| Open money is a means of exchange
freely available to all. Any community, any association - indeed,
any body - can have their own money. Open money is synonymous
with LETS - an invitation to come inside and play, as in open
door and open house; collaboration as in open hand and open for
all; attitude as in open mind.
The purpose of the open money project is to bring together
and organize the people and resources necessary for the development
and propagation of open money everywhere.
The open money project is a work in progress - a continuation
of almost 20 years of LETSystem
development all over the world, two community way projects in Canada
using smart cards, the Japan open money project, and, most recently,
a community currencies server program, cybercredits.
The intent is to develop an open money kernel - a core set
of text files, administration tools and software systems that
are sufficiently coherent and clear that further elaboration
of the set derives from the core concepts themselves, rather
than from the particular agendas of the originating writers
and contributors. The open money kernel is to have a life of
its own.
Material submitted for inclusion in the kernel or in the supporting
documentation will presently be reviewed and edited through
a moderated process between the main contributors.
These web pages currently are the result of material developed
for the Japan open money project during 2001. Here you will
find an elaboration of the project itself, its purpose and principles,
and the essentials of open money design. A cc
college curriculum describes the development of open money
systems and details the functional elements - ccp, ccsp, cc dns, smart
cards, community way (fund raising for community and financing
for cc development).
Throughout 2001, Kohkoku Magazine, the Hakuhodo Corporation
and the Japan Research Institute have sponsored "jomp" - the
Japan open money project - with 6 editions of the Kohkoku magazine
in Japanese and English devoted to "future social design". The
pages linked below were written specifically for publication
in the Kohkoku magazine and for the organization of jomp. They
are the most developed set of open money materials to date -
soon to be available in Japanese on the web, and then in progressively
more languages.
- exchange - the publication of the open money manifesto
- the problem with money and what to do about it. This declaration
of virtual money independence gave the broad outline of expected
developments, made several specific predictions, and announced
the Japan open money project - jomp.
- play - the theory of open money and the means to explore
that theory - LETSplay
- the game that can tell you all you really need to know about
money, "real" and virtual.
- open - the works, the necessary and sufficient ways and means, the
nuts and bolts of the cc systems organization - cc college,
patterns of trading, naming systems, operations and administration.
- go - it's the next step, and the one that counts.
Nothing starts without it and there's no time to lose.
- way - on the
way to OS2, the Wizards of OS conference in Berlin on
open systems and open society - the future of money and the
form that it takes.
- review - a summary of the year
as a whole, and the next directions.
The most developed of the open money projects at this time
are in Canada - in the Comox Valley and also in Tofino and Ucluelet
in the west coast of Vancouver Island. There continues to be
growing interest in community currencies throughout the world.
We are interested in working with anyone with a serious intent
to develop open money systems anywhere.
|
the
open money projects