This presentation was developed in 2004 by Oli S-B of defactodesign.com
It uses some fictional cartoon characters to illustrate how a software system
called PlaNet (the dream communications system of The Open Co-op) could
help people live together in a collaborative, sustainable economy.
We’d love to know what you think about the ideas in the story
Please let us know via www.open.coop

The following story is set in 2010 and describes how various users benefit from
using PlaNet, the communications software The Open would like to see.

Keith
Welcome to the town Anyville, in the year 2010. Keith is a retired
environmentalist who lives in Anyville, a beautiful town in the hills. He helped
set up The Open Co-op and is an active member contributing to the global
system. He provides mediation and conflict resolution helping people solve
most problems before they get out of hand. He arranges discussions and votes
on Open Co-op policies and fees, which are democratically agreed by the
members. Having been a member for such a long time people tend to listen to
Keith, who has an excellent reputation.

The 'reputation' of members is their most important asset since anyone can rate
their contributions to society and comment on their service. People are more
likely to trust other members with good reputations and definitely prefer trading
with them, as on eBay. Members can set their own 'dimensions' to specify how
reputations are calculated. Keith’s groups use three notional dimensions based
on wisdom, service and integrity:
Wisdom is based on ratings of a member’s contributions to group discussions,
like on Slashdot and many other services. High scores mean that people like what
you say. Service indicates the cumulative hours a member has contributed to the
community. Making service a prominent aspect of reputation encourages people
to contribute. Because it is the 'cumulative' total, redeming service hours does
not affect your reputation. Integrity is the kind of rating you get on eBay and
many eCommerce sites today. High scores mean people think you have done a
good job when you have sold something or served another member.

Jon used to be a regular businessman with high blood
pressure, struggling for market share. He’s since realised
he can command higher profits, pay less tax, improve
customer loyalty, waste less resources, improve employee
morale and retention and lower his blood pressure all
through ethical trading. He now makes a small fortune
running Honest Jon's, an organic market in Anyville.
Jon gets good ratings from his customers and
has earnt an 'Open Kitemark', which many
customers look for, helping him retain and
grow a loyal customer base. He buys from
other Open Co-ops worldwide via the PlaNet
system and now he's cut out the middlemen he
can compete with the traditional
supermarkets. He's friends with Keith and very
grateful to his Community Support Provider
who helped him start up his business.

What's a Community Support Provider?
The Open Co-op envisages a network of
Community Support Providers (CSPs) in
communities across the globe.
Every CSP will network together existing
social enterprises, green businesses and
co-ops in their area, getting them aware
of each others activities, communicating
and trading.
We envisage that many of the existing 'social centers' and autonomous spaces
will develop into 'hubs' of the new sustainable economy, using software like
PlaNet and co-ordinating all the local co-ops in a community.
CSPs will be the best place to search for local food, child care, gigs and even
jobs, or to find information to help you set up or improve an ethical business.
Read on for Priya's story

Priya
Priya lives in Auraville, southern India and used to struggle
to make a living selling rice to corrupt exporters in a cut-
throat market destabilised by perverse subsidies.
When The Open Co-op got set up in india, Priya
approached her local CSP who put her in touch with a
Computer & Communications Co-op (CCC) who supplied
her with a computer. The people at the CCC showed her
how to trade directly with ethical buyers, like Jon, using
the PlaNet software.
Her CSP also introduced Priya to the farming advice &
support groups online, helping her farm more
efficiently. Now she acts as an agent for other farmers
in her village, who don't have computers, running a
local farming co-op. She has paid back the interest free
loan on the computer and built relationships with
buyers she trusts, guaranteeing a fair price for her rice,
which she sells using the PlaNet accounts feature.

The PlaNet accounts and payment system links all individual members, co-ops and
other businesses within the sustainable economy to simplify trading and support.
It offers a choice of conventional currency, local currencies and a ‘time bank’ for
community service.
The strength of PlaNet
accounts is that they
encourage ratings and
reviews on each
individual transaction
which feed back into
members reputations
and provide valuable
information for other
online traders.
Read on for Jess' story

She is able to desseminate her reports easily by publishing articles on PlaNet and
co-ordinate grant applications with other NGO's by sharing information online.
Jess also organises the rota of volunteers who work for UK-NGO using PlaNets
management software.
Jess
Jess is the media/PR
officer for UK-
NGO.org. Jess uses
PlaNet at work to find
specific information
by asking her ‘bot’ (a
personalisable digital
assistant) to perform
detailed searches for
her, it even works
when she’s away from
her desk.

