A platform cooperative, or platform co-op, is a business model in which a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business establishes a two-sided market through a computing platform, website, mobile app, or protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services. It is presented as an alternative to venture-capital-funded platforms because it is owned and governed by the people who depend on it most, including its workers and users, rather than by outside investors. Platform cooperativism is the broader intellectual movement that advocates for the model's development, objecting to the idea that technology alone is by default the answer to social problems and instead promoting the building of a shared digital commons alongside support for worker organizing and social and ecological sustainability.
Facts
Core MechanismA platform cooperative, or platform co-op, is a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business that establishes a two-sided market via a computing platform, website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services. 1 Connections
Associated With
Platform cooperativism proposes cooperative, worker- or user-owned governance as an alternative to the venture-funded, investor-owned platform business model.
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Platform Cooperative
WikipediaOpening definition paragraph
A platform cooperative, or platform co-op, is a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business that establishes a two-sided market via a computing platform, website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services.
History section, Trebor Scholz coinage of platform cooperativism
the term "platform cooperativism" was coined by New School professor Trebor Scholz in a 2014 article titled, "Platform Cooperativism vs. the Sharing Economy"
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.