Filipe Moreira Alves
Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, NOVA School of Sciences and Technology – NOVA University Lisbon (CENSE – FCT-UNL), Email: fmalves@fc.ul.pt
To cite this article: Alves, Filipe M. (2018) ‘Editorial: Building community, promoting the commons, and surfing the digital wave’ International Journal of Community Currency Research 2018 Volume 22 (Summer) 1-3 <www.ijccr.net> ISSN 1325-9547. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2018.012
Georgina M. Gómez (*)
Chief Editor
International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, gomez@iss.nl
Reflections on scaling up
Georgina M. Gómez
Chief Editor
The International Journal of Community Currency Research renews itself. In this Summer Issue of Volume 20 it introduces a number of changes, including a lighter design and easier to navigate features for those that prefer to read articles on the screen. IJCCR welcomes suggestions to make the template more user-friendly and volunteers to take responsibility for the formatting stage of the publication process.
Furthermore, in collaboration with the libraries of the Universities of Delft and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. IJCCR articles will now have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The metadata of each article will be stored in association with a DOI name and a location, in this case the URL at IJCCR.net, where it can be found. A DOI allows researchers to uniquely identify databases, electronic documents, and so on, facilitating their dissemination and identifications in academic hubs such as Research gate, Academia.edu and Google Scholar. The DOI for a document is permanent, whereas its location and other metadata may change. In other words, referring to an online document by its DOI provides more stable linking than simply referring to it by its URL, because if its URL changes, the
publisher needs only to update the metadata for the DOI to link to the new URL. Articles in past IJCCR volumes will gradually be given a DOI. The Editorial Board of IJCCR regards this new coding as a step forward in making the journal more visible and professional. We are working towards including the IJCCR in indexed academic databases in the near future. Please continue submitting your research for publication in the IJCCR, as the number of articles and their regularity are two criteria that will be considered.
These changes follow the milestone announced in June, 2016, when the IJCCR became the official publication of the newly created Research Association on Monetary Innovation and Complementary and Community Currencies (https://ramics.org/). A group of social scientists from around the world believed that it was time to form an organization that would enhance research on the myriad of monetary innovations and non-monetary exchange modalities that have been emerging globally in the last decades. They were convinced that systematic academic research was of crucial importance to acknowledge the ingenuity and enthusiasm of the practitioners and the grassroots organisations that launched most of these initiatives. IJCCR is a critical resource for newcomers and potential researchers on complementary currencies and other alternative exchange modalities, defined in a broad manner. Apart from present-day community and complementary currencies, RAMICS defines its field of studies broadly and includes historic currencies, monetary plurality and other monetary innovations such as cryptographic currencies. RAMICS focuses in particular on socio-economic innovations on the monetary system which contribute to economic diversity, social cohesion, democratic participation and environmental sustainability. The association already welcomes new members who want to join and support the initiative.
| PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO, issue 1, 2020
Call for paper for the Special issue on: “Rethinking Money, Rebuilding Communities. A Multidimensional Analysis of Crypto and Complementary Currencies”. Guest Editors: Marco Fama, Università della Calabria, Università di Bergamo Ricardo Orzi, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Argentina Stefano Lucarelli, Università di Bergamo, CNRS Paris Call for Papers: The overall goal of this special issue is to stimulate the debate on the experiences of monetary innovation emerged after the 2007 financial crisis, exploring in depth their multiple social, economic and political dimensions. In particular, the special issue aims to provide a theoretical interpretation and an empirical survey of Crypto Currencies and Complementary Currencies, understood as innovative social technologies that have the potential of charging social and economic relations of new meanings, enabling the pursuit of a set of collectively defined goals which the exclusive circulation of official money could not achieve. We assume that, in the current context of economic and environmental crises, social innovations in the monetary field could play a fundamental role in building connections among communities and in triggering virtuous mechanisms of wealth creation and distribution that better respond to local needs. However, ongoing experiments are still too marginal and its concrete effects largely uninvestigated. Complementary Currencies are generally portrayed as tools able to enhance the resilience of local communities, strengthening exchanges, trust and cooperation among its users. However, there still is little empirical evidence on its socio-economic impact, also due to the persistence of unsolved methodological controversies. In any case, evaluation models should not be limited to the identification of quantitative variables and indicators, but attempt to bring to light the multiple social and political implications of the phenomenon. Crypto Currencies are a different, and in many aspects more controversial, phenomenon. However, its underlying technologies have opened new interesting possibilities that are now being explored also in more socially-oriented experiences which call for attention. In both cases, focusing on the strictly intertwined social, economic and symbolic dimensions of the ongoing experiments is fundamental to gain insight and to provide helpful recommendations for practitioners and policy makers.
