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Wetsuits on the beach

On holiday in Cornwall. Loads of people on the beach are clad in wetsuits. What’s that all about then? It’s certainly not cold.
My theory: it’s about conspicuous consumption. As the west continues it’s inexorable slide into the longest and deepest depression we will ever know, following the explosion of the biggest bubble ever created, these people continue to spend on wetsuits, 4x4s and God only knows what else.
Will they ever become aware of the fragility of the economy on which they depend? Or perhaps they are aware, and they are taking a sort of “better to burn out than fade away” approach?

9 months ago 

We are at the tail end of an era that has focused almost entirely on the innovation of products and services, and we are at the beginning of a new era that focuses on the innovation of what I like to call “behavioral business models.” These models go beyond asking how we can make what we make better and cheaper, or asking how we can do what we do faster. They are about asking why we do what we do to begin with
– Innovation Isn’t About New Products, It’s About Changing Behavior | Fast Company Very good point IMHO (via futuristgerd)

(via emergentfutures)

9 months ago  64 notes

Digital Agenda for Europe: A Missed Opportunity for Cooperatives? | europe.coop

11 months ago 

Matt Ludt on a cooperative library. Like it.

coopcommonwealth:

If you come to a fork in the road, take it!  Imagine www.Cooperative-Library.coop

By Matt Ludt

Imagine the ultimate wiki-library for cooperatives, one that hosts all of the information and documents of day-to-day cooperative business enterprise and social association practice. It is such a comprehensive repository of the knowledge cooperative that I am calling for. Here is the idea, broken out by what, who, why, and how.

Read More

11 months ago  2 notes

coopcommonwealth:

Tom Webb, who is arguably a godfather of the modern Canadian cooperative movement, speaks about the co-operative business model in contrast to the investor owned business model under the title, “Is the Economy an Angry God?”

Tom has been studying and working with co-operatives and sitting on co-op and credit union boards for more than 30 years. He is an adjunct professor at Saint Mary’s University, Sobey School of Business in Halifax where he contributed to the development of the Master of Management - Co-operatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU) program.

11 months ago  1 note

The new concourse/departures hall at Kings Cross station in London. Pretty impressive. Clearly buoyed by their success with the St. Pancras project the folks that do railway stations are going from strength to strength (could do with some more seats though, and I couldn’t get the free public wifi to work). I wonder if they have something like this in mind for Slaithwaite station?

The new concourse/departures hall at Kings Cross station in London. Pretty impressive. Clearly buoyed by their success with the St. Pancras project the folks that do railway stations are going from strength to strength (could do with some more seats though, and I couldn’t get the free public wifi to work). I wonder if they have something like this in mind for Slaithwaite station?

1 year ago  View high resolution

Networked cities in the digital age

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder and executive director of Code for America, which matches web professionals with US cities to reboot local services. Code for America funds fellowships that bring technologists into municipal offices to sort databases, build apps and unleash data. Philadelphia is one of two cities to be part of the program two years running (http://codeforamerica.org/philadelphia).

via humanscalecities:

(via emergentfutures)

1 year ago  69 notes

Huge potential for Europe’s cooperatives

As I get deeper in to my understanding of the cooperative movements that exist in countries throughout Europe I am increasingly aware of the vast wealth of human energy, goodwill, and expertise that powers this great movement. And that excites me greatly, precisely because it’s not about capital, it’s not about big corporate power, and it’s not about profit. Sure, all those things exist and are important to the continued development of the cooperative sector. But they are secondary to the human spirit that underpins and which makes cooperative enterprise so effective.
This is a business model, born out of need in the nineteenth century, that offers a beautifully tailored fit to the problems we face in the twenty-first.
I’m greatly excited by the possibilities that the next decade brings. As we emerge from the UN International Year of Cooperatives into Chuck Gould’s ambitious vision of cooperation as the business model of choice, there is plenty to get excited about.

