A community event in Denver on Thursday, Nov. 17 brought together advocates of cooperative ownership and members of Denver’s tech community to discuss how the cooperative movement can continue to grow, especially online.
“The internet is becoming the basis of our economy. If we want an economy where workers and communities retain the value they contribute, then we need to build that into the ownership structures of the internet,” said Nathan Schneider, a faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder. The event celebrated the release of his new book, Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet.
Representatives from several local companies presented their stories at the event:
- Drutopia – a cooperative initiative to build open-source web publishing platforms and tools for grassroots groups and small businesses.
- Green Taxi Cooperative – the Denver area’s newest taxi company, an 800-member, app-driven, driver-owned co-op.
- Kickfurther – a peer consignment platform for small businesses and self-governing groups.
- P2Binvestor – an equity-free investment platform.
The event then provided a space for members of Denver’s tech community and activists for economic justice to share ideas. Schneider, who recently spurred a movement for Twitter users to buy the platform for themselves, said the event brought together communities in new ways. “In Denver, we have a vibrant community of people interested in economic cooperativism and a strong tech industry with a lot of creativity and good will,” said Schneider. “Together, these two groups could be incredibly powerful, but they haven’t really come together yet.”
The event was sponsored by Colorado Cooperative Developers, Community Wealth Building – Metro Denver and the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication, and Information.
Learn more about the event at http://internetofownership.net/events/how-platform-co-ops-can-take-community-wealth-building-online/.