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'''DisCO''' stands for "Distributed Cooperative Organization", the foundation of Guerrilla Translation’s governance model.
<big>For updated information on DisCO, please visit the [https://disco.coop/ DisCO.coop website]</big>


= '''Open Cooperativism and Distributed Cooperative Organizations (DisCOs)''' =
Welcome! This page will give you up to date information about the project described in the [[DisCO Manifesto]]. For background, you can also read our [http://disco.coop/2019/08/last-night-a-distributed-cooperative-organization-saved-my-life-a-brief-introduction-to-discos/ short introduction] to the DisCO framework.


<span style="font-weight: 400">Guerrilla Translation, as part of an umbrella organization (</span>'''Guerrilla Media Collective'''<span style="font-weight: 400">, in development), is an </span>'''Open Cooperative'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> and a pilot project for </span>'''Distributed Cooperative Organizations '''<span style="font-weight: 400">(or DisCOs)</span>
=Purpose=
The DisCO Project is meant to further the ideas and practices put forth in the DisCO Manifesto with a comprehensive framework designed to support the worldwide development of “Distributed Cooperativism”. The project’s aim is to create and provide the following:


'''Distributed Cooperative Organizations (or DisCOs) '''<span style="font-weight: 400">are a cooperative reaction to the individualistic and techno-deterministic </span>[https://medium.com/universablockchain/decentralized-autonomous-organization-what-is-a-dao-company-eb99e472f23e <span style="font-weight: 400">Decentralised Autonomous Organizations</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400"> (or DAOs).</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">DAOs are blockchain-based entities that execute payments, levy penalties, and enforce terms and contracts without human interaction. By contrast, a Distributed Cooperative Organization prioritizes </span>'''mutual support, cooperativism and care work among people'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> and is a practical framework for </span>[https://primer.commonstransition.org/1-short-articles/1-5-what-is-open-cooperativism <span style="font-weight: 400">Open Cooperativism</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400">.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">These are locally grounded, transnationally networked cooperatives focused on social and environmental work.</span>
# Comprehensive educational and legal resources for people to launch DisCOs
# Accessible software for value-sovereignty practices
# Pilot projects supported by hands-on mentorship guidance
# Participatory action research on distributed cooperativism


'''Open Cooperatives '''<span style="font-weight: 400">can be viewed as the experimental edge of the work of our </span>[https://stacco.works/2017/04/19/from-platform-to-open-cooperativism/ <span style="font-weight: 400">allies in Platform Cooperativism movement</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400">, exploring convergences between the Commons and P2P movements along with the world of cooperatives and the Social and Solidarity Economy. Harnessing the potential of the blockchain while addressing its deficits, DiSCOs prototype and allow for tailoring of the </span>[https://wiki.guerrillamediacollective.org/index.php/Commons-Oriented_Open_Cooperative_Governance_Model_V_2.0 <span style="font-weight: 400">Commons-Oriented Open Cooperative Governance Model</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400"> originally developed for Guerrilla Translation. Together, these can be greatly amplified to make distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) accessible to common people, cooperators and economically disadvantaged, breaking the monopoly of a white/male tech elite’s involvement and benefit. </span>
The DisCO project aims to prototype new and radical forms of ownership, governance, entrepreneurship, and value accounting meant to counteract pervasive economic inequality. To do this, a synergy is needed among clearly related but siloed sectors that, with better strategic alliances, will be well equipped to face the future with creative, inclusive solutions.


<span style="font-weight: 400">Harnessing the potential of the blockchain while addressing its deficits, DiSCOs are designed to prototype custom iterations of the </span>[https://wiki.guerrillamediacollective.org/index.php/Commons-Oriented_Open_Cooperative_Governance_Model_V_2.0 <span style="font-weight: 400">Commons-Oriented Open Cooperative Governance Model</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400"> originally developed for Guerrilla Translation.</span>
The four goals described above recombine in practice into several components, each of which are based on real-world pilot DisCOs and their experiences. These components reinforce one another and, as a suite of tools, form the educational, technological and legal bases of DisCOs.


