Social.Coop Community Cafes
One of the ideas generated in our Strategy Sessions was holding regular "Community Cafes" for folks in social.coop to connect more deeply. This thread will help us plan and schedule these meet ups.

Yasuaki Kudo Thu 17 Feb 2022 8:58AM
Yet another thing is I recently started hosting "Workers' Cafe" - we need more Cafes! https://patio.ica.coop/t/workers-cafe-tokyo-march-2022/570

Yasuaki Kudo Thu 17 Feb 2022 2:47AM
And there is this video clip https://youtu.be/k9QIBw5TWBM

Yasuaki Kudo Thu 17 Feb 2022 2:43AM
Another area I think about often is worker coop electronic transaction systems. GNU Taler is an interesting project.

Yasuaki Kudo Thu 17 Feb 2022 2:36AM
I often also often think about some kind of securitization - if we create a standard enterprise plan, to which a worker coop chooses to subscribe, part of the plan is to borrow money on the promise of a share of future expected profits? For simple businesses this might do - say a worker coop is to build and operate a power station - then future profits can be easily calculated with a declared degree of uncertainty (price fluctuations, Act of God, etc)
Thus, some kind of reasonable securitization terms and conditions can be engineered? Then the worker coop can shop around banks that would be interested 😄

Richard Hull Thu 17 Feb 2022 11:56AM
Hi Caitlin, yes i'm interested in talking about public banking. I'm also very interested in social impact bonds but I think that is indeed a very separate and contentious topic - I'm quite critical of them.

Yasuaki Kudo Thu 17 Feb 2022 2:21AM
This is an excellent topic - For example, I would love to know what existing institutions think about "worker coop revolution". IMHO, this will create a solid business-line, along with others like home mortgage, etc. I think some enterprising ones can lead the way! weekdays = 3PM Eastern (5AM Tokyo) Weekends/Fridays = more flexible

Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop Wed 16 Feb 2022 11:13PM
I'd like to organize a discussion of public banking. Are you interested? Please share specific times on specific dates that would work for you, and I'll create a poll Also, please think about a few common reads that we might share with everyone on an optional reading list. (And, I also want to talk about social impact bonds, but I think it is too much to tack on to this discussion so maybe tell me your interest in that topic too.)
Mica Fisher Tue 26 Oct 2021 4:37PM
Hello! I have recently cleaned up the Community Cafe sign up doc, check it out here. We'd love to see some cafe's this fall! Cozy up in your home with your favorite fall beverage and spend some time chatting with your cooperatively-minded internet friends 😉

Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop Tue 29 Jun 2021 2:34PM
I put it on my calendar and invited a friend! 😎

Nick Sellen Tue 29 Jun 2021 9:32AM
... I'll just go for it :)

Nick Sellen Mon 28 Jun 2021 11:36AM
Ok, I picked a date/time and put it in the spreadsheet:
Hands on introductory session about Karrot: "Start a group, become a community" https://karrot.world
6th July (2021-07-06)
9am West Coast USA
12pm East Coast USA
5pm London
6pm Central Europe
would appreciate a nod (or otherwise) from @Matt Noyes (or someone else) that it's all good, then would go about promoting it (on mastodon only I guess...). I guess people from non-social.coop instances can join too? (and I signed up for meet.coop social.coop account, waiting for the invite link on that).

Matt Noyes Wed 16 Jun 2021 9:05PM
I think you have to experiment. Maybe @Mica Fisher has ideas?

Nick Sellen Wed 16 Jun 2021 9:01PM
Great! Is there a format/structure that you've found worked well so far? I'd like to do something as interactive as possible....probably create a demo group that people can play around with... that kind of thing...

Matt Noyes Wed 16 Jun 2021 8:38PM
Very interested. The key to these community cafes is to organize the participants you hope will come -- reach out directly to people you think might be interested, see why they are interested, if they know others who might be...

Nick Sellen Wed 16 Jun 2021 5:34PM
Hey! Would people be interested if I did a session about https://karrot.world? Open source community organising software, or from the blurb on our front page:
Karrot is a free and open-source tool for grassroots initiatives and groups of people that want to coordinate face-to-face activities on a local, autonomous and voluntary basis.
It is designed in ways to enable community-building and support a more transparent, democratic and participatory governance of your group.
Alice Kile Tue 8 Jun 2021 4:00AM
Thank You for sharing this resource!

Yasuaki Kudo Sun 23 May 2021 10:54AM
Peer-to-peer education of subjects that lend themselves to mutual verification! I have been quite productive with my friend's daughter doing this math/logic course https://jscoq.github.io/ext/sf/lf/full/Basics.html
If we create a thriving learning community, that might form a basis of future worker cooperatives, just like how Mondragon started with former students of their vocational school 😄
Mica Fisher Thu 20 May 2021 3:27PM
Hello again, friendly reminder that these meet ups continue, but we've rebranded! They are now social.coop Community Cafes (more fun right?) 🙂🍵. Come share your ideas, BYO beverage/snack of choice.
Sign up here!

Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop Wed 7 Apr 2021 1:51AM
I just posted:
Announcement -
Social Coop Happy Hour / Round Table Discussion on Agrarian Commons and Trusts hosted by me
I scheduled it for April 8th, 11 AM Eastern Time (NYC) = UTC-4. Does that work for you? Are you coming? Should we reschedule? The place is BigBlueButton: https://socialcoop.meet.coop/adm-udt-e

Sam Whited
Wed 17 Mar 2021 11:36AM
Signed up to do a session introducing social.coop members to the XMPP protocol (historically known as Jabber), a federated instant messaging protocol that respects cooperative values and is sustainably managed.
Poll Created Fri 5 Mar 2021 3:59PM
Office Hours continue! Closed Fri 19 Mar 2021 2:02PM
Thanks to those who've already held office hours! We're still looking for signups! If you have an idea, sign up for a date and time on this spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17rPIaGBEt660k2Os6G3tCZRnvPhe-lB30KkSYBt3vRw/edit#gid=0 and the Ops team will help you set up a room.
Respond yes when you've signed up!
PS we're actively soliciting for a more fun name than 'office hours.' Let us know if you have ideas :)
Results
Results | Option | Voters | |||
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Yes | 1 |
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No | 0 | ||||
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Undecided | 126 |
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1 of 127 people have voted (0%)
Matthew Cropp
Sun 7 Feb 2021 10:37PM
I'll be tallking real estate co-ops this Thursday!
mike_hales
Sat 6 Feb 2021 10:48AM
Topic: Community programme @ meet.coop https://forum.meet.coop/c/community/25
Poll Created Fri 5 Feb 2021 3:50PM
Sign up for a slot! Closed Fri 19 Feb 2021 3:02PM
Hi everyone! Reposting this as a check poll to notify those who missed the last post.
Thanks so much for participating and sharing your ideas for Office Hours. We're moving forward with scheduling some weekly themed Office Hours. For those asking about details of the format--it's largely up to you! We want these to be informal spaces to get to know one another, share ideas, strategize, and just geek out on the wonderful world of coops. You can make your Office Hour as structured or unstructured as you like.
Please sign up for a date and time on this spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17rPIaGBEt660k2Os6G3tCZRnvPhe-lB30KkSYBt3vRw/edit#gid=0) and the Ops team will help you set up a room.
Respond yes when you've signed up!
(and check out Matt Cropp's Real Estate Coop Chat on 2/11 at 10am EST!)
Results
Results | Option | Voters | |||
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Yes | 3 |
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No | 0 | ||||
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Undecided | 1 |
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3 of 4 people have voted (75%)
Mica Fisher Tue 19 Jan 2021 5:42PM
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for participating and sharing your ideas for Office Hours. We're moving forward with scheduling some weekly themed Office Hours. For those asking about details of the format--it's largely up to you! We want these to be informal spaces to get to know one another, share ideas, strategize, and just geek out on the wonderful world of coops. You can make your Office Hour as structured or unstructured as you like.
Please sign up for a date and time on this spreadsheet, and the Ops Team will help set up a video room for you.

G I McGrew Tue 15 Dec 2020 12:50AM
Ah, I missed the check! But I was wondering if I could host one themed kind of broadly around those in the community who are in post-secondary education (students, faculty, staff).

Matt Noyes
Tue 8 Dec 2020 5:24PM
Love it. I think we should be thoughtful about using this to cultivate equitable participation. Could also be open to people on other instances with whom we collaborate/exchange...

Manuela Bosch
Tue 8 Dec 2020 10:40AM
Yes, I could maybe contribute around Participatory Leadership and Collaborative Vision and Project Design (Dragon Dreaming, Theory U). But would love to understand the format better.

Graham
Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
Sounds great. As a social.coop member from the UK I'm not sure when office hours might be, but if there's interest I'd be happy to talk about the work we're doing at present within Platform 6 Development Co-operative which aims to build an ecosystemic understanding of the cooperative economy and how we might more effectively grow it.

Bob Haugen
Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
I could talk about https://write.as/economic-networks/ if anybody else is interested, and I would attend sessions on any of the other topics that have been mentioned.

Stephanie Jo Kent
Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
This might help someone like me, who wants to be part of social change in the direction of fairness and economic transformation, learn about how I could integrate using Social Coop proactively with the pre-established other activities that pretty much fill my energetic timespace.
Matthew Cropp
Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
I'd be happy to do one on real estate co-ops.

Nathan Schneider
Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
Wonderful! I love this idea. I wonder if we could do something like a DiscoTech where we could share and teach each other tools that we might use together in our commons.

Yasuaki Kudo
Mon 7 Dec 2020 9:05AM
Software Contractor Worker Coop, with focus on being best-in-class, highly competitive, treating this as some kind of sport. Willing to work for any customer/industry. The initial focus area is conversion of legacy software to anything that customer specifies. Will need project managers, computer programmers, who are passionate about the job itself and democratic workplace movement

Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop
Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
I love this idea. If I hear about the events, I will attend them. I would attend real estate coops, government support for coops, media coops. I would co-host any of those topics too. I might could host one on participatory public budgeting or packaging re-use coops - neither of which I know much about.
Poll Created Sun 6 Dec 2020 10:52PM
Call for Office Hours topics Closed Sun 13 Dec 2020 10:03PM
Hi social.coop! One of the ideas generated in our Strategy Sessions was holding regular "Office Hours" for folks in social.coop to connect more deeply.
The Community WG Ops Team is working to bring this idea to life, and we're thinking that the Office Hours could be held by the social.coop membership at large.
Anyone who has a topic they'd like to discuss can write it below. The idea/topic would be discussed in an informal hour-long chat. Eventually, the person who submits the topic will be responsible for claiming a date/time and lightly facilitating the conversation.
After collecting ideas, I will support scheduling with another poll in this thread.
Here are some examples to get you thinking: Matt C talks about real estate coops, Mica talks about government/municipal support for coops, Emi talks about starting a media coop
What are your ideas?
Results
Results | Option | Voters | |||
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Yes | 12 |
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No | 0 | ||||
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Undecided | 106 |
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12 of 118 people have voted (10%)
Richard Hull · Thu 17 Feb 2022 11:57AM
Hi Caitlin, yes i'm interested in talking about public banking. I'm also very interested in social impact bonds but I think that is indeed a very separate and contentious topic - I'm quite critical of them.