1 year ago 

emergentfutures: Greece on the breadline: cashless currency takes off A determination to ‘move beyond anger to creativity’ is driving a strong barter economy in some places Full Story: The Guardian Opportunities for cooperative development and the rise of a new people-centred economy out of the ashes of the Greek tragedy?

emergentfutures:

Greece on the breadline: cashless currency takes off

A determination to ‘move beyond anger to creativity’ is driving a strong barter economy in some places

Full Story: The Guardian

Opportunities for cooperative development and the rise of a new people-centred economy out of the ashes of the Greek tragedy?

1 year ago  25 notes

Not Business As Usual: Digital Strategies

charlesgould:

When ICA developed its plans for the 2012 International Year of Co-operatives, we knew that an important component would need to be our digital strategy. This results from the fact that our primary goal is to raise public awareness of the co-operative as a serious, values-based business model,…

1 year ago  5 notes

Click here to stop the newest threat to Internet freedom

ACTA%3A%20The%20new%20threat%20to%20the%20net
A new global treaty could allow corporations to police what we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills — if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat — add your voice now!

1 year ago 

2012 - It's OUR time: Spanish co-operatives see an increase in Employment of up to 31%

iyc2012:

According to COCETA the Spanish Confederation of Co-operative Workers employment has risen by an average of 7.2% in the last quarter

Growth is higher in autonomous regions such as Valencia, which say an increase of 31%, Andalusia - 18.8%, and Murcia - 10%. These latest figures once again…

This a is a great story. Spain is really suffering at present as a result of the crisis, so it is good to see that cooperatives in Spain are coping well and providing employment where there are so few jobs available in other parts of the economy. 

(Source: co-ops)

1 year ago  1 note

Wetsuits on the beach

On holiday in Cornwall. Loads of people on the beach are clad in wetsuits. What’s that all about then? It’s certainly not cold.
My theory: it’s about conspicuous consumption. As the west continues it’s inexorable slide into the longest and deepest depression we will ever know, following the explosion of the biggest bubble ever created, these people continue to spend on wetsuits, 4x4s and God only knows what else.
Will they ever become aware of the fragility of the economy on which they depend? Or perhaps they are aware, and they are taking a sort of “better to burn out than fade away” approach?

We are at the tail end of an era that has focused almost entirely on the innovation of products and services, and we are at the beginning of a new era that focuses on the innovation of what I like to call “behavioral business models.” These models go beyond asking how we can make what we make better and cheaper, or asking how we can do what we do faster. They are about asking why we do what we do to begin with
– Innovation Isn’t About New Products, It’s About Changing Behavior | Fast Company Very good point IMHO (via futuristgerd)

(via emergentfutures)

Digital Agenda for Europe: A Missed Opportunity for Cooperatives? | europe.coop

Matt Ludt on a cooperative library. Like it.

coopcommonwealth:

If you come to a fork in the road, take it!  Imagine www.Cooperative-Library.coop

By Matt Ludt

Imagine the ultimate wiki-library for cooperatives, one that hosts all of the information and documents of day-to-day cooperative business enterprise and social association practice. It is such a comprehensive repository of the knowledge cooperative that I am calling for. Here is the idea, broken out by what, who, why, and how.

Read More

coopcommonwealth:

Tom Webb, who is arguably a godfather of the modern Canadian cooperative movement, speaks about the co-operative business model in contrast to the investor owned business model under the title, “Is the Economy an Angry God?”

Tom has been studying and working with co-operatives and sitting on co-op and credit union boards for more than 30 years. He is an adjunct professor at Saint Mary’s University, Sobey School of Business in Halifax where he contributed to the development of the Master of Management - Co-operatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU) program.

The new concourse/departures hall at Kings Cross station in London. Pretty impressive. Clearly buoyed by their success with the St. Pancras project the folks that do railway stations are going from strength to strength (could do with some more seats though, and I couldn’t get the free public wifi to work). I wonder if they have something like this in mind for Slaithwaite station?

