Information Regarding The londoncommons.net

Polices and Guidelines of the londoncommons.net

Information about creativecommons licensing. on the londncommons.net

About the londoncommons.net

London Commons collective is a collective of workers and
students that is on its way to incorporating as a non-profit
cooperative. The collective currently operates a community networking
site at LondonCommons.net.
The website is a free online soapbox for individuals and groups in
London, Ontario. A business plan is also under development to turn the
collective into a community organizing body in the shape of a
cooperative run by consensus.

How can you get involved?

Go to LondonCommons.net
and create an account. With an account you can vote on which pieces of
content get put on the front page, or you can post content of your own.
The site supports blogs (online columns or journals), images, audio
files and regular documents. There's also a calendar of events and
forums for casual discussion.

When you create an account, pay attention to the form: real names are required on this site.
That was decided by consensus at the first London Commons Collective
meeting for the reason that we are trying to get neighbours to know and
work with each other.

Calendar

• LondonCommons.net community calendar
  - Post your groups events on our calendar. The calendar can be viewed
  by month, week or day or separated by event type (ie. concerts, or
  political actions.) You can even automatically add the events from our
  calendar to your calendar program/pda/cellphone with our iCal feed:
  webcal://londoncommons.net/event/ical/all/all.
• London Commons meetings are always announced here, in case you'd like to bookmark it. Also available in RSS or iCal: webcal://londoncommons.net/event/ical/all/53 formats.

Planned services of the cooperative

Like any other kind of business, the cooperative will need some way
to make money. While we have dreams of organizing cooperatives and
collectives in all types of work, we're also new, relatively small and
pretty much broke. So we're starting with areas that we already have
experience in and can be done on a budget.

The low capital services we'll probably start with are:

• a computer recycling, fixng and teaching program
• a bike recycling, fixing and teaching workers cooperative
• an energy cooperative specialising in wind power, biodiesel or both

That part of the plan is still not nailed down. Right now we're
focusing on running the website, getting ourselves organized and
working out an organizational and decision making structure based on
consensus. We want to have our first business plan complete and be
incorporated by the fall.

About the London Commons

http://freedom.2y.net/wiki/London_Commons/About_the_London_Commons

The London Commons is a grassroots organization in London, Ontario.
We are working to facilitate a more closely knit community in our
neighbourhoods by providing tools and resources to encourage
cooperation and sharing. Our founding principles are freedom, respect,
accessibility and grassroots collaboration. This website is our pilot
project. It's website is designed so that any Londoner can become the
media. The only thing you need to start publishing here is a free user
account.

You can use this website to publish your own blog, documents of
any sort, pictures and audio files. We also operate a community
calendar and forum discussion boards. There are no editors here, what
gets to the front page of this website is decided by the users. If you
think something should be on the front page, you can vote it there.
Over time we'll be adding other features focused on collaboration to
this site. Everyone is welcome to attend all London Commons meetings.
We encourage anyone who is interested, to 'keep an eye' on the events
calendar, to find out when and where the next meeting will be.

Because this website is all about laying down new lines of
communication between neighbours, we have a rule that people use their
real names for their accounts. There are other websites for anonymous
flaming and hiding behind fake names. This website is for people who
want to get to know the people in their city and make new connections.

Most of the content on this website is published under Creative
Commons licenses. These licenses fill in the middle ground between the
traditional copyright's “all rights reserved” and having no protections
at all. Creative Commons licenses encourage sharing and recognize that
creativity always builds on the past. When you post content to this
site, you choose which license conditions you want attached to your
work with just a few mouse clicks. If you wanted people to be able to
republish your poem as long as they give credit, make no money and
leave it exactly as it is, simply choose those options.

Where the Creative Commons licenses get really interesting is
the “ShareAlike” option that basically states “you can take this work
and sample it, remix it, or extend it into something new, as long as
others are given this right with the new work.” This is the attitude
the London Commons is trying to bring to London. We'd like to see our
website being used for collaborative creativity. Someone writes a short
story, someone else develops it into a script. Someone records a song
with vocals and a guitar track, someone else adds a bass track, and
then a hip-hop group samples it.

The London Commons is working to establish itself as a
community owned cooperative. We have bigger plans to pursue once this
website really gets going. We'd like to offer services including a
computer recycling program, community wireless internet access, and
bartering resources to name a few. We also hope to help other coops get
started by incubating their programs and letting them start with a copy
of our business plan instead of starting from scratch.

