The Project

Funder: The Google.org Foundation

Description: Building on the successes of the free & open-source software movement, platform cooperativism adapts the proven business model of cooperatives to bring democratic governance, transparency, and broad-based ownership to the digital economy. Platform cooperativism is a concept and a growing international movement that builds a fairer future of work. Rooted in democratic ownership, co-op members, technologists, and freelancers create a concrete near-future alternative to the extractive sharing economy. Making good on the early promise of the Web to decentralize power, this comprehensive development kit will educate workers and offer the tools to create fair jobs and transform a slice of the digital economy at a time when labor markets are shifting to the Internet.

The primary objectives of the Platform Co-op Development Kit are:

To create an interactive learning commons that supports a generative knowledge community that inclusively, tailored to the full spectrum of participants and audiences, shares and advances knowledge and critical understanding of cooperative economic models and the digital economy. It also includes a map that accounts for projects and contributors worldwide.
Through iterative co-design processes, we refine building blocks, adaptable tools and supportive scaffolds for establishing and maintaining a platform co-op.
To empower prospective and current platform co-ops to adapt and sustain a platform and the accompanying socio-technical practices to suit their needs and to participate in the cooperative commonwealth.

Links:

Platform Cooperativism defined

"Platform cooperativism is a growing international movement that builds a fairer future of work. It’s about social justice and the bottom line. Rooted in democratic ownership,co-op members, technologists, unionists, and freelancers create a concrete near-future alternative to the extractive sharing economy.

Making good on the early promise of the Web to decentralize the power of apps, protocols, and websites, platform co-ops allow households with low and volatile income to benefit from the shift of labor markets to the Internet. Steering clear of the belief in one-click fixes of social problems, the model is poised to vitalize people-centered innovation by joining the rich heritage and values of co-ops with emerging Internet technologies."

source: https://platform.coop/about