This special issues aims to nourish the academic and public debate on monetary innovations with rigorous analysis based on an interdisciplinary approach, integrating sociological, political and economic perspectives. It welcomes papers that investigate the socio-economic impact of Crypto Currencies and Complementary Currencies, exploring their limits and potentialities, as well as the underlying participation processes, possible conflicts and contradictions. Articles, employing different theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches, should explore one or more of the following thematic areas:
Timeline: Articles, written in English, should be submitted to the editors according to the following schedule: – Submission of long abstracts (about 1,000 words): 15th of April 2019 – Selection of long abstracts: 10th of May 2019 – Submission of full articles: 27th of August 2019 – Provision of peer review feedback: 15th of October 2019 June 2019 – Submission of revised drafts: 30th of January 2020 – Publication of the issue: 15th of March 2020 Articles should be no longer than 10,000 words, including notes and references. A maximum of 10 articles will be published. Please refer to the editorial guidelines available at: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions Please address any queries to the Editors – Proposals and papers have to be sent to the guest editors: |
We are honored to announce that the first Community Currency Design Course is now available for free on the Grassroots Economics website. The quality of the course is surely granted by the extraordinary experience and knowledge of Dr. William O. Ruddick and his staff behind the Grassroots Economics organization. The course is divided into 5 modules, each one dedicated to a specific topic. Mainly addressed to practitioners, the goal is to understand how to set up and design a community currency project. [ 1 ]
Background
On May 2010, Dr. William O. Ruddick introduced Eco-Pesa to three informal settlements inside Kongowea Location in Mombasa County, namely: Kisimu Ndogo, Shauri Yako, and Mnazi Mmoja. Later he founded Grassroots Economics Foundation and in 2013 developed the Bangla-Pesa model based on the results of Eco-Pesa, in the informal settlement of Bangladesh, Kenya.
Other currencies in Kenya that follow the Bangla-Pesa model include Gatina-Pesa in Kawangware, Kangemi-Pesa in Kangemi, Lindi-Pesa in Kibera, Ng’ombeni-Pesa in Mikindani. K’Mali in Kokstad South Africa, as well as Berg-Rand or BRAND in Bergrivier South Africa, also follow a similar model. [ 2 ]
All local currencies that emerged after the Eco-Pesa in Kenya (six in 2017) experience are now grouped under the label Sarafu-Credit, but they originally were issued under the supervision of an association named Koru Kenya, which does no longer exist. In 2017, six communities are currently using Sarafu-Credit in Kenya totaling over 1200 users. The system is the same in all of them, though each community uses its own version of Sarafu-Credit, giving it a unique name depending on the local toponyms, and managing it independently. [ 3 ]
About the author
Dr. William O. Ruddick is a development economist focusing on East Africa. After completing graduate school researching high energy physics as a collaboration member at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, he found his analysis skills and passion drawn to alternative economics and development. Since 2008 Will has lived in East Africa and managed several successful development programs in environment, food security and economic development. He is dedicated to connecting communities to their own abundance, and is an advocate for, and designer of, Complementary Currencies for poverty eradication and sustainable development. Dr. William O. Ruddick has pioneered Community Currency Programs in Kenya since 2010 and is the founder of the award-winning Bangla-Pesa program. He consults on Community Currencies worldwide and while researching with the University of Cape Town’s Environmental Economics Policy Research Unit. Dr. William O. Ruddick is also an associate scholar with the University of Cumbria’s Institute for Leadership and Sustainability. [ 4 ]
Sources
[ 1 ] https://www.grassrootseconomics.org/mooc
[ 2 ] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-Pesa
[ 3 ] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafu-Credit
Call for an International Roundtable: Cooperation for Open-Source ICT development for Solidarity Economy and Community Currency Systems.
The more Solidarity Economy is growing the more is the need of ICT tools to support it. Platforms to manage a new economy, new monetary and financial structures, which reflect a new way of living are urgently necessary. In the last decades, several tools have been developed, but the fast evolution of technology requires an increasingly expensive cost of maintenance and start-up. A new wave of technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, will increasingly change the digital world and its impact on reality. We think this will be a big opportunity to enhance the resilience and the self-reliance of communities, starting from considering the following Social Innovations which are able to re-shape the world into a fairer place:
First Roundtable. Local Food and Small-scale Retail Channel Networks.