Quality is maintained by feedback and peer inspection, not fear of loss of
customers. The PlaNet Mangement Software provides stability and optimisation
for all types of businesses and other organisations.
Members can suggest ideas and report bugs to improve their management
software, these are added to the next release by other co-op workers like Tom.
The management software
is specificaly designed for
each type of organisation.
People are motivated to
work because they like the
work and because of the
respect it gives them.
Flexibile work forces are
possible and time spent on
certain jobs can be
adjusted to follow
demand. Businesses have
neither need nor desire to
try to influence demand.

He also spends time coding new versions of particular parts of PlaNet software
and when he's not doing that he's often online writing quality reports on new
equipment in the Open Guides.
Tom
Tom shares a rented
flat with Jess in the
city and works for
Anycomms, his local
Computer &
Communications Co-
op (CCC). He sets up
on-line facilities for
other local co-ops and
provides computer
advice & support for
Open Co-op
members.

ratings according to who they trust most. The Open Guides show the real costs of
goods and their ascribed monetary value in 3 different currencies allowing users
to make informed choices about what they buy and from whom.
Read on for Tyrone's story
The Open Guides list
companies products and
services showing ratings
and reviews, like on eBay
and Amazon. Ratings and
reviews provide the basis
for quality standards and
trust and give local
businesses a
promotional advantage
in their community.
Everytime anyone makes
a purchase on PlaNet
they can rate the
product or service and
other users can rate their

time to the local CSP for which he is paid in local currency. He's learnt to reduce
Sarah’s living expenses through clever searches on PlaNet, making informed
purchases which are also healthier and more sustainable, and getting help via the
Skills Exchange
Tyrone
Tyrone is often searching
the Open Guides to find
things for his mum,
Sarah. He learnt all
about PlaNet and The
Open Co-op from Tom at
Anycomms Co-op and
got his computer on an
interest free loan from
his local CSP. Tyrone
wants to be a rapper and
is basically supporting
his Mum and baby
Beyonce by selling his
music online and
contributing

The Skills Exchange is
the place to find work
and workers, it's the
employment hub of
PlaNet. It offers a wide
range of skills and
offers payment in
conventional or local
currency, acting as a
source of part time
jobs and low-cost
services for businesses.
Ratings and reviews on
peoples service
maintain confidence,
as on eBay.
Read on for Sarah and
baby Beyonce's story

Sarah and baby
Beyonce
Sarah is a single mum
trying to do right by 13
year old Tyrone and
baby Beyonce, but
struggling to make
ends meet. She gets
lots of small part-time
jobs from the Skills
Exchange and saves
lots of money through
Swap Shop and by
getting Tyrone to do
things for her, like
make clever searches
on PlaNet.

The PlaNet Swap Shop
lists items that
members no longer
want and are prepared
to barter, some things
are even given away
and collected from
Swap Shop by charities
and people in need.
This encourages the
efficient circulation of
children's clothes,
books, videos, old TVs
and all sorts of other
products which used to
be dumped in landfills.
The Swap Shop employs a team to repair faulty and broken goods, It saves people money
and helps them consume far fewer precious resources.
There could be lots more components of the PlaNet system, but this is as far as this story
takes us.

Conclusion
None of the ideas or features of PlaNet:2010 are far fetched or unattainable
concepts. We wrote the PlaNet:2010 story in 2004 and already several aspects of
the PlaNet system have been implemented by the open source community.
Meanwhile, there is a growing movement of people striving to build a
collaborative sustainable economy check, for example, worldchanging.com and
http://p2pfoundation.net/Category:Movements (social and political movements
related to the P2P, open and commons paradigms).
For PlaNet, or something like it, to become a reality the numerous organisations
working for a sustainable collaborative economy need to truly co-operate by
pooling resources and developing shared infrastructure, together.
The time is now. Visit The Open Co-op at www.open.coop for more information.