<span style="font-weight: 400">Through </span>[https://wiki.guerrillamediacollective.org/index.php/Commons-Oriented_Open_Cooperative_Governance_Model_V_2.0 <span style="font-weight: 400">this model</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400">, DisCOs offer new forms of </span>'''multi-constituent''' '''ownership'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> with blockchain enabled Open Value accounting systems. These create levels of ownership in direct relation to members' contributions to three streams: pro-bono work to create commons, livelihood work, and care work (emotional labour, often invisibilized and gendered). DisCOs also reimagine </span>'''governance'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> through care work, trust, </span>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterarchy <span style="font-weight: 400">heterarchical</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400"> decision-making and open communication, mediated not by initial investment but through contributions to the social mission. Regarding </span>'''entrepreneurship'''<span style="font-weight: 400">,</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">the protocols build on the cooperative tradition of workplace democracy, and the mission-oriented practices of the Social Solidarity Economy,</span><span style="font-weight: 400"> augmented with the massive potential of distributed ledger technologies, transnational P2P platforms and </span>[https://truthout.org/articles/reimagine-don-t-seize-the-means-of-production/ <span style="font-weight: 400">manufacturing</span>]<span style="font-weight: 400">, and feminist economics. DisCOs have the potential for a robust and truly collaborative economic movement that challenges the status quo.</span>''' '''
The components are:


= '''Guerrilla Media Collective as a living prototype for DisCOS''' =
=DisCO Floor: Educational Resources and Legal Tools=
DisCO’s educational web platform (or the DisCO Floor) will house educational resources for cooperators to set up DisCOs anywhere. Examples: a DisCO learning journey (interactive MOOC course); knowledge base (via semantic wiki) with practical resources and tools; a reference DisCO Handbook; content (articles, videos, audiobooks, infographics); a program to create interactive DisCO governance models; guidance on existing legal structures for co-ops (and considerations for future legal co-op forms); and a directory of DisCO cooperatives worldwide.


'''Guerrilla Media Collective is the flagship/pilot Project for DisCOs'''
=DisCO Deck: Value Tracking Platform=
The DisCO economic model highlights value and its distribution in the workplace, and accounts for care and reproductive work. The DisCO Deck, or platform, will be the interface and back end for a DisCO’s “Community Algorithmic Trust” (the DisCO CAT). This will be a user-friendly, accessible online tool with a balanced integration of Web 3.0, distributed ledger and blockchain technologies. The DisCO Deck will facilitate value tracking, accounting, and other tools to support DisCO operations with stellar UX and an intuitive graphic interface. In contrast to an automated platform that executes smart contracts (as in a DAO) , the DisCO Deck will help educate mission-oriented cooperatives in a new, inclusive economic viewpoint that is enabling to all its members.


<span style="font-weight: 400">Guerrilla Media Collective is a commons-oriented, human-centered, living example of Open Cooperativism. As such, it embodies the values and carries out the practices promoted by the cooperative, open source and commons movements. </span>
=DisCO Experience: Research and Pilot Projects=
The development of the above will happen together with real cooperatives experimenting with the DisCO model, taking into account their needs and requirements. Pilot projects lined up are characterized by their geographic diversity and variety of orientations, yielding a range of case studies for the development of the DisCO Floor and Deck. Pilots will be mentored on the creation of their governance and economic models, DisCO Deck customization, and accessible documentation. Pilots will also play a key role in the co-creation of both platforms. The research will also examine themes such as intra-DisCO value flows, feminist economic critique of DAOs and its application to DisCO, appropriate legal frameworks, cryptocurrency use in DisCOs, public-DisCO partnerships for service provision, and more.
-----
See [[The DisCO Project (Draft Proposal)]] for more details or [[Guerrilla Media Collective and DisCOs]] to see how GMC plays a key role in the DisCO project.