The new concourse/departures hall at Kings Cross station in London. Pretty impressive. Clearly buoyed by their success with the St. Pancras project the folks that do railway stations are going from strength to strength (could do with some more seats though, and I couldn’t get the free public wifi to work). I wonder if they have something like this in mind for Slaithwaite station?

Networked cities in the digital age

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder and executive director of Code for America, which matches web professionals with US cities to reboot local services. Code for America funds fellowships that bring technologists into municipal offices to sort databases, build apps and unleash data. Philadelphia is one of two cities to be part of the program two years running (http://codeforamerica.org/philadelphia).

via humanscalecities:

(via emergentfutures)

Huge potential for Europe’s cooperatives

As I get deeper in to my understanding of the cooperative movements that exist in countries throughout Europe I am increasingly aware of the vast wealth of human energy, goodwill, and expertise that powers this great movement. And that excites me greatly, precisely because it’s not about capital, it’s not about big corporate power, and it’s not about profit. Sure, all those things exist and are important to the continued development of the cooperative sector. But they are secondary to the human spirit that underpins and which makes cooperative enterprise so effective.
This is a business model, born out of need in the nineteenth century, that offers a beautifully tailored fit to the problems we face in the twenty-first.
I’m greatly excited by the possibilities that the next decade brings. As we emerge from the UN International Year of Cooperatives into Chuck Gould’s ambitious vision of cooperation as the business model of choice, there is plenty to get excited about.

emergentfutures: Greece on the breadline: cashless currency takes off A determination to ‘move beyond anger to creativity’ is driving a strong barter economy in some places Full Story: The Guardian Opportunities for cooperative development and the rise of a new people-centred economy out of the ashes of the Greek tragedy?

emergentfutures:

Greece on the breadline: cashless currency takes off

A determination to ‘move beyond anger to creativity’ is driving a strong barter economy in some places

Full Story: The Guardian

Opportunities for cooperative development and the rise of a new people-centred economy out of the ashes of the Greek tragedy?

Not Business As Usual: Digital Strategies

charlesgould:

When ICA developed its plans for the 2012 International Year of Co-operatives, we knew that an important component would need to be our digital strategy. This results from the fact that our primary goal is to raise public awareness of the co-operative as a serious, values-based business model,…

Click here to stop the newest threat to Internet freedom

ACTA%3A%20The%20new%20threat%20to%20the%20net
A new global treaty could allow corporations to police what we do on the Internet. Last week we successfully pushed back the US censorship bills — if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat — add your voice now!

2012 - It's OUR time: Spanish co-operatives see an increase in Employment of up to 31%

iyc2012:

According to COCETA the Spanish Confederation of Co-operative Workers employment has risen by an average of 7.2% in the last quarter

Growth is higher in autonomous regions such as Valencia, which say an increase of 31%, Andalusia - 18.8%, and Murcia - 10%. These latest figures once again…

This a is a great story. Spain is really suffering at present as a result of the crisis, so it is good to see that cooperatives in Spain are coping well and providing employment where there are so few jobs available in other parts of the economy. 

(Source: co-ops)
Wetsuits on the beach
"We are at the tail end of an era that has focused almost entirely on the innovation of products and services, and we are at the beginning of a new era that focuses on the innovation of what I like to call “behavioral business models.” These models go beyond asking how we can make what we make better and cheaper, or asking how we can do what we do faster. They are about asking why we do what we do to begin with"
Digital Agenda for Europe: A Missed Opportunity for Cooperatives? | europe.coop
Matt Ludt on a cooperative library. Like it.
Huge potential for Europe’s cooperatives
Not Business As Usual: Digital Strategies
Click here to stop the newest threat to Internet freedom
2012 - It's OUR time: Spanish co-operatives see an increase in Employment of up to 31%

About:

miscellany about cooperatives, the digital space, how the two come together, and other issues.