Defining what meet.coop does - A handbook and a commons

Here we describe the main divisions of content in the handbook, and how they're related to the basic practices of operating a commons of digital infrastructure and a multistakeholder coop

The intention of meet.coop is

• to provision a stack of ’platform commons’ and

• make them available to members across a diverse range, with the entire operation

• under commons stewardship.

The core platform is for video conference and meetings - running servers with the BigBlueButton (BBB) conferencing software.

Stewarding a commons - Sections of a handbook

These three components of our intention correspond to the three basic elements of practice in a commons (represented by the 'mandala' icon at the bottom of the schema above):

• Provisioning of common means (under protocols - for example, UX - user experience)

• Mobilising aka ‘enjoying’ these means, under protocols (including maximum usefulness to members, in their everyday practice: not at all the same as UX); and

• Stewarding the commons (including determining the protocols and ensuring they’re applied)

It makes sense for the handbook to be organised on the same lines, as follows:

• Political economy/provisioning - Who contributes what, and what the relationships are between contributions (including meeting the economic needs of operational members of the coop through member subscriptions and fair wages)

• Plural community/mobilising - How we actively engage our plural, intersectional community of users, and actively enable them to make the most powerful use of the platform in their diverse activities of economic and cultural transformation; and

• Assemblies and deliberations/stewarding - How we conduct our practices of decision making, operational coordination, strategic steering and review, and contributor voice: in a multistakeholder commons-coop.