<span style="font-weight: 400">Partnerships with like-minded entities will provide Guerrilla Media Collective with the support needed to </span>'''a)'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> mature, codify and open source our </span>'''cultural'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> practices for Open Cooperatives practising contributive accounting, and </span>'''b)'''<span style="font-weight: 400"> co-develop an attractive, modular legal/technical </span>'''infrastructure, '''<span style="font-weight: 400">easily adapted for other commons-oriented collectives, businesses and DisCOs. We believe that this combination of off-chain (cultural) and on-chain (structural) qualities is essential for any serious (non-vapourware) distributed project.</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">Finally, GMC offers </span><span style="font-weight: 400">a real-world</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">educational opportunity for those interested in things like creative work with a social and environmental benefit, open cooperativism, and non-hierarchical organising in digital spaces. We continue to share our experiences with similar workers, sharing our open-source governance model and thoroughly documenting our processes. </span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">As a longer-term aspiration, we see ourselves as </span>'''a group that operates as peer-to-peer mentors for other digital media workers'''<span style="font-weight: 400">, individual or collective levels, and as a prototype for similar collectives to federate the model and its digital infrastructure. Through sharing our hybrid pro-bono and paid model, we want to support more activists with digital media (or other) skills to work in ways that align with their own values. By supporting the resilience and maturation of </span><span style="font-weight: 400">Guerrilla Media Collective</span><span style="font-weight: 400">, prospective partners will invest in an already established and recognized collective that has proven to be capable of bridging its practices to commons-oriented, ethical enterprises. </span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">The set of cooperative practices and tools we are proposing continue to be real-world tested and documented. We are committed to working alongside the cooperative movements in harnessing the potentials of the digital economy for viable socio-economic outcomes. </span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">We are currently developing the Guerrilla Media Collective as a DisCO. </span>


[[category: community]]
[[category: community]]
[[category: Governance]]
[[category: Governance]]
[[category: DisCO]]

Latest revision as of 17:49, 3 May 2022

For updated information on DisCO, please visit the DisCO.coop website

Welcome! This page will give you up to date information about the project described in the DisCO Manifesto. For background, you can also read our short introduction to the DisCO framework.

Purpose

The DisCO Project is meant to further the ideas and practices put forth in the DisCO Manifesto with a comprehensive framework designed to support the worldwide development of “Distributed Cooperativism”. The project’s aim is to create and provide the following:

  1. Comprehensive educational and legal resources for people to launch DisCOs
  2. Accessible software for value-sovereignty practices
  3. Pilot projects supported by hands-on mentorship guidance
  4. Participatory action research on distributed cooperativism

The DisCO project aims to prototype new and radical forms of ownership, governance, entrepreneurship, and value accounting meant to counteract pervasive economic inequality. To do this, a synergy is needed among clearly related but siloed sectors that, with better strategic alliances, will be well equipped to face the future with creative, inclusive solutions.

The four goals described above recombine in practice into several components, each of which are based on real-world pilot DisCOs and their experiences. These components reinforce one another and, as a suite of tools, form the educational, technological and legal bases of DisCOs.

The components are:

DisCO Floor: Educational Resources and Legal Tools

DisCO’s educational web platform (or the DisCO Floor) will house educational resources for cooperators to set up DisCOs anywhere. Examples: a DisCO learning journey (interactive MOOC course); knowledge base (via semantic wiki) with practical resources and tools; a reference DisCO Handbook; content (articles, videos, audiobooks, infographics); a program to create interactive DisCO governance models; guidance on existing legal structures for co-ops (and considerations for future legal co-op forms); and a directory of DisCO cooperatives worldwide.

DisCO Deck: Value Tracking Platform

The DisCO economic model highlights value and its distribution in the workplace, and accounts for care and reproductive work. The DisCO Deck, or platform, will be the interface and back end for a DisCO’s “Community Algorithmic Trust” (the DisCO CAT). This will be a user-friendly, accessible online tool with a balanced integration of Web 3.0, distributed ledger and blockchain technologies. The DisCO Deck will facilitate value tracking, accounting, and other tools to support DisCO operations with stellar UX and an intuitive graphic interface. In contrast to an automated platform that executes smart contracts (as in a DAO) , the DisCO Deck will help educate mission-oriented cooperatives in a new, inclusive economic viewpoint that is enabling to all its members.

DisCO Experience: Research and Pilot Projects

The development of the above will happen together with real cooperatives experimenting with the DisCO model, taking into account their needs and requirements. Pilot projects lined up are characterized by their geographic diversity and variety of orientations, yielding a range of case studies for the development of the DisCO Floor and Deck. Pilots will be mentored on the creation of their governance and economic models, DisCO Deck customization, and accessible documentation. Pilots will also play a key role in the co-creation of both platforms. The research will also examine themes such as intra-DisCO value flows, feminist economic critique of DAOs and its application to DisCO, appropriate legal frameworks, cryptocurrency use in DisCOs, public-DisCO partnerships for service provision, and more.

See The DisCO Project (Draft Proposal) for more details or Guerrilla Media Collective and DisCOs to see how GMC plays a key role in the DisCO project.

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