … [Read more...]
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 agenda was a 30 year long mistake. This article analyses how platform businesses disrupt industries and suggests how emerging … [Read more...]
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 recently Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus. He recently authored a chapter of the new book on Platform Co-ops Ours to Hack and … [Read more...]
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 Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet. In the run up to the Open 2017 - Platform Co-ops … [Read more...]
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 online communities of members. The word ‘platform’ is often used to describe an internet service which brings together suppliers … [Read more...]
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...]