The List of Co-op Tools

Below is an evolving list of recommended techniques and technologies to conduct effective participatory democracy within a large organization.

[pre-draft / in progress]

1. Democratic Media

People need to be in control of the media that informs them. Whether it's a small newsletter or national broadcast, editorial decisions affect everyone and thus they should be made democratically. There are many web technologies that make it much easier to share ideas and information. Using rating scales and dotmocracy, any committed group of people could collectively author and distribute publications based on the explicit audience interest.

2. Open Dialogue and Deliberation

Dialogue and deliberation is the important conversations we that aim for understanding and agreement. Conflict resolution, community building and group problem-solving is best conducted in many small diverse groups of committed and informed people.

3. Consensus Driven Group Decision-making

Using the dotmocracy process, trusted decision-makers can easily recognize group preferences and author formal group decisions that closest approach consensus. Dotmocracy directed decisions and policy creation has the potential to provide a complete alternative to the traditional model of elected representatives.

4. Recommendation Based Delegation

Positions of power, such as managers and editors, should be posted based on the positive reputation of the applicants. Those who have served the group well in the past are most likely to serve well again in the future. This is a very different model than simple elections which are commonly superficial contests between a small group of power hungry individuals. It's more like hiring a general manager by committee or peer recommendation. There are many well proven reputation systems and hiring best practices that can be applied.


Repeating this process should allow any group of co-operative people to collectively direct and collaborate on shared projects and operations.