On the date of the First FairCoop Anniversary, September 17th at 19h CET, around 20 participants gathered from around the world from various FairCoop nodes for the first FairCoop Assembly, which was conducted over Telegram and using this online pad. For any futher detail on any of these points, please have a look here:
Among the issues discussed were:
1. Website improvements : Technical issues about the speed and maintenance of the FairCoop website were discussed. More work needs to be done on this and there is a bounty for this work which you can access at /groups/faircoop-community/bounties-rewarding-projects-85590309/forum/topic/7-make-the-fair-coop-site-go-really-fast/
Participants also discussed ways to simplify our presentation of what FC actually is and how different parts, such as groups created in the FairNetwork, relate to each other so new people can understand it quickly. Further on, we will look at blockchain or p2p based social networks but for now we will continue using Telegram and the FairNetwork.
2. FairCoop Priorities for managing and distributing funds in the next months.
For the next steps in FC development we need to focus on how to choose priorites, teams and funding of every project, in a way that the people are sustainably rewarded for their work. There is a need to find funding in order to be able to put together a stable team to focus on FairMarket development and communication. We need to be able to complement the system of bounties to make them more appealing.
FairMarket is high on the list of priorities, but also we need more uptake from shops, associations and large networks and groups such as OuiShare or large cooperatives.
Focus on things we can show to people to demonstrate that Faircoin can be used – basically local nodes and FairMarket. Local nodes would include physical payments by SMS, paper tokens, or plastic cards (glownet.com example). On https://use.fair-coin.org there’s a list of projects collaborating. We must encourage simple online talks on Faircoin so people learn more about how to explain it and get the support they need to set up local nodes or points of contact like these.
The Point of Sale system is being developed for use in shops, etc. by Bitchain and Chip Chap – they can be adapted for Faircoin use. Chip Chap will soon have a developer focusing solely on how to adapt their Bitcoin machines to Faircoin. The ATM in Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona will also have Faircoin soon.
We could do an event like Faircoin Week after deploying the local payment system. We will start discussing priorities on the FairNetwork.
We are presumably moving further in our integration with Chip Chap, which is becoming quite successful as a company, to support some of the next steps, and at the same time giving resources in Euros for the FC developements, which will help stabilize the price and make Faircoin exchange from the pooled fund easier. It is too soon to talk about it in detail, but we can focus on preparing our decision-making process.
In conclusion, we need to discuss how to prioritize the payment to FairCoop members for doing development work before distributing new funds: What? Who? How much? How? are questions that we need to talk about and decide together.
3. NODES
Node updates were given from Athens, Barcelona, Bilbao, Brussels, Galiza, Heraklion and Madrid. Many groups updated on their internal organisation status (participants and spaces) and on events or talks they have attended or given. Some are involved in starting new Integral Cooperatives (Athens, Heraklion), Cooperatives (Buenos Aires) or new Points of Exchange or POEs (Bilbao) for people to exchange fiat money for Faircoin. Most are involved in set-up of basic structures and awareness–raising about FairCoop in their area. If there is a node close to you, please check the full meeting notes for more information, and if there isn’t one, you can start one!
Strategy for expanding local nodes, spread the word of FairCoop in cooperatives, shops, etc at local levels:
In Catalunya they propose creating a common mini-fund for nodes, from the minting generated by node members, for printing flyers or covering other node’s expenses. Also there is a proposal already approved for distribution of about FAIR300K to local nodes, but we need to build the criteria.
POEs can charge a 1% fee on local cash exchanges and accept donations.
We need a group of people in different countries prepared to explain FairCoop and help local nodes. Trips between local nodes could have a global approach within FC.
In Galiza they are building a knowledge system which gathers local experiences and knowledge from several collectives in their region and the idea is to put toghether all this knowledge in action like in a university, possibly with an open certification system. At the same time, try to hack universities by inserting some knowledge in masters, etc. This could be also presented as the knowledge part of FairStarts.
For localization needs there could be a system of federated regional systems, like a p2p University. This could end up in reinforcement and sharing of knowledge about Faircoop projects and investment.
We could focus in having one worker in each node with paid needs.
Bumbum is working on geolocation maps of FC users.
4. Open Assembly: how to organize from now on
Open assemblies will take place at 19h CET on the third thursday of each month.
They will have a break at 21:30 CET for people to get home from their local meetings.
* Next Meeting: October 15th
5. Communication
We are currently using Telegram for our internal communication. It is possible to stay with this system and adapt it in the short term for our needs, but we also discussed other secure communication tools.
Ale will coordinate a group of admins who would list tools and offer support across collectives within and outside FC. This is proposed as a productive project with a cooperative purpose, providing comms infrastructure within FairCoop and with other groups or organisations that share our needs and objectives. The initial task is to list tools with the pros and cons of each, and agree on shared services for core requirements.
This has been announced in the FairNetwork[/groups/technology-infrastructure-community-group/forum/topic/admin-group-productive-project-proposal/] and we can make a doc in the FairNetwork.
A new media comms group for news and bulletins has been created in Telegram.
6. Tran$parency
We had regular budget updates by the provisional Ecosystem Council meetings; from now on this task will be done at the open assemblies.
The expenses from previous actions (Faicoin Week, Summer Camp numbers – evaluation + others numbers related to the Pooled Fund) comes mainly from Euros that came from a donation from Lush.
Here is the thread created for the pooled fund numbers it includes Faircoin week + summer camp expenses:
Here is the address of the pooled fund: https://chain.fair-coin.org/address/fNWcvkQLg9ELKkV5gH1nsYBJnzHqw7pka7 Today: FAIR840748.
We are waiting for the market to stabilise before distributing these faircoins to the members who did past work.
7. What are the early use-cases that will attract non-developer non-activists into the project?
* The ability to live or provide for oneself or for the group by doing activities that are paid in Faircoin.
* This depends on the amount of local services and products offered in Faircoin. Can I pay my rent or order vegetables?
* If more people sign on to use Faircoin, its value will go up.
* A more spread out range of needs, for example renovating a space for FairCoop node meetings.
* We need an active global organisation to spread tasks to local nodes.
8. Events, invitations:
* Fira Economia Solidaria Catalunya, 26 October, round table on alternate currencies www.firaesc.org
* Festival de Cyberpunk Barcelona https://www.facebook.com/festivalcyberpunkbarcelona/
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