Loomio
Sun 14 Jan 2018 1:24PM

Introductions -- what do we bring? What do we hope to get?

MN Matt Noyes Public Seen by 28

As a way to get started, should we each post a short introduction stating what we have to offer that might be relevant to this reading group, and what we hope to learn/explore/discuss?

MN

Poll Created Sun 14 Jan 2018 1:26PM

Participant self-Introductions Closed Wed 24 Jan 2018 1:21PM

As a way to get started, should we each post a short introduction stating what we have to offer that might be relevant to this reading group, and what we hope to learn/explore/discuss?

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 100.0% 5 MC MN MK JT GSF
Abstain 0.0% 0  
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 5 LS MDB EM A M

5 of 10 people have participated (50%)

MC

Matthew Cropp
Agree
Sun 14 Jan 2018 2:47PM

Do we need a poll for this, or should we just get started?

MC

Matthew Cropp Sun 14 Jan 2018 2:51PM

Needless to say, I've been a co-op geek for a while, and went down a real rabbit hole when getting my MA in history studying the early credit union movement in the USA, so I'll probably be adding a few key readings from that journey to this list, as there's much to learn from both the structure and developmental trajectory of that model over the past century.

I'm also quite interested in effective governance structures and what drives (or disincents) participation in democratic organizations, so would be interested in having some polisci readings on that topic.

Finally, there are definitely some classic co-op movement books I have had on my reading list forever but have not read, so I'm hoping this group will be an opportunity to get them off the pile and into my head... :)

EM

Erik Moeller Mon 15 Jan 2018 9:21AM

My own background is more with conventional nonprofits -- I was an exec and Board member at Wikimedia for a long time and spent a lot of that time studying up on good governance, fundraising practices, etc. I'm pretty new to the co-op world and was drawn into it in part by the Medium piece on social.coop (I bet I'm not the only one here). Even my bank account is still with Wells Fargo :-(. That said, I have long believed that we need more cooperative economic approaches; to date I've been primarily focused on open source, open data, small gift fundraising, transparent governance, etc.

I hope that social.coop can seed communities of change: locally where each one of us resides, and globally through projects like platform co-ops. And I think equipping ourselves with the best available knowledge about co-operative approaches will make this (more) possible.

Not all of these books are going to be light reading, and like Matthew said, a reading group can be a great way to keep the momentum going by sharing highlights and learnings along the way. :-)

GA

Gabriela Avram Mon 15 Jan 2018 10:02AM

I grew up in communist Romania, where people were forced to give up their land and equipment and join coops. Afterwards, these coops were run by unscrupulous individuals appointed by the Communist Party. No need to say I dreaded the word itself! I have been living in Western Europe for the last 15 years, and I had the chance to see successful coops in housing, urban gardening, mobility and so on and I began to wonder and look deeper into the phenomenon. Last year I attended the Open Coop conference in London and I must say it was an eye opener for me. I am currently involved in a European network dedicated to the study of the collaborative economy and I am starting to look at the issue of co-housing in Ireland, from both a scholarly and a personal perspective. I will do my best to find the time for reading, although i know sometimes work will get madly crowded with deadlines. Looking forward to the challenge!

MK

Michele Kipiel Mon 15 Jan 2018 2:56PM

I come from a non-coop background as I never worked in one nor were practically involved in any prior to co-founding social.coop, despite being fairly well-read on the topic. I am an avid political reader with a particular interest in history and economy. I see this group as a way to both expand my reading list and share my experiences and thoughts with you. Looking forward to seeing the first selection of books!

MN

Matt Noyes Tue 16 Jan 2018 4:55AM

My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons...
Actually, I have lived in Tokyo for 15 years and will move to Colorado Springs this year. My background is mostly in participatory democratic education for movement building (aka popular education), mostly in the context of worker organizations (unions and workers centers). A few years ago, I became more interested in worker cooperatives and ended up doing (online) a Masters in Applied Social Economy and Cooperative Enterprise at Mondragon University. I am a member of an education collective (Social Justice Learning Collective) here. I have also been interested in the relation between internet/web tools and democratic organization. I wrote about using the web for union democracy, in the Troublemakers Handbook and the CyberUnion handbook.
What I want is to get a better grip on what platform cooperativism is, and isn't, and what are the implications for cooperativism and solidarity economy.

N

Neil - @[email protected] Wed 17 Jan 2018 9:08PM

I don't have much experience of coops (I was a volunteer member of a food co-op at university many moons ago, but didn't really appreciate the politics of it at the time.) In the UK I'm lucky to have the high street Co-op bank and supermarket both of which I'm a member, although that just involves using their services. I work at a charity and recently I've been drawn back into cooperativism through working with tech coops to help us on our projects. I'd be happy to learn something of the everyday nuts and bolts of coops; how (I hope) they can catalyse political movement away from capitalism; and also the intersection with tech, e.g. platform coops.

FD

Frédéric Dufays Mon 29 Jan 2018 8:41AM

I grew up in a family of both actors and beneficiaries of social economy enterprises, including co-ops. So it felt natural for me to chose such enterprises as a topic for my PhD dissertation. I am now working at KU Leuven (Belgium) to coordinate the set-up of a research and teaching centre on co-ops. Needless to say that a reading group could be a useful way for me to get books of my pile and to get insights on them from all over the world..

MAS

Michel Alexandre Salim Sat 10 Feb 2018 7:35PM

I've been a member of my university's credit union for over a decade (keeping the account when I left) and was a member of a co-op grocery, but until now I've not actively participated; I've also been involved in open source projects starting around that time, mostly as a package maintainer with the Fedora Project.

My day job is with one of the Attention Economy companies, which led to a period of self-reflection that ended up with me joining mastodon.social, seeing interesting toots from social.coop people, reading the Medium article on its mission and here I am!

I'm an avid reader with an interest in history, politics, and technology, and looking forward to learning more about co-ops together with everyone here. I've been on the lookout for something more sustainable than capitalism ever since reading a George Monbiot column decrying the unsustainability of always chasing economic growth, and I have a hunch co-ops will play a big part of any successful post-capitalist future.

I'm also taking the COOPSx Economic Democracy: The Cooperative Alternative at the moment.

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