Loomio

Social.coop Status Check!

emi do PublicSeen by 60

What is social.coop? Who are it's members? How do members contribute?

In this thread we will post one question every two weeks that will help us to get to know each other as members, with the objective of using this understanding of each other, our motivations and expectations to launch the next phase of social.coop.

How do you use/participate in social.coop?

poll by emi do Closed Thu 8 Aug 2019 4:03AM

Social.coop is an experiment in user-controlled social media. It is a community hub for people interested in co-ops and development of free/libre social media - these define the common core field of discussion, though they are far from the only things discussed. We currently run and maintain a Mastodon instance that is funded by user contributions via OpenCollective. Social.coop is governed by its users on Loomio, a governance platform developed by a worker co-op. Contributing through OpenCollective is a condition of membership.

Results

Do you have any role(s) in the co-op movement? (all that apply)

poll by emi do Closed Sun 29 Sep 2019 11:02PM

Our second question in our series to help us to understand who we are at social.coop. What kinds of co-op enthusiasts/practitioners/scholars reside among us?

Results

JohnKuti

General Co-op Fan

mastodon user at social.coop

John

Co-op Member
Non-Profit Co-op Developer
Academic
General Co-op Fan

co-op movement activist (federation or council member)

Steve Herrick

Co-op Member
Co-op Board Member
Co-op Non-Executive Staff
Non-Profit Co-op Developer
General Co-op Fan
Co-op Executive Staff
Co-op Union Member

I'm a lot of these at the same time. I included unionized co-op member even though that's still in process, and not yet official.

Nick S

General Co-op Fan
Co-op Member

I'm only a member of consumer coops, really, unless you include social.coop

Graham

Sorry, missed the deadline for this poll. Not sure what some of the options presented actually mean, so maybe not such a bad thing.

"I would be a bigger social.coop fan if..." (in 500 characters or less)

opt-in by emi do Closed Sat 26 Oct 2019 1:01AM

What would make social.coop work better for you? Or are you already a social.coop evangelist? Why? (Please write responses as a comment on your 'check')

Results

emi do
Yes

There was more co-op content from co-op practitioners doing awesome co-op stuff around the world!

Deleted account
Yes

the co-operative identity and the co-operative spirit of co-operation are stronger. There was more sharing of ideas that can solve current social issues.

Vote removed

Bob Haugen
Yes

Similar to some of the other answers. More co-op, (maybe) less social. Maybe add some co-op specific features, eg voting in social.coop instead here in Loomio. Or features for cooperation between cooperatives. A little bit of that has happened with appeals to help from particular co-ops, but maybe more directly, mediated via social.coop. And ongoing resource sharing and trades between co-ops. I'm not pushing any particular features, and I know it's just work to add anything, but it's possible.

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC
Yes

I feel that I don't really know people at S.C. I would appreciate either stream... ways to meet people (who are into cooperatives) and ways to dialogue about cooperatives (with people who are into cooperatives).

Leo Sammallahti
Yes

If there would be more people asking and sharing advice about coops. Hope this could become a "24/7" stream that any coop person who has an idea, needs help, wants to make an announcement, etc. could jump in quickly and get responses quickly. We are not far from that! Could reach out more to coops and make membership more quick to get (perhaps move to a system where every new member is approved automatically, and removing requires decision, instead of approving requiring decision).

Dave V. ND9JR
No

Social.coop seems to have gone to the extreme of not being so democratic after what happened in the summer of 2018, after being extremely democratic before. Needs to get out of its stasis before I can recommend it to people again.

Also the version of Mastodon its running is still too old to support even polls. It needs to be upgraded.

Matt Noyes
Yes

I would be more excited if social.coop offered more of an alternative to the dominant platforms. Could we somehow incorporate "Mobilizons" the forthcoming Framasoft answer to FB events and MeetUp? I would also like to see us experiment with various forms of interaction: online gatherings, workshops, interviews... I think we could also benefit from becoming a formal cooperative with a flat structure, with aspirations to become something like a spokescouncil.

Vote removed

Darren
Yes

We continue to try to encourage greater participation and engagement of and between the folks of social coop.

Initiatives like this, with a low barrier to participation feel likes good way to begin to increase member participation

Michael
Yes

Although three generations of my family have been involved in the co-op movement, I don't see social.coop as somewhere only to discuss co-ops but rather as a co-operatively owned and run social network which gives control back to the users. That was certainly the spirit I understood when I joined and I'd like to think we can continue to develop along these lines.

Thomas Beckett
Yes

I’d be happy to see social.coop continue to grow and demonstrate the validity of the co-op model in the Fediverse. I’d be super-delighted it we were more diverse and inclusive

Mica Fisher
Yes

I do already love social.coop, but I would be a bigger fan if it were a place to learn about all coop happenings across the world, whether it be platform coop or otherwise. I think there's (understandably) more content/users engaged with the platform coop movement, so it would be great to do some active recruitment in other coop scenes.

Noah
Yes

I'd like it if we could get our software up to date, and generally up our game on the tech side, e.g. posting automated toots about new Loomio threads - pie in the sky I'd like us to get onto a masto fork with local-only posts. I'm curious about trying to run more group events? Whether it's collaborative on the timeline, in matrix, or a video chat. Either skillshare/learning things or more casual/social things. And I'd like to see us share some of our funds to co-op causes in need.

Ana Ulin
Yes

I would love to see us experimenting with more ways of building out this community -- different kinds of gatherings, events, interactions.

I also dream of a way in which we can build out social.coop to be a true alternative to the dominant corporate social media platforms; something that a mainstream social media user would seriously consider using.

William Murphy
Yes

I wish it was easier to invite people. Trying to convince someone to try out this crazy thing called Mastodon but first they have to fill out an application and wait for review seems like a lot

Erik Moeller
Yes

It would be lovely to see another Mastodon version upgrade soon; the latest release is 3.0.1. The version we're running is from 2018.

Graham
Yes

I'd use social.coop a lot more if I could easily post to social.coop and Twitter simultaneously or choose where to post using a single app.

Vote removed