– Co-production,
– Community Supported Agriculture,
– Cooperative Agriculture and Farmer Networks,
– Small-scale Retail Channel,
– Local Marketplaces,
– Platform for Purchasing Groups,
– Community Privacy Data Protection.
Second Roundtable. Social and Community Currency Systems.
– Crowdfunding Campaigns and Community Investments (e.g. reward-based, equity-based, donation-based),
– Mutual Credit and Time-banking Systems,
– Reward-based Currency Scheme for Social Projects.
The Festival
The Roundtable is hosted by FESTA DELL’ALTRA VELOCITÀ, for more information please click here.
When: from 29/06/2018 to 1/07/2018
Where: c/o ASD Avigliana Calcio, Via Oronte Nota 3, 10051 Avigliana (TO)
An entire event dedicated to the growing sector of Solidarity Economy: presentations of projects, conferences, debates, and roundtables. We wait for you at Avigliana, in Val di Susa, from 29 June to 1 July 2018!
> REGISTRATION <
All the developers are invited to introduce himself or herself and present his or her projects during the first session of each roundtable. Send your application at teodoro.criscione(at)dr.com by the 3rd of June 2018. For any question do not hesitate to contact us at the same mail address.
The Main Proposer Dr. Antonio Carnevale opens to RAMICS members for collaboration on AnDroMeDA project. The project is focused on Distributed Ledger Technologies and their applications, also for community development and monetary innovation. The proposal has been already submitted as EU COST project, but it is possible to contact Dr. Andrea Carnevale to be involved in it.
The aims of AnDroMeDA are (1) providing a map of the concepts and outlining a multidisciplinary vocabulary of DLTs (Distributed Ledger Technologies) use; (2) stimulating and coordinating more specific research projects to compare current knowledge and real experiences about how DLTs can really find applications in different societal and strategic fields; (3) developing a pan-European network that can help Early Career Investigators (ECI) to grow up; (4) to release disseminative materials that synthetically illustrate criticalities and opportunities of DLTs.
Ledgers have been at the heart of commerce since ancient times. However, in all this time the only notable innovation has been computerization, which initially was simply a transfer from paper to bytes. Now, for the first time, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) enables the collaborative creation of digital ledgers with properties and capabilities that go far beyond traditional paper-based ledgers. Their tangible innovative character is that DLTs can operate smoothly and securely without the need of being controlled and administered by a central or third party. This makes DLT a potentially radical change in the future mentality and methods that lead both the governance and management of techno-science and the participation of people in decision-making processes. It is evident that, according to these premises, DLTs have been rapidly elected as the object of controversial debates: are they a real opportunity or only a promise?
For more information, please contact Dr. Antonio Carnevale at alephkaf@gmail.com.
IFLAS has been researching and teaching on local currencies, cryptocurrencies and blockchain since 2014 when our University became the first public University in the world to accept bitcoin. Since then we have always had Ph.D. students studying this area, taking a multidisciplinary approach, drawing upon social theory to explore the implications for the public of a multicurrency future.
We are now seeking new applications for Ph.D. research in this field, to start October 1st 2018. The opportunity is suited to people who work on this topic and could do a Ph.D. part-time over 4 or 5 years. They would work alongside a full-time Ph.D. student who works with the new Lake District Pound, and with Professor Jem Bendell as their supervisor. Most supervision is provided remotely, and so the number of visits to campus during the programme can be negotiated (the July 2019 summer school is obligatory).
There is no funding, but the fees for part-time students with UK or EU residency are very competitive (under 2000GBP a year).
If you already have a Masters degree and are interested, please write one page about your idea for your research and your motivation, and send it before May 10th to Professor Jem Bendell [email: jem(dot)cumbria(at)cumbria(dot)ac(dot)uk]. If your idea is relevant, then you will hear within a week of initial contact and be invited to submit a formal application before the end of May to enable an October 1st start.
More information on our Institute is available at www.iflas.info
More information on our views on blockchain and crypto is here.
Our latest peer reviewed paper on the topic, from Prof Bendell, is here.
Our international engagement on this topic is via Prof Bendell chairing the organising committee of a UN event on blockchain. Information here.
Source: http://iflas.blogspot.it/2018/04/multidisciplinary-phd-in-currency.html
Fully funded full time PhD on local currencies in stunning Cumbria, supervised Prof. Jem Bendell. Closing date: midnight 18 February 2018.
