Platform Cooperativism and
the Free Software Movement

Micky Metts

A member of Agaric, a worker-owned tech and web development cooperative based in Boston, Managua, Hamburg and Minneapolis.Known as FreeScholar, Activist Hacker Industry Organizer Public Speaker Connector Advisor and Visionary. I act as a liaison between the Solidarity Economy Network (SEN) and The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), with an intention to bring communities together. I am a member of the Free Software Foundation and Drupal, a community based on free software. I grew up in Weston, CT and now live in Boston, MA with my long-time partner John M. Crisman.I support Platform Cooperativism in education as a bridge to the community.

Agaric.com

Building the tools for the future

Platform Cooperativism is a movement spreading around the world. Its already creating a fairer kind of Internet:

If users owned their own social media, they could set terms of service in which they keep control over personal data

If gig-workers controlled their own apps, they could combine flexible schedules with the rights and benefits they need

New Bitcoin-powered blockchain technologies create possibilities for platforms with no central company in charge

Co-op platforms can cooperate with each other by building free software solutions for common use

Stocksy.com a worker-owned coop

Platform co-ops bring democracy to the online economy

Boston Collaboratory School

Co-ops are more likely to pay living wages and promote community wealth

Democratic businesses experience lower failure rates and more sustainable growth

Cooperation tends to empower those on the margins of society

By serving people before profits, co-ops put us in control of the economy

A Solution:

We want to make sure that every student has their needs met--socially, emotionally, physically, spiritually and academically. We are going to do this through providing students access to personalized learning, interdisciplinary approach, where we help students see, develop, and work the connections between content and real world experiences.

Platform for Group Decisions

Drutopia is an initiative to revolutionize the way we build online tools. We're combining the principles of software freedom, community ownership and intersectional politics to co-develop technologies that meet our needs and reflect our values.

Tools such as Squarespace and NationBuilder have lowered the cost for launching a website. However, these tools are limited in functionality and push people getting into web development for a cause into the dead end of proprietary services.

You cannot build a movement based on freedom on top of a proprietary foundation

Drutopia.org

Platforms connect people with each other.Online platformsfrom Google to Uber and thousands more in betweenare transforming our workplaces, our relationships, and our lives. A lot of this is great. But there are some big-time problems:Tools that appear to be free often come at the cost of selling our valuable personal informationHuge monopolies are capturing important markets like search, transportation, and social networkingLabor platforms are managing to bypass worker protections like sick leave and insuranceUsers have virtually no control over the platforms that affect their lives

Students

Community

1969

Weston, CT High School ~ Class of 1971

The anthology is newly published by OR Books:Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of PLATFORM COOPERATIVISM, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet.

Platform Cooperativism Concept

Trebor Scholz developed the idea of Platform Cooperativism in his recent book.

Uberworked andUnderpaid: How Workers AreDisrupting the DigitalEconomy

Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse

An up-close, inside account of Occupy Wall Streets first year in New York City, written by Nathan Schneider.

What does this look like in practice?

Stocksy is a stock-photo platform with multi-million-dollar revenues owned by its photographersdiscussion list Fairmondo is an online marketplace for goods owned by its vendorsLoconomics is a gig platform that connects employers with worker-ownersRobin Hood Minor Asset Management is an investment fund whose members support commons-based projectsThere are many more platforms than those, and an ecosystem to support them, which were gathering in our Directory.

How can I take part?

Learn about the Platform Cooperativism conferences and explore the resources in our LibraryContribute to our Directory to help share knowledge about the platform co-op ecosystemTake part in the R&D efforts of the Platform Cooperativism ConsortiumOrganize people with legal, technical, and financial expertise to support platform co-ops in your area and coordinate globally through our

How do I get there?

https://www.fightforthefuture.org/ateams/

Find someone you love to work with.

Pick an issue area and angle.

Do activism full-time using every connection, skill, tool, and trick at your disposaluntil you win.

Resources and Links

Articles about Cooperatives:http://www.thenews.coop/

The Guardian - http://bit.ly/1s83iyE

The ecologist - http://bit.ly/1oaxYyt

http://shareable.net/blog/how-to-start-a-worker-co-op

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpg4PjGtbu0 - The Sharing Economy Janelle Orsi

"Tech Cooperatives: A Better Way to Make a Living" http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP9313 with Jack Aponte of http://palantetech.com

Starting a cooperative:

http://banyanproject.coop/starting-a-news-co-op

tech-coop@npogroups.org -the best tech-worker-coop-related mailing list that i know of

http://npogroups.org/lists/info/tech-coop

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/workercoop/info

http://www.techworker.coop/