Care before code: it’s what makes DisCOs different
Covid-19 has transformed how many of us work in ways that were seemingly inconceivable beforehand, much to the frustration of disabled people and people with caring responsibilities everywhere.
My friends and fellow co-op members Ann Marie Utratel and Stacco Troncoso have been working for some time on the concept of DisCOs (Distributed Co-operative Organisations) which you may remember from previous newsletters.
In their own words, “DisCOs are an accessible approach to people working together to create value in ways that are co-operative, commons-oriented and rooted in feminist economics. These values are nourished in small, federated communities. DisCOs harness the utility of tech without being completely techcentric, emphasising mutual trust and the need to have not only reliable but also enjoyable collaborative relationships. Distributed ledger/blockchain technologies are put to use when these values and their resulting human relationships have become strongly rooted.”
In late September Ann Marie and Stacco were invited to contribute to Autonomy’s ‘Platforming Equality’ document: a collection of papers on the challenges that the digital economy poses to policymakers, activists and researchers. They wrote about DisCOs and set to demonstrate how emergent technologies can be put to use in the service of emancipatory goals to reshape how we work and how such organisations can transform work in such a way as to prioritise care, relationships and social value.
The paper is a brilliant read, and goes into detail about the 7 principles and 11 values that are at the core of DisCOs; DisCO tech and commons governance; and DisCO policies, with lots of additional resources for those who are interested in finding out more.
The full paper “Care before Code: It’s What Makes DisCOs Different” is available to read here. We’d love to know what you think — you can get in touch directly with the DisCO co-op via their contact page here, and sign up for the DisCO newsletter here.
