THE EXPERIMENT
In order to practice what we preach, we decided to host an experiment. Bringing together 20 practitioners from a host of design related fields, we set out to explore what works and what doesn’t when you begin with a purpose and a group of people. Here’s what we learned…
Where did we start?
An experiment in shared ownership. Can we make ourselves the subjects of our own social innovation? How might we use our practices in innovation and service design to improve our own lives first, so that we can then actually pursue our social causes, together?
In the 1980’s, United States, President George H.W. Bush and political cronies called for a shift towards a culture that was based in an Ownership Society. Satirically, Society of Owners sought to push the idea of Ownership over well-being, work, healthcare, etc beyond the manipulative framing of the 80’s to a regenerative cooperative economy – really owned by us.
If we deliver on what that group of strategist worded ever so dubiously – a society in which people take ownership over their experiences and the systems that the government is thought to regulate – how might our experience with democracy change? How might our relationships to others change? Perhaps most importantly, how might our relationships with ourselves be transformed?
The future of work is in our hands – let’s construct it together!
Freelancers shouldn‘t live in precarious conditions. Cooperative organizations that provide freelancers with employment and compliance services can function as a bridge to more flexible ways of working. We are connecting these organizations, the talented people who demand better working conditions and consumer options, and the future economy through service design and social innovation to amplify cooperative economics and social justice.
Join us as we identify cooperative business models, practices, and tools that will allow for autonomous working, adaptive collaboration, professional development, regenerative economics, and the future of work that each of us desires and deserves. We are all in this together!