DisCO DNA 2: Open Cooperativism and the Social Solidarity Economy

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DisCO’s DNA is largely related to the combination of Open Cooperativism and Platform Cooperativism. What's the difference? We wrote the article From Platform to Open Cooperativism, explaining how they diverge but also complement each other. This led directly to our work in DisCO.

Open Cooperativism was initially discussed in 2014 as part of a Commons Strategies Group Deep Dive called, "Toward an Open Cooperativism". The resulting report, by David Bollier and Pat Conaty, describes historical and then-current examples and much inspirational information.

Following the same thread, we recommend Common Strategies Group’s introduction and resources on Open Cooperativism, Shareable’s explainer on Platform Cooperativism. Nathan Schneider and Trebor Scholz are two prominent advocates for radically fair applications of Platform Cooperativism. Schneider wrote the whirlwind tour of the cooperative movement Everything for Everyone the Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy. Scholz wrote Uberworked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy, and together they compiled Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, A New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet.

In the company of such brilliant minds in the field as McKenzie Wark or Renata Avila, DisCO.coop’s founders Ann Marie Utratel and Stacco Troncoso were honored to be invited to contribute to Autonomy.work’s Platforming Equality: Policy Challenges for the Digital Economy, one the papers featured. The full document explored emerging challenges in the digital economy and how various forms of cooperativism could answer them.

You can find much written about Platform and Open Cooperative practices drawn from the experiences of Enspiral or one of its community working groups, Better Work Together. It’s also worth looking at projects such as Civic Square and Participatory City’s Designed to Scale.

The cooperative movement has a large presence in the Social and Solidarity Economy, with which it shares features such as democratic and participatory management, fair distribution of wealth and commitment to the community. Art.coop is a network that connects and supports creatives in the Solidarity Economy sphere, and the RIPESS website is a rich source of knowledge in this subject. To learn more about this and mutual cooperation, we also recommend reading complementary articles like What is Social Solidarity Economy, Not alone: what the UK can learn from union co-ops, Joreen’s evergreen The Tyranny of Structurelessness, and Co-Op Ownership: 175 Years Of People Over Profits.