Crypto & Cooperatives: Decentralizing Power in Technology-mediated Organizations Syllabus

Here is Version 0.4 of a syllabus on the intersections of Web3 and Platform Cooperatives.

I hope you find it informational and helpful in learning about this interesting intersection at the frontiers.

If you have any feedback, please send a message to Charles Adjovu or leave a reply.

Prerequisites

1. Introduction to Web3

2. Introduction to Platform Cooperatives

Lesson 1: Technical Decentralization

Required Readings

• Decentralisation: a multidisciplinary perspective by Balázs Bodó, Jaya Klara Brekke & Jaap-Henk Hoepman, Sections 2 & 3.1

Optional Readings

• Decentralization: An Incomplete Ambition by Nathan Schneider

Lesson 2: Organizational Decentralization 

Required Readings

• Decentralisation: a multidisciplinary perspective by Balázs Bodó, Jaya Klara Brekke & Jaap-Henk Hoepman, Sections 3.2–3.3

Optional Readings

• Decentralization: An Incomplete Ambition by Nathan Schneider

Lesson 3: What is a DAO?

Required Readings

• Decentralized Autonomous Organization by Primavera De Filippi & Samer Hassan

• How to DAO course notes by Stephen Reid, Session 1: Introduction to DAOs

• DAO Design Patterns: Components that constitute “Decentralized Autonomous Organizations” by Kelsie Nabben

• Episode 012 — Patterns for Decentralized Organizing with Richard Bartlett of The Hum by The Ownership Economy

Lesson 4: How do DAOs and Cooperatives Intersect?

Required Readings

• Grounding Decentralised Technologies in Cooperative Principles: What Can ‘Decentralised Autonomous Organisations’ (DAOs) and Platform Cooperatives Learn from Each Other? by Kelsie Nabben, Novita Puspasari, Megan Kelleher and Sadhana Sanjay

• Ways to improve the ownership economy by Austin Robey

• A Prehistory of DAOs by Kei Kreutler

• Exclusive Report: Solving the Riddle of the DAO with Colorado’s Cooperative Laws by Jacqueline Radebaugh & Yev Muchnik

• Decentralisation at Work: Cooperatives on the Blockchain by Joshua Davila

• The DAO of decentralization: Can co-ops thrive on the blockchain? by Robert Raymond 

• Co-Ops: The Grandparent of DAOs by  Arianne Flemming & Jelena Djuric

• Groove is in the Heart: The DiSCO Elements by the DisCO project, Chapters 1–2, 4, 6

• Episode 018 — Co-creation and Co-ownership in DAOs and Co-ops with Metalabel founder Austin Robey by The Ownership Economy 

• Our Way Out: Dual Power and the Future of Organizing by Breadchain Cooperative

Operational Readings

• What Co‑ops and DAOs Can Learn From Each Other by Austin Robey

• Past, Present, Future: From Co-ops to Cryptonetworks by Jesse Walden

Lesson 5: Web3 as infrastructure for commons-oriented economies

Required Readings

• Peer Production on the Crypto Commons by RichardRed0x, Common Pool Resources

• When Ostrom Meets Blockchain: Exploring the Potentials of Blockchain for Commons Governance by David Rozas (slides)

• WHAT COUNTS? Signaling our values through creative currencies by Humaira Tasneem, Jono Melamed, Betsy Lance, Jake Crahan, Samantha Caruthers-Knight, & SJ Bowden, with Howard Silverman

• Distributed Ledger Technologies, Value Accounting, and the Self Sovereign Identity by Sarah Manski

• Episode 019 — Undefining Money and Redefining Value, with Christopher Goes of Anoma Network by The Ownership Economy 

• Episode 009 — Localized Democracy and Public Goods with Token Engineering, with Jeff Emmett of The Commons Stack / BlockScience Labs by The Ownership Economy

• From Bonding Curves to Commons Market Makers by Crypto Commons Association

• Blockchains: building blocks of a post-capitalist future? by Hannes Gerhardt

Optional Readings

• Beyond NFTS: How Can Artists Own Their Work With Distributed Technologies? by Victor Barcellos

• Crowdfunding the Commons by Abbey Titcomb

• When Ostrom Meets Blockchain: Exploring the Potentials of Blockchain for Commons Governance by David Rozas (paper)

Lesson 6: Redefining the Startup Lifecycle

Required Readings

• Exit to Community by Nathan Schneider

• Deep dive: community stewardship of Open Collective through a Perpetual Purpose Trust by Nathan Hewitt

• Reimagining going public with Continuous Securities Offerings by Joris DLN

• How Community Tokens Can Power Cooperatives by Austin Robey

• Exit To Community: Strategies for Multi-Stakeholder Ownership in the Platform Economy by Morshed Mannan & Nathan Schneider

• A SPECULATIVE SKETCH OF A DAO, WITH OPEN COLLECTIVE by Matthew Prewitt

Lesson 7: How do Data Cooperatives and Web3 Intersect?

Required Readings

• Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) as Data Trusts: A General-purpose Data Governance Framework for Decentralised Data Ownership, Storage, and Utilisation by Kelsie Nabben

• What Are Blockchain-Based Platform Cooperatives? by Philémon Poux

• Decentralized Society: Finding Web3’s Soul by Vitalik Buterin, E. Glen Weyl & Puja Ohlhaver

Lesson 8: How does Peer Production and Web3 Intersect?

Required Readings

• Commons Based Peer Production on the Blockchain feat. Michel Bauwens of the P2P Foundation by The Blockchain Socialist

• Recognizing value in open source communities with SourceCred feat. Dandelion Mané by The Blockchain Socialist

• Peer Production on the Crypto Commons by RichardRed0x, Commons Based Peer Production (CBPP)

• Introduction to Commons-based Peer Production Mini-course by Charles Adjovu

Optional Readings

• Coase’s Penguin is learning to fly by Joey Debruin

Lesson 9: Web3 or DWeb?

Required Readings

• The Debate Over DWeb vs. Web3 & The Decentralized Elephant in the Room by Mai Ishikawa Sutton

• Questioning Web3 Framing by Peter Harris

• Platform Socialism and Web3 by The Blockchain Socialist

• Could Web3 Lead the Way to a More Cooperative Web? by Jad Esber

• What to get
  right first. by Rebecca MacKinnon

• DWeb Principles by DWeb

Optional Readings

• Viewpoint: Web3 should focus more on the type rather than the degree of decentralization by Dexnav

Lesson 10: Case Studies

Required Readings

• Evaluating the Potential of Cooperative Ridesourcing: A Case Study of Arcade City in Austin, Texas (slides) by Adam Stocker & Sara Stephens

• Everything Old is New Again: Evaluating the Legal and Governance Structures of Shared-Services Platform Cooperatives by Morshed Mannan

Optional Readings

• Evaluating the Potential of Cooperative Ridesourcing: A Case Study of Arcade City in Austin, Texas (paper) by Adam Stocker & Sara Stephens