# Community circle preparation meeting Tues Jan 12th 16:00 GMT here: [https://ca.meet.coop/b/wou-cyy-wpt] Participants: Wouter Tebbens, Gary Alexander, Mike Hales, Matt Noyes (social.coop), Leo Sammallahti (Public Interest Media coop) Notes: Mike Next meeting: Tue 26th Jan, 2pm GMT, [https://ca.meet.coop/b/wou-cyy-wpt] These notes have three sections: - Actions - Community circle design - Rationale - Scope - Operational mode - Circle work programme - Programme topics - Programme committee ### Actions * Present a **development plan** at all-hands this week. Request inputs on membership of a Programme Committee, see below. * Hold a **further preparation meeting** in two weeks, with an improved mix of participants: see Programme Committee below. ### Community circle design * **Community Circle rationale** - **1** Facilitate member-to-member cooperating and federating among meet.coop members, going beyond just being consumers of a video-room service (BBB), thus cultivating and stewarding a commons of **mutual aid**. Possibly also, mutual **trade**. - **2** Facilitate development of the meet.coop service platform, governance practice and membership, in ways that serve members' practical **needs and projects** in the mutual sector, coop sector and solidarity economy (the cooperative commons). * **Community Circle scope** - Regular **discussions** among members. See Programme Topics below. - Substantial **participation** - ultimately, majority participation? - of organisations led by women, BIPOC and global-majority non-English language communities. See Programme Committee below. - Peer-to-peer **sociability** - in meetings (a brief connection/check-in slot at meeting-start); also social events? - Community **mapping**, member directory? * **Community Circle operational mode** - Regular, **scheduled**, rich, enjoyable meetings that we can *invite our networks* to. - Core of each meeting to be a **presentation** from a member organisation/project, followed by discussion, coming to a focus on *implications for meet.coop* platform infrastructure, governance and/or membership. - **Cross-fertilise** with programmes of our member organisations, to share presentation sessions. > For example: May First Movement Technology, Public Interest Media coop. - Meetings also to include a '**wants and offers'** synergy segment, and **round-the-room** check-in (brief personal/organisational intros). ¿Checkout and feedback too? using the shared whiteboard. - **Asynchronous** channel/s to be exploited alongside BBB. See Programme Topics: Digital toolstack. - **Co-convenors** - a 'programme committee' to *invite contributors* and *build a schedule* (see Programme Topics), also acting as *facilitators/hosts* for sessions (guardians of facilitation model below). - Art of Hosting **facilitation model** for before/during/after meetings, as proposed by `@wouter` in the Forum [https://forum.meet.coop/t/working-as-a-community/416/25]. This should: * Align with the **sociocracy mode** of existing meet.coop Operational circles; and * Specify **channels** for post-meeting membership communication and pre-meeting agenda-forming. ### Circle work programme * **Programme Topics** x3 streams - **1 Coop practice and strategy** - Sharing expertise in: governance, outreach & recruitment, startup and business models, coop-to-coop federation & trade, contribution accounting, DisCO mode. Etc > Operational members with things to bring here may include: `@benhylau` `@osb` `@graham` etc - **2 Solidarity** / Gathering of tribes - Inviting member organisations in the mutual sector, coop economy and solidarity economy to make presentations and pose development questions for meet.coop and the meet.coop community. Discussion to home-in on **support and solidarity** with such projects via developments in meet.coop services, membership & governance. > Organisations might for example include . . FOEI? MayFirst? femProComuns? Civic Intelligence project @ Seattle? Schumacher Institute? Kate Raworth’s ‘doughnut cities’ project (DEAL - Doughnut Economics Action Lab)? Public Interest Media coop? Etc? - **3 Digital toolstack** - Usefulness of combinations of digital tools *in use* by mutual sector/coop sector *organisers*; and provision of digital infrastructure * Emerging useage and **user issues** of the [meet.coop] tech infrastructure; and * The use of BBB video meetings alongside **other elements** in the digital infrastructure of mutual- and coop-sector organising. - To include: ‘Why FLOSS not mainstream commercial?’ > Organisations with expertise here include: Agaric `@freescholar` MayFirst `@jamie` Collective tools/Digidemlab `@petter` femProComuns `@dvdjaco` `@wouter` etc. * **Programme Committee** - Aim to convene the following for the next Circle preparation meeting (26Jan) . . - Gary, Mike, Wouter, Leo, Matt commit at least initially to be involved. Matt's participation is pending discussions in social.coop; in the event, AN Other might participate. - Contact femProcomuns (Monica, Raquel?) - `@wouter` - Check with SimplySecure - `@wouter` - Contact Micky Metts `@freescholar` and `@jamie` , to promote participation of MayFirst/Agaric. - `@mikemh `