What exactly is a commons oriented initiative and how could it be sustainable

What is exactly a commons oriented
initiative and how could it be
sustainable?
Marcela Basch
@marbasch
@elplancnet
ECONOMIA COLABORATIVA Y CULTURA LIBRE

ECONOMIA COLABORATIVA Y CULTURA
LIBRE
Naming the commons we could learn to
reclaim them.
David Bollier, Think like a commoner, 2014

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Collaborative economy usually means…
Decentralization and distribution instead of centralization
(of capital, power, decisions, actions).
Acces instead of ownership.
P2P networks and desintermediation.
Anticonsumerims, enviromental conscious, fair trade, equity, focus on humans.
Commons orientation.
Wide variety of initiatives, both for profit and nonprofit, concerning material
and inmaterial goods, services, knowledge, rights, food, technologie, spaces,
identities. Not all always compatible!

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#coworkings #community gardens #p2p rental #p2p tourism #AirBnb
#Couchsurfing #carpooling #Uber? #common good economy
#system B #anticonsumerism #degrowth #free software #free
hardware #desintermediaton #sustainability #free culture #network
culture #collaborative economy #collaborative consumption #p2p
production #sharing economy #commons #fablabs #permaculture
#repair clubs #disco soup #food sharing #bikes #p2p education #moocs
#commons #p2p lending #crowdfunding #citizen innovation #sharing
cities #public space #abundance #second hand markets #open acces
#open data #open gov #coops #circular economy #equity #social justice
#buen vivir #postcapitalism #trust #open source #community #copyleft
#decentralization #p2p networks #responsible consumption
#democracy #wikipedia #creative commons #gift economy #transition

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To summarize, visibilize, understand, impulse:
EL PLAN C
The first website in Argentina focused on news and resources about collaborative economy
as a whole. Mission: try to make sense of this wide range of activities and initiatives:
coworkings + community gardens (not ruled by government).
makerspaces + analogical repair clubs
online second hand sales platforms + physical “all free” fairs to recirculate goods
free software + free hardware + collaborative natural construction + permaculture
carpooling + common good + disco sopa + open data + citizen innovation
and more...

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What we do
Research
The guide: an up-to-date directory of
collaborative resources and initiatives
in Argentina, both for profit and
non profit, material and inmaterial
First and second survey about coworking
in Argentina, 2014 and 2015
First survey about makerspaces
in Argentina, 2015

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What we do
Talks
Green Drinks, Sustainable Brands,
Coworking Week, a lot more
Press
We impulse collaborative economy in
the agenda through regular contributions
and interviews in the media.
Coverage
We cover the collaborative scene
with chronicles, articles and
interviews, also in social networks.

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What we do
Events in collaboration:
First International Collaboration Day, International
Ridesharing Day, Disco Soup in Argentina
Open Minkas, collaborative consultancy, with Minka
Collaborative Economy Week 2014, 2015 y 2016:
Decentralized celebration with more than 100
collectives involved in 20 cities, from México
to Patagonia, with Minka
Encuentro Comunes/Commons: first big international
meeting about collaborative economies in Buenos
Aires, May 4-7 2016, with Goethe-Institut and Minka.
ENCUENTRO COMUNES
COMMONS // FIRST BIG
INTERNATIONAL MEETING
ABOUT COLLABORATIVE
ECONOMIES IN BUENOS
AIRES // 2016

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Commons meaning?
Pool of shared resources in a community, either material o immaterial, analogical or
digital.
A kit of rules to use those resources and make them available to everyone.
An approach, a perspective, a language to frame our world and lives.
A resistance and resilience culture against privatisation and mercantilization.
Some values: ethics, fairness, equity, openness, p2p, reciprocity, focus on humans?
.

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Procomuns: commons oriented
collaborative economy, Cataluña:
Purpose: “Open the debate about wich models to foster inside
administrations:
commons oriented / local / cooperative Vs corporations oriented/ delocal /
private
3 simple questiones by Dirk Holemans
to measure “collaborativeness”
1. Who owns the resource?
2. How are the revenues managed?
3. Is it a logic of growth or sufficiency?

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15 indicators as evaluation criteria
(Thomas Doennebrink, 2015)
1. Adding value locally (v.s skimming value locally)
2. Fostering resilience (v.s. crisis prone)
3. Strewing ownership (fairer) (v.s. concentrating ownership)
4. Extending/multiplying options & roles (v.s. reducing option and roles)
5. Self-determination & participation (v.s. heteronomy)
6. Self-design/formation & co-creation (v.s. unalterable preconfiguration)
7. Promoting community & relationships / including (v.s.
isolating/excluding)
8. Versatile/collaborative/communal use (v.a. exclusive/individual use
(sale&one-way product)
9. Openess & transparency (v.s silo & intransparency)
10. Horizontal (peer) structure (v.s. hierarchical structures)
11. Saving/protecting resources (circular economy) (v.s.
consuming/wasting resources)
12. Participation- & Co-creation diversity beyond money (v.s. only via
money)
13. Building trust (v.s. isolation, spreading mistrust)
14. Common good oriented (vs. particular interests)
15. Basic needs (vs. luxury demand)

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So what is exactly a commons oriented
initiative (and what’s not)?
-an NGO? A non profit organization? a charity?
-a reserch project/ lab? a personal project?
- a coop? a platform coop, an open coop, a regular one?
-a company or startup? could the profit be compatible with the commons orientation?
a. If so, would that be a regular company with just some "commons
orientation"?
b. Or coded somehow, for instance a B corp, wich retains the right to take
decisions opposed to earning money to facilitate the "other mission"?
c. What about the benefits of the company or initiative? Would they be
compromised or regulated? How?
Does it depend only in the value that it delivers? How should that value be distributed or
protected to consider it a COI?
Is it relevant how it’s funded? How is it managed? How does it manage data?

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Core values: ethics, common good, equity, reciprocity, dignity, human
oriented
How to protect the commons we produce
from appropriation that doesn’t fit the values?
How to protect the idea of the commons from
the “commonswashing”?

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So who is creating and protecting the
commons?
And how?
With wich resources?

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You are. We are. How do we make it
sustainable?

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If commons oriented work is not financially
sustainable, then it ends in the hands of only
very privileged people.

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Neither free software, nor crowdfunding will
save us from capitalism. We can’t overthrow
capitalism by undertaking work merely for
the Lulz, we need to create new value
circuits that allow is to build new means of
survival for the planet, and only then can we
do away with capitalism.
Dymitri Kleiner

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Capitalism
M - C - M’
Lulz Economy
M – C – LOL
Voluntary Commons Economy
M-C-LOL+R

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Possible Open Source / pro Commons
sustainability models
-On public resources
Computadora Industrial Abierta Argentina - Open Science
-On international funding
Open Source Ecology
-Voluntary contributions or donations (financial or other), memberships and
workshops (unstable and heavily depending on active communication)
-Freemium models / Consultation
Information is open, tailored information or support is a product we sell
-Diferencial services or craft: the way I do it => branding (with copyright)
Reputation needed!
Open source beers, Opendesk, Arduino, Red Hat
Combined with workshops for open innovation
-Coop with your competitors (if they allow you)

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Open Business Models
From Made with Creative Commons book
-Custom services
-Charging for physical goods
-Charging for the in-person version (conferences)
-Merchandising
-Advertisers and sponsors
-Providing services
-Crowdfunding
-Pay what you want

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We have to creative.
ASAP

¡Gracias! Thanks!
Marcela Basch
www.elplanc.net
fb: elplanc
tw: @elplancnet

What exactly is a commons oriented initiative and how could it be sustainable

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