Groups on Ning - Making it happen

[Sepp]

Today I found by chance a group started by Annie Boudreault called "Making it happen".

Unfortunately the information on groups is deeply buried in the guts of this Ning forum, and it is kind of difficult to know that they even exist.

Please check out http://openmoney.ning.com/group/makingithappen

and if you do want to contribute to the motion of making open money actually come about, join the group and join in on the discussion.

[Anne Aster]

It takes a little more structure and involvement in order to see something happen one day. Talking is nice but it needs some sort of a plan of action and a "to do list". Maybe there is a way to structure the subject like a Table of Contents and an Index with references.

I fell quite lost in the field of open money. There are some web sites around but I can't find a place where I can easily get the picture quickly and understand what needs to be done. If there are some "human" issues to face with the open money project, lets talk about it and think of some solutions. Money is an emotional subject. Love must lead the path!

I recently started another Network on Ning about money alternatives: http://junomoneta.ning.com . There is a section about open money. I do my best to keep things clear and simple. As knowledge will grow, I'll share with you as soon as possible. You're welcomed to join and go back and forth between Juno Moneta and Open Money if you like. Considering all the challenges about "making it happen" with open money, co-creation and co-operation is like a "miracle department"! Make a wish!

[ernie yacub]

you're not alone in feeling lost in open money, i've been working on it for over 12 years with michael and i still get lost, especially in the tech realm.

i focus on the bit i understand, community currencies as a solution to the money problem so i have a simple plan of action, initiate a successful community way project somewhere - hence the todo list which is basically what i did developing the first two installations of community way with smart cards.

for this to scale and be available all over the world requires software which has been very slow in coming but there now appears to be a convergence of initiatives that gives me hope.

there are a lot of issues and problems that need our immediate attention, om/cc provide the powerful tools we need to begin tackling them.

[onewhouse]

Yes, Annie, the small steps that lead far may need to be firm. That said, Ernie Yacub replied to the "To Do" list vis-a-vis Comox Walley Community Way money. (cw$) Worth taking a look.

And if you feel lost, I just uploaded a very good presentation by Miguel Yasayuki Hirota, which I will also upload to Junomoneta. Enjoy the goodwill of your beautiful Miracle Department. It is about the history, issues like demurrage, and the many many networks that happily operate.

Warmly,

[Ryan Lanham]

Sorry, just added another thread expressing my own interest in helping with foundation organization, etc.

I am very interested in this topic.

[Ryan Lanham]

We're at the make it happen level on a system in the Cayman Islands. We want to have an employee benefit system that allows people to earn alternative currency in health related areas. So, no smoking for smokers earns bucks, etc.

Payment goes toward physicals, diabetic test strips and other enduring/recurring needs (e.g. supplements.)

Opens up a lot of possibilities for an island where commerce is geographically bound.

[Sepp]

As you are talking about making it happen in a local context, there is an interesting Italian approach which was decided on after analyzing previous attempts at establishing alternative currencies. The description - a bit lengthy - is available here:

http://www.arcipelagoscec.org/doc/ArchipelagoSCECproject1.pdf

This Italian project, which is underway, is putting first emphasis on actually supporting local production and commerce over imports from far away and world wide commerce by multinationals.

It is adapted to the Italian situation, where alternative currencies are looked upon as competition to the official one. So SCEC defines its currency as complementary, it is arranged so as to circulate together with the official currency. At this stage, it is in the form of a discount chit denominated in Euro equivalents (in denominations of 0.50 Euro, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 50 Euro). It is distributed for free and acquires value only when used. Businesses agree to give a discount if buyers pay (in part) with SCEC.

The SCEC, once issued, stay in circulation and can be spent at any business that adheres to the program and states how much discount they are willing to give. In this way, SCEC is tax neutral - no tax is to be paid on it as it is merely a discount. Privates of course, who are not subject to value added tax (VAT) can use SCEC to replace Euros in their direct exchanges. So SCEC is a discount as far as the government is concerned, but it is a fledgling alternative currency as far as the users are concerned.