For now we're meeting about every two weeks. Our meetings are
run by consensus, and everyone in attendance has an equal say. They
usually take place in people's living rooms or cafes, and anyone who
uses the website is welcome to attend.

London Commons: A Media Free-For-All

http://freedom.2y.net/wiki/London_Commons/The_London_Commons%2C_a_Media_Free_for_All

Introduction

The London Commons is a media and communications cooperative
organization that is currently in its planning stages. This document
outlines the reasons for creating the London Commons and the core
services that we will provide. It also suggests some founding
principles for the organization, and finishes with a draft plan for
sustainability.

As a cooperative, the London Commons will provide services to
members and the general public. We will focus our efforts on
collaborative media creation and distribution.

Why the London Commons?

Communication is elemental to a healthy and vibrant community. The
way we communicate as a city plays a key role in our culture, economy,
and the whole way we live our lives. Some media only allow or prefer
one way communication, meant to be consumed by the masses and provide
limited means for feedback. London's commercially dominated media is
mostly a one way street. While the London Free Press and the New PL may
offer a letters to the editor section and “Speaker's Corner,” regular
Londoners have no control over what gets aired or printed.

Part 2.b. of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom
guarantees us “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression,
including freedom of the press and other media of communication.” The
word freedom in this context only means there should be no rules
against what gets said. It does not mean that common people will be
able to afford to get their message out. People don't commonly own
publishing companies because it's too expensive. Freedom of expression
ends up being relatively worthless when very few people can afford it.

Fortunately Londoners are blessed with several avenues to get
their ideas, opinions and creative works out to the rest of the
community. Organizations like CHRW Radio Western 94.9, AltLondon.org,
London Indie and the recently revived London Indymedia Collective open
up new lanes to allow greater two way communication. Regular Londoners
can easily play a part in these organizations and get mass distribution
of their contributions to local culture and dialogue.

The London Commons wants to dramatically expand local
grassroots media by organizing a cooperatively owned and run
communications company. The mission of the London Commons Cooperative
is to lower costs and eliminate other barriers to free and open
communication. We will provide publishing, communication and
collaboration services to make culture and dialogue more accessible to
individuals, groups and the entire city. And we will do it all by
working together.

Founding Services

LondonCommons.net is the founding effort of our nascent cooperative.
The website will actually be three sites rolled into one common
interface. It will be a constantly updated online magazine with
articles, photographs, music files and video where anyone from London
and area will be welcome to publish their creations. It will also be a
free, permanent online archive of work contributed by community members
and pieces from the public domain. And perhaps most exciting are the
organic groups collaboration tools, that will make cooperation in the
time between face to face meetings easier and more productive.

The site will never require a subscription cost, and its
services will be available equally to members and the general public.
Browsing the website and downloading content will not require any
registration, but an account with a real name will be required for
publishing to the site or using the collaboration tools. Our server
will be powered by Free Software tools including Ubuntu Linux and
Drupal. Ubuntu Linux is an operating system (alternative to Microsoft
Windows or Mac OS) suitable for laptops, desktops and servers. Drupal
is a content management system that acts like an engine for a community
run website. Both Ubuntu Linux and Drupal are free to download, copy,
change and redistribute. They are part of an intellectual property
commons.

The London Commons on line magazine and archive

Account holders will be able to contribute any type of content that
the site supports to any of the sections. For example, a budding
journalists could publish stories covering the events at City Hall in
the News section. A musician could upload her band's demo tracks to the
Music section, and keep fans updated with a blog and the Calendar.
Local nonprofit organizations and citizen groups will be able to
promote their programs and campaigns, and solicit feedback and
participation from other community members. A casual commoner might
usually participate only in the forums, but occasionally vote on items
in the submission queue.

The content in our magazine mediacast won't just be from
community members, it will be managed by them. Once the site starts to
get crowded, content will go to the submission queue before reaching
the front page. Account holders will be able to vote contributions up
to the front page, or down to the rejection bin. Decisions on what gets
published will not be made by one small group of people. We want to
create a media free for all that is for, about and by Londoners.

Whenever content is uploaded to the site, the contributor will
be asked to choose a license for their work. That license will let
others know what freedoms and restrictions are attached to using the
content. It sounds complicated, but is really very simple. The options
will include the Creative Commons (CC) licenses that allow “some rights
reserved” distribution of creative works.

