Much has been said of the new sharing economy, characterized by services like Airbnb and Uber, but these new online marketplaces are owned and governed by small groups of individuals. Users often have little control over their personal data and workers have limited influence. Could cooperative economic principles create a more democratic Internet?
On Nov. 13th and 14th, more than a thousand people, including entrepreneurs, scholars, and activists gathered for the Platform Cooperativism conference at the New School in New York to discuss this question. The conference was organized by Nathan Schneider, a professor of media studies at the College of Media, Communication and Information, and Trebor Scholz, a professor at the New School. The goal, according to Schneider was to highlight and organize a discussion that was already underway in many places. “People were already doing this,” Schneider explains. “What we did was give it a name.”
In addition to discussions and workshops, the conference included a showcase of actual, online cooperatives, such as a stock photo service owned by its contributing photographers and an online marketplace owned by its vendors. For some, these presentations were the strongest argument for the feasibility of an online cooperative economy. “Seeing these cooperatives all together gave me a vision of what it would be like to live with a cooperative internet.” said Schneider “The idea has its own legs.”
Schneider and his colleagues are already exploring opportunities to implement the ideas of the conference in global tech hubs, including the Colorado front range region.
In addition to Schneider, several other members of the CMCI community also attended the conference: Nabil Echchaibi, a professor of media studies; Paul Miller, a professor of intermedia art, writing and performance; and Megan Miner, a master’s student in the Media and Public Engagement program, who also helped to organize the conference.