Toward an Open Co-Operativism
Pat Conaty and David Bollier, Commons Transition
“The power of open source principles, now proven beyond a doubt, is rapidly proliferating into many other areas of culture, production and social life. The prospect of more participatory, socially convivial forms of production – accountable to communities and mindful of the larger common good – has never seemed more achievable. Still, there are important organizational, legal and financial hurdles to overcome – not to mention cultural and political differences – that must be dealt with if co-operatives are to find common ground with digital commoners and peer producers. Fortunately, there are emerging models such as multi-stakeholder cooperatives that could be vehicles for such cooperation.” Read full paper.
Since 1993 we’ve been experimenting with a strategy for convening this kind of large-‐system conversation and we are excited at how well our approach is working, and the prospect for how it can work at the national and global levels. Our approach is different than the one described in the Project paper, however. And it’s different from “Deliberative Democracy” approaches in general because it aims for a creative conversation, rather than one that is deliberative. This requires a different set of facilitation skills and understandings about group process.
PDF (7 Pages): To Facilitate a National Conversation
Robert, you are the originator of the concept of a Smart Nation, with your article in 1996 published in the Government Information Quarterly, entitled “Creating a Smart Nation: Strategy, Policy, Intelligence, and Information.” Quebec is a nation, recognized by Canada, with a distinct culture, a distinct geography, and perhaps a distinct future.
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