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.
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