Governance

Holochain – The commons engine for cooperation at scale

This article is the second part of our interview with Matthew Schutte, Communications Director at Holochain, which covers their plans to build a “Commons engine” to help provide co-ops with the tools they need to communicate, coordinate and cooperate at scale. In part two Matthew explains how Holochain enables “protocol” rather than “platform” cooperation,  by …

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Holochain – the perfect framework for decentralised cooperation at scale

Holochain is a new technology project with huge potential for the cooperative economy. Members of The Open Co-op have been promoting the idea that new software could, potentially, revolutionise both our failing democracies and our predatory capitalist economies, since 2004. Back then we weren’t quite so clear on exactly how the required information architecture should …

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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 explores her experiences of setting up and running a platform business as a co-op. OSB: Why did …

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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 PLANET. PLANET is not actually a software project, it is a …

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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 recently Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus. He recently authored a chapter of the new …

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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 online communities of members. The word ‘platform’ is often used to describe an internet service which brings together suppliers …

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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 the development of informational and material commons. They provide a viable alternative to the standard internet model based on monopoly and …

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