Creative Commons is an organization that develops and maintains
a free collection of licenses that content creators can apply to their
works. With a CC license authors and artists can allow their creations
to be copied and shared, as long as certain rules are followed. For
exampel a visual artist could release some of his work under the
Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license. That
license allows people to copy and redistribute the work only for
noncommercial uses, and create derivative works as long as the new
creations are released with the same freedoms.

Using CC licenses is one way that the London Commons will
foster a shift in freedom of expression. Creative Commons licenses
encourage remixing culture, and allow for new levels of creative
collaboration. Support for the Creative Commons licensing will be
integrated seamlessly into the website.

Organic Groups Collaboration Tools

Account holders will also be provided with tools designed to make
group work easier. Commoners will be able to join and create “organic
groups” that are either open to the public or by invitation only.
Members of a group will share private and public folders for content
that belongs to the group, a calendar and a task list. These
collaboration tools might be best illustrated by some examples:

A local activist group could have each of its members create a
Commons account and join their organic group. They could use the
private group folder to store documents that are being collaborated on
so that all members would be able to see changes in real time between
meetings. Minutes could get posted to the folder, and the tasks
assigned at meetings entered into the task list and checked off as they
are completed by members. The private calendar would let them keep
track of their meetings, and they could publish events so that other
groups and individuals will see them on the site's public calendar.

An artist collective could establish a group and use the tools
to give each other previews of what they're working on, schedule jam
sessions, and promote shows in the public calendar as a collective
unit. Neighbours could subscribe to neighbourhood group calendars. A
group of writers could prepare a zine, and publish the contents on line
and in print. Ad hoc groups will be able to prepare for large events
like conferences or festivals, respond to crises, and coordinate
community action.

It is the goal of the London Commons to make our collaboration
tools simple for everyone by integrating them into to architecture of
the site. We want to provide intuitive, accessible tools that can
supplement the mailing lists that groups usually use for on line
collaboration. These services for groups will be provided with hopes of
stimulating collaboration and a more connected community

The website will lay foundations that we can built on later to
provide other services. It will give us a framework to organize
projects large and small, and make running the cooperative a lot
easier. It will be a place to connect, find out what's going on and
access local culture and art. But most of all it's going to be a lot of
fun.

Founding Principles

Starting with a solid foundation of core values is critical to the
longevity of any organization. If the the founding principles are not
stated clearly in the beginning, the organization will waste a lot of
time in the future with conflicts over values, direction and goals.
Those conflicts will arise even with a solid foundation of core
principles, but we should do our best to avoid them with careful
planning.

The founding principles outlined here are not ready to be set
in stone. In practice it may be better to never set them in stone, so
that the London Commons can periodically reevaluate and expand its
mission. As this document is only the first of many drafts, the
principles outlined here are suggestions for a starting point. Feedback
on this section and the entire document is welcomed and requested.

The London Commons is founded with the principles of freedom,
respect, accessibility, and grassroots collaboration. These principles
are the pillars that will hold the London Commons up, so they need to
be strong. The shadow of each principle is visible in all of the other
principles because they are interdependent.

Freedom

Freedom is elemental to a democratic society. Freedom of expression
allows us a rich and diverse culture and lets ideas old and new be
debated openly. Without freedom of expression, our society would
stagnate without the evolution that is driven by controversial ideas
and bold new artistic statements.

For the London Commons to belong to everybody and serve the
whole community, we must guarantee genuine and robust freedom of
expression to every participant. The London Commons is founded with the
belief that censoring unpopular expressions does nothing to resolve
conflict. Instead the London Commons will encourage dialogue, and
provide equal access for all participants to respond to content they
disagree with.

The London Commons will work to further expand our collective freedom of expression in these critical ways:

• Working together to lower the costs that inhibit the freedom to publish and access information.
• Facilitating dialogue and conflict resolution instead of resorting to censorship
• Providing tools such as the Creative Commons licenses, that
  allow a new flexible spectrum of rights to share and remix culture. The
  content available from the London Commons will be free as in cost, and
  free as in freedom.

Respect

Grassroots collaboration requires that we treat each other with
respect. We must always remember that we are working with and talking
to our neighbours, even when we disagree. Contributors to the London
Commons will be expected not to publish lies, direct personal attacks,
or inappropriate offensive language while using the services. The
London Commons belongs to all members, and no member should use its
services in ways that could get it shutdown.

