Rushkoff: Rebooting work: Programming the Economy for People

@douglasrushkoff - that's a really interesting problem.

I am not a reputable or even disreputable alt business consultant. We've been developing software for alt economy networks for several years, but I still consider it all to be working prototypes rather than scalable systems for general use by whoever. There are also many other groups that are creating related software, and some organizations that have some experience in this terrain: Sensorica, Enspiral, RobinHood Coop, Backfeed, and D-Cent come to mind immediately, but I know more exist. Which is sortof a problem, because we are all developing variations of the same system.

Re alt business consultants, I think Enspiral and RobinHood aspire to do that kind of thing. Steve Bosserman might be an individual addition to the mix.

But it seems like a list that the P2P Foundation could collect.

On the Fairmondo UK platform
https://fairmondo-uk.sharetribe.com/en
we have included a link on the menu tab to Cooperatives UK's new support service for new and.existing coops
http://www.uk.coop/the-hive/
Our hope is that the marketplace will identify opportunities for new products and services for the cooperative economy

Great to learn that the book is generating lots of inspiration to action. Whilst there are lots of helpful people out there with great expertise in this field they aren't perhaps as visible as they could be.

I know plenty of good highly skilled people in the UK in this sector and would be very happy to facilitate connections.

For my own part I'm really interested to connect with farmers that are interested in doing things differently. At Ooooby (https://ooooby.org) we're building a global #platformcoop style multistakeholder social business and want farmers and growers everywhere to get involved. We're already in NZ, AUS and California with a multi-millon dollar turoinver, and working on UK and Malaysia currently.

We (the P2P Foundation) do have a platform in mind in the near/mid term which would serve two main purposes:

1) Provide simple explanations of the Commons and P2P Economics :

• how they could revolutionize our socioeconomic system
• how they represent a realistic, achievable alternative to capitalism
• promoting Open Cooperativism as a step forward for the cooperative movement

2: Indexing all commons and P2P market initiatives, with a short description and a point of contact for each. (It would be an index, NOT a market, so it's compatible with all your "Fairs" (Mondos, Markets, etc)

The Internet of Ownership is already cataloguing these. For the time being we are developing protocols to make it really ease for people to contribute future listings for this platform in the Commons Transition Wiki. To be clear, the final platform wouldn't be a wiki, but something more akin to the Commons Transition site.

Dear @douglasrushkoff: I support Trebor/Nathan with #PlatformCoop in Europe. Can I help?
Attended #PlatformCoop Conference @NewSchool co-presenting with Michel Bauwens:
http://platformcoop.net/schedule/special-lunch-session-with-michel-bauwens

Summary of last #PlatformCoopBerlin Event in March - also with Michel Bauwens
http://de.slideshare.net/doennebrink/platform-cooperativism-60904094,
@TDoennebrink

Hi @douglasrushkoff, your question as to where to refer to is a very important one. It is especially tricky as commons-based community projects are decentralised by nature, so we haven't got any central space to refer to. That said, here are a few initiatives that converge various sectorial movements and could be a good starting point:

• http://wiki.commonstransition.org/
• http://directory.p2pvalue.eu/
• http://p2pfoundation.net/
• http://procomuns.net/ (we co-organised that in Barcelona, where we are collaborating with the City Council on municipal actions in this direction)
• http://freeknowledge.eu/ - I'm its president; a foundation that works on Free Knowledge & Free Technology infrastructures (open everything)
• http://didiy.eu/ we harvest resources and study the impact of Digital DIY (makers, digital fabrication, Internet of Things)
• http://thethingsnetwork.org/ Build your own Internet of Things network

We'll need to advance building decentralised platforms that interoperate and provide quicker access to all these collective resources....

Graham - what's your email? I can connect you with the American farmers' network looking for help/mechanisms.

@douglasrushkoff you can reach me at [email protected]

@douglasrushkoff you have clearly hit a nerve with this latest book, which is great. Three people you and @graham2 might benefit from talking to are permaculture movement founders Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, and Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins. They all have relevant experience in scaling up decentralized, global movements, without the need for a highly centralized, not-for-profit body running everything, by empowering every student to become a teacher (permaculture), and integrating with existing social structures to create community-driven projects on the ground (transition).

EDIT: I love the concept of the OCDA. I think it would be worth having a skim over Tazia Gaisford's Masters thesis, 'An Alternative to Development Framework: A Study of Permaculture and Anarchism in Global Justice Movements in New Zealand', for some ideas about how to make it work in practice, and especially how to make it scale.

There are two competing considerations regarding the Open Cooperative Development Agency (OCDA) mentioned here by @graham2. One is the concern that Graham raises about launching too soon, being unable to perform to expectations, and risking damage to the credibility of the concept, which is a valid one.

However, there is a great quote about how all complex systems evolve from simple systems, and starting a new thing requires creating the simplest possible version that can work (MVP or "Minimum Viable Product" in StartupSpeak), and scaling up from there. The other consideration, is the risk of trying to wait until the right moment, only to find that was actually now, when there is a wave of enthusiasm for change and a willingness to experiment, and we missed an opportunity. No doubt other waves will come, but I think its worth doing everything we can to surf the current one, and learn from all the mistakes that get made, so we can perform even better when the next wave comes.