[P2P-F] [commoning] The Co-operative University

Tue Dec 17 02:27:04 CET 2013

Interesting.

Regarding a cooperative university approach.
I notice there are several , potentially overlapping approaches.

I wish to bring forward the potential of a* "learners cooperative"* point
of perspective , as a cultural trend to *adapt to de-monetization* ,
support forms of social and environmental regeneration, enable alternatives
not as dependent ( and yet potentially overlapping ) of the mainstream
narratives.

I do sense that this is ideological. Supporting the commons in itself is
imho ideological.

If interested, here goes - it is a bit long ...

/////

I understand Sam and others focused on these topics - but still tried/try
to make a monetized business out of it ?
And I guess it is legitimate, especially if one needs to limit the risks
one can take ( for example, in regards to family, if there is dependency on
mortgage, loans, etc )

Yet - I want to bring forward the following :

*Can we do it ... without money, at all ?  Or... by reducing dependency to
money to the minimum ? ... and by doing so, make such approaches scalable,
not only online, but as potential interfaces for the creation and spreading
of emergent viable systems, accessible to any form of intelligence across
the globe ?*

I am aware some of us may get burned out, especially if isolated or
marginalized by working on such research.
Finding ways to engage people, when most people seem to be stuck in hopes
or needs to get something out of a rat race narrative, is not easy.
Perhaps for some, a cooperative university may be an intermediary approach,
which would enable them to more easily support certain forms of commons.

Yet for those who have for some reason dropped out of such capitalist rat
race ( deliberately or not ) , or who still have a foot in it but may
already have secured themselves,

starting with shared engagement, interacting with each other, living
together, may be a starting point ? Including young or older who want to
create a shared experience together, using learning as a vector for
convergence and engagement ?  Potentially leading to further incubation of
modules for systemic alternatives.   Tribes converging, even for short term
events or festivals, yet experiencing a more festivalism paradigm , as
opposed to a society of the spectacle ?

http://p2pfoundation.net/Festivalism

///

I'll allow myself to re-contextualize :

I like how the* video shared by Joe
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ91Kj-4q2o#t=1>  talks about
"intersections"*...
I do feel it brings up many of the topics , including "degrees and
certifications".

My take and personal experience in relation to *"learning"*
is that it *does not depend on teaching, and even less so on universities,
or credentials.*

My take is that credentials are a poor and limited motivation for learning,
although it may be one of the possible intersections.

As for the *subject of this thread, *
*the topic of a Co-operative University*,
it can imho certainly be *beneficial* for those who are dependent on the
academic business
*for making a monetary living*, and I wish them well in their approach !

It may become more like a *"producers cooperative"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Producer_cooperative>* - university staff
being the producers ?

Similarly, one could imagine a *"consumers cooperative"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_cooperative>* in relation to
universities ( students as consumers ? )

What is produced and consumed ?
What is being monetized ?
Does it need to be monetized ?

Is is it all about a credential economy ?

I notice articles such as
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/credentialing-economy-transformed-and-its-beneficiaries

What paradigm(s) are we in, and *how do we negotiate priorities in terms of
learning ?* ( and in producing new knowledge / research )

Can we really separate "production" and "consumption" when it comes to
learning ?

And since we are sharing this on commoning and p2pfoundation lists,
what happens when everyone becomes a producer and a consumer,
and when we generate a commons for each other.

*What happens when we "de-monetize" ... ?*
That is, not even alter-monetize - but "no money".

What happens when there is no more chain of command,
*when one does not make oneself dependent on the conditions of a monetary
monopoly *

( and ( imho ) its top down crafted prioritization of objectives and the
specific markets it decides to create via artificial scarcity , and tribute
to such hierarchy of artificial scarcity ? )

*What happens when credentials are not being sold as being needed to
survive or have a say in this society ?*

When we generate communities based on principles of " equipotentiality "
http://p2pfoundation.net/Equipotentiality

When we can collectively shift our inter-dependencies to a communal
shareholding relational dynamic ?

http://p2pfoundation.net/Relational_Model_Typology_-_Fiske

///

I do feel that Open Learning approaches do tend towards this...

In effect, what would universities ( still ) be selling ?
An experience ? A framework ? Credentials ?

What if we can develop alternatives to each of these , *with credentials
melting more broadly into a reputation economy, and more directly related
to records of experience from peers rather then approval by authority.*

*Is it reasonable to imagine "academia" shifting to a "learners based
cooperative", generating their own ( potentially self organizing ) shared
learning and experience environments ?*

Some schools now focus on the experience of "flip teaching" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching )
I can easily imagine further stages, which are already experimented with in
certain learning environments, including support between the learners to
guide each other, or between different generations.
( for example : the Ted talks promoted "Hole in the
Wall<http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html>/
Minimally
Invasive Learning<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimally_invasive_education>/
Learning through Teaching" or "Once
Upon a School<http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html>"
)

If the current status quo , in increasingly neoliberal capitalist societies
at least, is being maintained, imho it is very likely that money will not
be made accessible to an increasing part of the population.  Actually, it
is already the case, from my point of perspective.

*Learning imho is fundamental in our ( emergent ) empowerment.*
*imho,  we need resilient tools, approaches, environments , infrastructures
that can face and thrive despite , and with demonetization, still enabling
us to co-create the solutions we need to facilitate our survival.*

What if the work / practices experimented with by many of us on this list
already opens up such potentials,
leading the internet / social media to be used to re-create, even
temporarily, shared learning environments,
including "real social" learning environments including elements of face to
face relationship building ?

What if we can adopt various approaches, including community participatory
research, and forms of blended learning,
to support such environments ?

What if... we are already in the process of doing this ? :)

I'll re-paste this link
http://emergentbydesign.com/2012/01/08/93-superhero-schools-collaboratories-incubators-accelerators-hubs-for-social-tech-innovation/

I see this emerging as a cultural trend... likely still limited within
certain subcultures, yet growing,
with subcultures converging with each other, including through what today
seems to be called "the sharing economy", converging with "(Social )
Incubator" narratives.

for example, temporary or longer term co-living spaces or networks such as
http://www.sandboxhouse.us/
https://embassynetwork.com/