Accessibility

Membership to the London Commons Cooperative and access to our
services will be open to every Londoner regardless of income, race,
gender, age, sexual orientation, or ability. Our mission is lowering
the cost of and removing other barriers media creation, collaboration
and distribution. We will reach out to isolated groups, expand into
different media and adapt to special needs by involving as many
Londoners as possible.

Grassroots Collaboration

As an organization, the London Commons Cooperative will be built and
run from the bottom up. Our primary asset is each other and the
resources we already have. Decisions on how the cooperative is run,
what services will be available, and what directions should be taken
will always be made by the membership. Meetings will be run by
consensus, and will be open to all members of the cooperative. The
projects we undertake will always be community action.

The nature of our work is collaborative. Our services will
function by bringing people together for cooperation instead of
competition. We will provide tools that facilitate working together as
individuals and groups and make it easier for people to build on the
work of others. The London Commons will reach out to organizations with
similar goals to prevent unnecessary redundancy, and help build a
vibrant network of interdependency.

Rough plan and time line

The internet still has vast untapped potential as a medium for
communication. Data transfer on the internet is cheaper than printing
and broadcasting. The internet's versatility makes it fast and easy to
distribute text, images, audio and video. On the network we can
communicate in real time, and keep a library of content that is
available on demand.

The London Commons wants to harness the potential of the
internet and use it to open mass media and communication to all
Londoners. Because so many still have limited access to the internet,
the London Commons will work collectively to make internet access
cheaper and easier. At the same time we will branch out into other
media. Printed pages, discs, tapes, telephones and broadcasting still
have lots of life left in them. As the London Commons matures, it will
offer a broad set of media services. Cheap printing, professional audio
recording, even phone services can all be offered under the cooperative
model.

Revenue Sources

To be sustainable the London Commons must find revenue streams to
pay workers and build capital for starting new programs. Running the
website will be cheap. For it's launch in November 2005, the cost of
the website will be approximately $20/month. To support programs like
Computer Recycling, Conflict Resolution or the print service we will
need to pay workers to put the necessary hours in.

For revenue we have several options to explore. A minimum
annual dues of two dollars will be required for membership in the coop.
Once we are incorporated as a coop we will be able to recieve donations
and apply for grants.

Dues and donations will be payable by cash or cheque, or by
credit card through the services of Donorge. Donorge is a non-profit
organization that provides free online donation services to other
non-profits and individuals. Their current payment options include
international bank transfers and PayPal, and they do not charge
donation fees. Donorge is also working on local payment portals. On
their website, you can donate to non-profit organizations, and free
software projects including the Drupal software used by
LondonCommons.net.

For some of the coop's services we can have a flexible pricing
schedule. Prices could range from bartering work hours or supplies to
market competive cash prices. Our prices can be lower for people living
on small incomes, and slightly higher for nonmembers.

Grants are another possible source of funding. There is plenty
of money offered by governments and foundations for programs within our
scope. The Government of Canada's Cooperative Secretariat runs and Coop
Development Initiative that provides up to $75000 per program per year
to innovative uses of the coop model. We can also look at the Canada
Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and many others.

Recursive by Nature

The London Commons will succeed because it's nature is recursive.
The more we put in, the more we'll get out. Our website might start out
with few contributors and visitors. But every new visitor is a
potential contributor, and every contribution makes the site more
compelling to new visitors. Our coop might start out with just a few
members and limited services, but we'll be able to provide more reasons
to join as we grow.

To survive, the London Commons must be run like a business
fueled by entrepreneurial spirit. Instead of getting rich we will
reinvest into building the Commons. Revenue from services will go
towards paying coop workers, paying bills, and purchasing property and
equipment. After our costs are covered, we will reinvest back into the
community by starting new programs and services. New initiatives will
be judged on their feasibility and benefit to the community.

Community reinvestment will not be limited to media and
communications. The London Commons Coop can be an incubator for new
coops focused on energy, housing, food or any other community need. The
London Commons is planting seeds that will revitalize the grassroots
culture and economy. We may be starting small, but with good planning
and a clear direction we can become a household name and be well on our
way to a thriving cooperative community in just a few years.

Five Year Plan

The plan outlined below is still vague and open to new ideas. Our
top priority is solidifying plans for the first two years, but we
should also look further ahead right from the beginning.
LondonCommons.net is the first step. The website lays a foundation that
we can build on, and provides a forum for future planning. Some of the
services listed below can be started within months, like the Computer
Recycling program and Technology Services. Other services might take
longer to get started, but can happen sooner if an individual or group
takes responsibility for creating and implementing a sustainable plan.
If you would like to take on one of the tasks below, come to a meeting
and see who else wants to help.

