Platform Cooperativism: new possibilities for the sharing economy.
The concept of share economics appeared around 2010, causing a wave of optimism about technology's ability to transform value-sharing relationships and create a better world. The idea of a new economy, more dynamic, accessible, with smaller transactional costs and in a distributed network, was quickly accepted for its "democratization of consumption" character. So that you have the property of a good, if with two clicks on a smartphone can I have access to the same good when I need it? Why not own your own time and decisions and / or complement income by offering work in networks that sell the market and facilities in the business transaction?
In this context, companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Taskrabbit and others have emerged as digital properties that have built the bridge to this demand. The success of these companies is due in large part to their ability to make use of existing assets and properties of people, which have already been paid, from which a new value can be obtained. Indeed, these companies have created digital platforms that take advantage of the surplus capacity and entrust to people the provision of services, reconfiguring the working relationships and consequently the concept of ownership. The same applies to other companies, which present themselves as collaborative, but only act as service intermediaries, collecting their share and valuable data for additional business gains.
Even considering the intangible gains of new relationships based on trust, the more intelligent and conscious use of goods and the “greater supply of labor,” I ask myself:
Can this business model be challenged and improved for the benefit of those who are actually delivering the service and creating real value?
Trebor Scholz points to an answer in the book Platform Cooperatvism. A new economic system that emerges, re-signifying the concepts of innovation and efficiency for the benefit of all. This model raises a structural change in the concept of ownership in the sharing economy, especially by placing the workforce as the owner of the platforms.
Scholz presents some examples of digital cooperatives and existing projects, platforms that can be managed collectively, by innovative unions, various types of cooperatives and even by cities.
- Fairmondo
Present in Germany and England, it’s a digital cooperative that creates a fairer alternative to online commerce where ownership and management of the platform is under the responsibility of the users themselves. A kind of eBay collective and ethically compromised.
- Loconomics
Loconomics is a cooperative of freelance service professionals, based in San Francisco (USA). Through an application they help professionals find customers as well as support local businesses without the need for intermediaries.
- Resonate
A streaming music platform, only totally digital and cooperative built by musicians. It is a collective Spotify, in which the owners are users and the remuneration to the artists is much superior to what is paid by the traditional platforms.
- Stocksy
A digital media bank co-op in which photographers and videographers license their products and receive 50% of the sales commission, as well as the profit sharing at the end of each year.
Through the concept of cooperativism, backed by technological innovation, the Cooperative Platform reading invites us to question the current system of sharing economy and think about possible more democratic ownership models on the Internet that, through co-ownership and shared management Generate greater creative integrity, a fair share of profits and, above all, income generation.
Beyond the immediate convenience, there is the possibility of a genuine, more collaborative and collaborative sharing economy.
References:
Scholz, Trebor. Cooperativismo de Plataforma. [Online]
