Where can I learn about FairShares?
Rory (as User)
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Dear FairSharers (particular FairShares labs trainers), last week I was at the Open Coops conference with Steve Gill (of VME Retail). He is finalising software to create a ‘co-operative exchange’ to raise money for FairShares enterprises and other co-operatives. His knowledge of FairShares is particularly sharp, and yet he only encountered it for the first time last December, so I asked where he learnt about it.
He mentioned a YouTube video ‘The Simple Guide to FairShares’ that I created in 2016 in response to misleading comments by people in the co-operative movement (who should have known better). They claimed that FairShares was ‘complicated’. I responded that ‘simple’ organisations lead to complications because they fail to acknowledge and enfranchise the stakeholders needed for effective cooperative action. Given the value of this resource to his learning (just a 40 minutes investment in study), I thought I would alert people to it again.
I never publicised it because I started working on a new script to get it down to 30 minutes. However, pending a revised version, here is the original. It also exists in five separate YouTube videos for those who cannot concentrate for 40 minutes!
Graham Boyd Thu 30 Aug 2018 12:49PM
Rory,
A thought - to make visible the nature of this - is to do a video in the style of an FAQ, and get multiple different people to record each answer.
Rory (FSA) Sat 22 Sep 2018 3:51PM
Nick (working with Cliff) is on the case.
Steve Gill Sun 23 Sep 2018 4:35AM
I just saw that! Nice :) I also am working on a series of explainer videos for Coop Exchange, and FairShares is one in the series. Haven't started the FairShares one yet, but will post it here once the 1st draft is done.
Rory (FSA) Tue 12 Mar 2019 1:50PM
In case anyone has missed the news (or FairShares Association emails). There are now three courses available FairShares at:
Opening page has videos to show you how to register on the platform, then enrol on the course of your choice. Two courses are designed as part of a "Certified FairShares Professional" development pathway accredited by the FairShares Association Ltd (fairshares.coop) and Social Enterprise International (sei.coop).
Will you be the next Certified FairShares Practitioner?
Steve Gill · Wed 29 Aug 2018 3:42PM
Hi Rory, sorry for the late reply - holiday season and I'm just catching up now!
I just re-watched the whole 40 minutes again, and despite having a greater understanding of FairShares now than when I first watched it, I still found it very useful to recap - especially the 'circles' which are an excellent way to illustrate the different classes.
As mentioned a few weeks ago, I still think FairShares would massively benefit from an explainer video, like Co-operative Europe's Collaborative Economy video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3qt04mYIno&t=1s) - as short as possible, so if it can be explained (briefly) in 60 seconds, fantastic!
I'd be happy to help with that, indeed I'll probably end up trying it myself unless others would like to get involved (which would be fantastic).