The Digital Commons Cooperative
DCC is a platform cooperative that is owned by its users, workers, investors, and data providers. It uses GIS, mapping, linked data and other tools to empower communities and help social justice and solidarity economy organisations leverage the power of data for regenerative change. SEA will retain a permanent seat on the board of DCC to ensure the cooperative lives up to its commitment to support the solidarity economy. All SEA’s earlier mapping and data projects and technology is now all managed by DCC.
Open Data and Mapping
Since our inception, SEA has been researching how we can use digital technology to promote and connect the co-operative and solidarity economies, with a focus on distributed directories, maps and Linked Open Data.
With RIPESS Europe we explored ways of publishing data about Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) initiatives. We hosted several regional maps of SSE initiatives for project across the UK, such as Mersey Green Map.
With DotCooperative (.coop) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) we explored how best to publish data about cooperatives around the world which led us to host .coop’s directory of domain users and the ICA’s Members Map.
Shared Assets
We built relationships with several organisations that both shared our values and who had similar visions for the power of these technologies to support our social movements, In 2021 that work bore fruit and we joined forces with Shared Assets, the Commons movement ‘think and do tank’ who had developed the Land Explorer GIS Platform, and launched a new multi-stakeholder cooperative.