we promote new governance structures

The Open Co-op is working to promote new governance structures, which provide democratic methods to steward our collective endeavours. Cooperatives, and Platform Co-ops, provide a blue-print for democratic business in which all members get a say in how the business is run.

Our two main projects in this area are Co-op Data Club and Meet.coop, which are both member-owned.

A co-op of co-ops that flips the standard data model
via inter-coop marketing and promotions.

Open source meeting and conferencing tools,
powered by renewable energy

Read more about our work on governance in the posts below:

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"Creating a financial model that benefits the many over the few" - A Q&A with Brianna Wettlaufer, CEO of Stocksy
Brianna Wettlaufer is the CEO and Co-founder of Stocksy, a platform co-op which offers a highly curated collection of royalty-free stock photography and video footage. In the run-up to OPEN 2017, where Brianna will be speaking, Oliver Sylvester-Bradley...
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Book review - Ours to Hack and Own
If you’ve ever wondered about how a new, collaborative, sustainable, democratic economy might work the new book ‘Ours to Hack and Own – The rise of platform cooperativism, a new vision for the future of work and a fairer internet‘,...
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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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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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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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Podcast: The Internet of Ownership
Originally published on 3CR Community Radio A podcast on The Internet of Ownership and Platform Co-ops with Nathan Schneider and others: https://open.coop/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2016/06/201606081730_renegade-economists_64.mp3 Download MP3 Rising...
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Platform Cooperatives and Beyond: The Future of Collaborative Governance?
A video from OuiShare Fest 2016 Speakers: Marc-David Choukran (La Ruche Qui Dit Oui) Yassir Fichtali (Up Group) Nathan Schneider (Platform Cooperativism) Moderator: Marguerite Grandjean (OuiShare) https://ouisharefest.com
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The Case for a FairShares Model of Enterprise
The best thing about going to the Co-op Bank Crisis: Ways Foward for the Co-operative Movement conference organised by Co-operative Business Consultants was getting introduced to Rory Ridley-Duff by Mark Simmonds as someone else who is interested in multi-stakeholder...