Data Commons Project
From Cultivate.Coop
The Data Commons Project is developing tools that will strengthen connections, facilitate resource sharing, and lay the groundwork for developing a system of mutual exchange among enterprises working to build a cooperative and democratic economy.
- Project site: datacommons.find.coop
- Data Commons Directory, a tutorial on how to use some of our software to set up an online directory of organizations.
- Data Commons Code Sprint, an organizing page for concentrated spurts of code development.
History
- 2000: Ethan Miller of GEO publishes the Economy of Hope.
- 2005: Noémi Giszpenc’s SNHU thesis research found that cooperatives in New England sought a directory for inter-cooperation. On a grassy knoll at the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, a plan is hatched to create and tend a "data commons" between cooperatives.
- 2007: Code sprints lead to a prototype of what eventually became find.coop.
- 2008: CDI takes on fiscal sponsorship. Grants received from Cooperative Charitable Trust and Equal Exchange, individuals make some contributions. Code sprints continue.
- 2010: The project is awarded an RBEG for 2011 enabling part-time staff coordination and business development.
- 2011: You read this, and decide to help out.
Learn more
- Project blog: datacommons.find.coop
- Project software: launchpad.net/datacommons
- Online directory: find.coop
Other Data Commons
There are plenty of related projects with a similar name, including:
- The Open Data Commons which has worked to develop good licenses for releasing data under, if you want to encourage free use of that data. They've done all the legal legwork so you don't have to.