Below is a rough outline of a five year plan for the London
Commons. Services are sorted into a roughly chronological order, but
nothing is nailed down quite yet. I have more details than what's
printed here, but I want to get this idea out so that more people can
start working on it.

Magazine and Print Services

The internet cannot be the only medium we rely on to distribute
creative works. Every month the London Commons will take the best
content from the website and republish it into a magazine. Decisions on
layout and what gets printed will be made by consensus of the magazine
team. We can make copies on photocopiers and laser printers at first,
and fundraise to buy the equipment necessary to operate a printing
press.

Once we have a printing press, we will be able to offer low
cost, professional printing services. We could offer cheap printing of
zines, album covers, pamphlets, maybe even books.

Computer Recycling Program

We will solicit donations of unwanted computers and parts for
refurbishment. The computers will have Ubuntu Linux installed with a
collection of high quality software, and sold for a reasonable price.
Families would be able to purchase internet ready computers for around
$100. The features of the computer would include: web browser, email
and communication tools, office suite, photo editing, audio and video
production, educational tools and of course games. By using Linux and
other Free Software, we can load the computers with as much
functionality as people want.
Technology Services

This is actually a collection of services that can be offered
relatively quickly. Hopefully this part of the coop will be able to
generative income to sustain other parts. The London Commons will
assemble a team of workers with expertise in a broad set of skills.
These workers will refurbish the computers for the recycling program,
but will also be able to do computer repair, network design and
administration, and web and software development. Our workers will all
be Ubuntu Certified, on top of the experience they bring to the job.

The London Commons Coop will offer a broad range computer
solutions based primarily on Ubuntu Linux. We will provide onsite
repair for computers running Linux, Windows and Mac OS. We will design,
upgrade and maintain custom computers and heterogenous networks for
individuals and organizations. This includes developing websites that
can be maintained without a professional webmaster. London Commons will
specialize in Ubuntu Linux and Drupal. Ubuntu Linux will run our
webserver, and power the computers sold in the Computer Recycling
Program. Drupal will manage all of the content on our webserver. From
the experience gained by putting LondonCommons.net, our workers will be
able to develop custom web content management systems for coop members
and clients. We will extend Free Software to meet any special needs ,
and always release the source code. If something can be done with
computers, we will help our members and customers do it safer and
cheaper with Free Software.

Other ideas for services

Computers aren't very useful to people who don't understand how to
use them. Education will be an important part of our technology
services. We will teach free or inexpensive classes on computer
fundamentals, usage of Linux, the internet, and creative tools. While
fixing people's computers, we'll show them what we're doing so they can
learn how to fix problems on their own.
Other Services

• open a professional audio recording and mastering studio for local musicians
• community development services (partner with other local
  community developers; provide resources to help Londoners start new
  coops in other areas: housing, food production, bikes, energy etc.;
• public swap meets / bazaar market
  • start with a small regular barter style swap meet in a public place
  • once enough people are coming out to the swap meet, we can invite local farmers to sell produce
• offer internet access
  • start with just a small area: East London Village?
  • offer wireless access on a flexible “pay what you can” fee schedule
  • taking what we learn in one neighbourhood, and start rolling into other areas with wireless access points
  • expand our network capacity gradually as demand rises, with
    the goal of having network capacity to spare and sustainability in mind
• leverage our network capacity to provide Voice-over-IP local phone service

Links for more information

• LondonCommons.net - the website.
• CreativeCommons.org
  has movies and comic books that demostrate how their licenses work. You
  can use their website to license your creations, or find content that
  is free to download and share
• London Commons uses open source software. Open source
  software is free to download, modify and extend: just like Creative
  Commons licensed work. The prototype webserver (and the laptop this
  document was typed on) run Ubuntu Linux instead of Microsoft Windows.
  The website is managed by Drupal.

• Ubuntu is an African word that means “towards humanity”, or
  more specifically “I am because we all are.” Ubuntu Linux is a free
  operating system for computers that includes access to a free universe
  of software to meet all kinds of needs. Ubuntu.com
• Drupal is a powerful content management system promoted by
  its open source developers as “community plumbing.” It was used by
  Howard Dean to create DeanSpace during his bid for the U.S. presidency.
  Learn more at Drupal.org