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https://github.com/ecobytes/co-munity

co-munities of practice, tools for social learning and collaboration
https://github.com/ecobytes/co-munity

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co-munities of practice, tools for social learning and collaboration

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README 

        
Please find the current live version @ http://co-munity.net



Further information, feature requests and issue tracker @ http://co-munity.net/co-munity



We are looking for willing developers, site builders, designers and beta users (individuals and collectives). Contact us or join the co-munity space if you want to be active.



Consider joining one of our development hackathons or organising one for your target communities! http://co-munity.net/p/co-munity-hackathons



About co-munity

===============



The co-munity platform is based in the idea that collective action requires the approach of identities, a process which is supported by the existence and creation of common bonds. The atomised nature of the social movements and initiatives around degrowth, food, commons, among others is driven by its rapid expansion. New initiatives - urban gardens, CSAs, communities, repair cafés, transition towns - are appearing all over Europe and the world. Bringing them to interact on a platform for exchange requires providing useful tools for practicioners, activists and academics, for personal or collective use.



This platform develops in a similar way to a bootstrapping process, proceeding stepwise, based on little resources and using whatever exists out there to progressively bring people in contact with each other on virtual communities with some affinity. This is were the bootstrapping starts: we need to create tools for general use, that will allow people with similar interests and needs to converge on a place. This is provided by the group structure, which provides, for each group, a set of features, including discussion/forum, documentation, project management, collaborative edition, reference manager, webforms. The tools provided for a group - that anyone can create - help to fill a gap in the organization of the initiatives, resulting on an increased use of the platform.



Within this platform, "beyond our backyards" interactions will happen automatically, eventually leading to the emergence of articulations, joint projects and collective action. The second step of the bootstrapping is, therefore, providing mechanisms for promoting exchanges: allowing everyone to see a listing of all public groups (spaces) on the platform, viewing what people in other spaces are doing, allowing direct communication between members to happen. An important aspect here is that of the right to choose how the information is to be shared and with whom - any group of people (a "community") can decide on which information to make public and which it wants to restrain to it's own people, or even create smaller teams which manage their own private content.



The third bootstrapping step is the creation of active mechanisms for social networking among the different groups. This can include features like user social relations ("friendship"), social bookmarking, karma points, automated promotion of contents, etc. As this social network develops and new users are attracted, the platform then enter the last bootstrap process of optimization: providing new features on request by the members; allowing the team of developers to adapt, maybe grow, to support the needs of different individuals, collectives, institutions and movements.



The first stie was developed as part of the European Learning Parntership Beyond Our Backyards, based on Drupal/Open Atrium and hosted under http://agroecol.eu (later http://co-munity.net). A new version, based on Drupal Open Atrium 2 is currently under development, with the support of the GROWL project (http://co-munity.net/growl), the Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Ecobytes e.V. and with multiple other collaborations.



The site will probably have different types of space constructs, adapting to the needs of the different types of communities of practice. For each use case we should probably create a standard "blueprint", which is a space template with a specific combination of sections/functions. The list below is provisory and probably requires some better aggregation into functional types:



 * Open peer review

  * Degrowth conference stirring papers review and Group-Assembly Process (http://leipzig.degrowth.org/en/gap)

 * Events participants exchange area

 * Degrowth learning (and training) communities

  * GROWL: trainers database, course syllabus and events, modules, quality assessment of materials

 * Resource collection and exchange (bibliography and media) communities

  * Permaculture/agroecology (Permateca)

  * Ecological economics classes (professors and students communities)

  * Degrowth reading groups

 * Organisation management, communication and collaboration

  * Transition Town groups

  * Transition Network D/A/CH

  * community supported agriculture (CSA) groups

  * food coops

  * different types of communities of practice

 * Edible cities/local agroecological networks

  * mapping alternatives (connect with MMM initiative)

  * sharing resources (tools, foods)

  * sharing land and spaces (workshops

  * seed guardians and exchange (connect with plantei.eu)

 * Collaborative action-research