The Commons Are Coming
Our Commons design patterns allow your community to launch their own commons economy to support the purpose or public good that matters to you.
Everything we have done has led us to this moment… to be in a position to work with any community that wants to launch their own commons-inspired economy. Our design patterns interweave the commons governance principles outlined by Elinor Ostrom into the fabric of a community. Our deployment protocols result in the intentionally ground-up launch of an economy built to support a purpose or public good.
First, a little context
When we started, we were essentially a research group focused on developing crypto-economic primitives and frameworks for commons-inspired token economies. We envisioned a future where incentives were realigned around public goods.
To realize this vision, we needed to focus on the cultural as well as technical layers, a.k.a. our stacks.
- We elaborated cultural protocols that reinforce commoning principles within a community. While these principles are not prescriptive, they are, we believe, foundational for sustainable, ground-up cooperation.
- We began curating tools that can be used by any community to support our Commons cultural stack.
- We also needed to develop new tools such as the Augmented Bonding Curve, Conviction Voting and the Praise reward and reputation system.
- Lastly, we developed a methodology for deploying our cultural and technical stacks to realize new Commons.
What is unique about our approach?
Our approach is comprised of a methodology for deploying Commons, frameworks for fostering a commons culture, a curated library of tools to select from and, importantly, research and the feedback loop from applied research to underpin it all.
We use a methodology that we call “collaborative economics” to deploy new Commons. What we mean by collaborative economics is the intentional ground-up and participatory decision making for a community that wants to support a purpose or public good. This is important because it does not restrict the voting space to options predetermined by a small group. Every community member may submit options that will then be voted on by the entire community.
Our cultural frameworks weave the principles of governing a commons into the fabric of a community. They address conflict resolution, contributor management, stewardship, inclusion and boundaries, economic management, mutual monitoring, among other important considerations for a robust and sustainable commons-inspired economy.
Our curated library of tools support our cultural frameworks. They address the governance, economy, coordination and communication of the Commons. These include tools such as the Augmented Bonding Curve, Conviction Voting, Praise reward and reputation system, Tokenlog, Snapshot, Discord, and others.
Without research and feedback loops from applied research, none of this would be possible. We are doing something that has not been done before and we learn as we go. This feedback loop continues to evolve our Commons design patterns as new crypto-economic primitives and web3 tools emerge.
How do we launch a Commons?
Launching a commons-inspired web3 economy that is robust, sustainable and long-term is a complex endeavor. Every Commons will be different because every community is different. They will have different purposes, different dynamics, different languages and hail from different regions of the world. Yet any community supporting any purpose or public good can launch their own economy using our stacks.
On a high level, there are 4 phases involved in deploying a Commons. Packaged into each phase are modules that lay the groundwork for the next phase. While we intend for these deployment protocols to be open-sourced and available to any community, that labor of love is still in progress. What is possible now is for us to work with your community to guide you through these phases that will result in your community’s commons economy.
During the Engage phase, the community sets ground rules and working agreements. This is where some basic decisions will be made in order to start building together. We also deploy Praise, the reward and reputation system, to reward early contributions to your Commons. Legal implications are something to be discussed here in the beginning too.
For the Incubate phase, the community will begin coordinating the workstreams needed to launch their economy. They will also craft the mission, vision and values that will serve as their north star. And, a conflict resolution solution will be chosen.
The Hatch is the fund raise itself. The Hatch phase is where the fundraise parameters will be decided. For example, the target for the raise, the limit for the raise, how much rewards should be allocated to labor and expertise, the governance parameters for the HatchDAO, etc. This is also when the list of trusted individuals allowed to participate in the Hatch is finalized.
Following the Hatch phase, we enter the Launch phase. This is where all token holders will collaboratively propose and vote on the parameters of the launch of the Commons. That means the parameters of the Augmented Bonding Curve and other parameters related to governance of the Commons.
Some history, the first Commons
The first community to use our Commons design patterns was the Token Engineering community. The Token Engineering Commons (TEC) launched in January 2022.
The mission of the TEC is to advance Token Engineering. This year, they have allocated over 300K in funding to Token Engineering projects across research, education and open-source development. It is a vibrant, mission-focused and engaged community and that is what commoning is all about: a community stewarding a shared resource under a set of agreed rules.
Are you looking to build a commons-inspired economy in your community? Let’s determine if your community has all the ingredients to become a Commons by filling out this form: https://the-commons-stack.typeform.com/to/Ub0rsFoX
We believe that with the right assessment, we can create a commons-inspired economy for your community that will benefit everyone moving forward.
If you wish to reach out directly, feel free to join our Discord server or DM us on Twitter.