The Lake District Pound (LD£) initiative is the context within which the research project will be carried out. This is an innovation in local currency that builds on the prior work and positive outcomes of other complimentary currency initiatives in the UK and globally. The LD£ will operate alongside sovereign Sterling currency with a more direct purpose to support the local rural economy.
This initiative will utilise a range of innovative methods to adapt and extend the idea of a ‘currency with a purpose’ to a rural context with a unique demographic including for the first time a National Park. A core aim of the initiative is to shift visitor spending from using large external businesses (e.g. online retailers and travel companies, remote delivery services, etc.) towards local companies and communities. The anticipated impact is to retain more wealth in the region to fund social and environmental projects and through the local focus and supply chains deliver measureable environmental benefits.
The LD£ initiative has a number of short and long-term aims, which will be greatly enabled through this research project. The aim of the research project is to provide a foundation and framework for measuring the success of the local currency initiative and from that measure, to identify optimum practice and future direction to improve such local currency initiatives.
The PhD research topic is the development of a framework for evaluation of the impact of the Lake District Pound and generation of data on that impact. This evaluation must include indicators of economic impacts, as well as social, cultural and environmental impacts. The evaluation needs to involve quantitative metrics, but can also include more qualitative assessments. It is a multidisciplinary study, with the candidate being able to draw upon a range of fields in consultation with the supervisor (for instance, potential insights from sociology, accounting, corporate sustainability, voluntary sector and organisation studies).
The PhD researcher will work with The Lakes Currency Project Ltd as well as conducting the research for the PhD – and will be based in the stunning Lake District National Park.
The Lakes Currency Project Ltd is the organisation behind the introduction and support of the ‘Lake District Pound’. It is incorporated as a private entity following the guidelines of a Community Interest Company to drive the LD£ initiative as a commercially sustainable project. The generation of revenue from the initiative will be directed in joint partnership with the Lake District Foundation to support vital sustainability projects in and around the National Park, and the Cumbria Community Foundation to support critical projects to help the poorer local communities. Their long-term aim is to develop an element of autonomy and economic resilience within the Lake District and surrounding communities in response to the continually increasing impact of global tourism that often serves to impoverish rural areas.
Benefits
Full-time PhD – annual tax-free stipend of £15,000 p.a. for 3 years
Tuition fees paid for by the industry sponsor (Home/EU fee)
The PhD is supported by the ERDF funded Eco-innovation Cumbria project led by the University of Cumbria.
To apply please visit the website for details of the entry requirements which must be met and to access the application form. Under the Research Proposal section of the form please summarise your approach to the proposed project outlined in this advert under the following headings: General Overview of Area, Identification of the Relevant Literature, Key Research Questions, Methodology, Timescale/Research Planning
Please include a covering letter telling us why you want to study for a PhD, what interests you about this project and highlight the skills and experience you will bring. Give the title of your research proposal as: “The Lake District Pound: Developing Local Sustainability through Economic Innovation in a Rural Context”
For any queries relating to admissions please contact Research Student Admissions rsa@cumbria.ac.uk
If you wish to find out more about the project in the first instance please contact: Ken Royall, Chief Executive, The Lakes Currency Project Ltd. ken@lakedistrictpound.com or Dr David Murphy, Institute for Leadership and Sustainability, University of Cumbria david.murphy@cumbria.ac.uk
Closing date: midnight 18 February 2018.
Interviews to be conducted 26th February 2018 in Ambleside, Cumbria. Candidates will be required to give a short presentation on their approach to the research proposal. Strong candidates may be given the option for an interview by video conference.
Source: Prof. Jem Bendell’s Website
| Editorial: Reflections on scaling-up
Georgina M. Gómez |
1-5 |
| From an idea to a scalable working model: Merging economic benefits with social values in Sardex
Giuseppe Littera, Laura Sartori, Paolo Dini and Panayotis Antoniadis |
6-21 |
| Doing it together. Studying the implementation of a new social currency in the Netherlands
Lydwien A. Batterink, Edgar A.D. Kampers, and Judith C.V. van der Veer |
22-35 |
| Timebanking, co-production and normative principles: putting normative principles into practice
Neville Clement, Allyson Holbrook, Daniella Forster, Johanna Macneil, Max Smith, Kevin Lyons and Elizabeth McDonald |
36-52 |
IJCCR 
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