AboutA creative Community for the Collaborative Economy
OuiShare is an open global community of passionate people (entrepreneurs, designers, makers, researchers, public officials, citizens and many others) working to accelerate the shift toward a more collaborative economy. We are a not-for-profit organization founded in January 2012, whose mission is to explore, connect and promote the ideas and projects which we believe can bring upon huge societal benefits through sharing, collaboration and openness.
If the past ten years have been about finding new ways to connect, create and share on the web, the next ten years will be about applying these principles in the real world. Right now, countless collaborative, peer-to-peer and open alternatives are reinventing the way we produce and make use of goods, resources and services, harnessing the power of communities:
- Collaborative Consumption puts access over ownership, leveraging peer-to-peer networks to reinvent how we share, rent, swap or trade goods and services.
- Makers bring on a new industrial revolution, driven by digital fabrication tools like 3Dprinters, facilities like FabLabs, open source hardware designs and DIY communities.
- Peer-to-Peer Finance fuels the system through crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, while proposing alternatives for value exchange in currencies and gift economies.
- Open Knowledge is opening institutions such as governments, science, education and culture, while turbo-charging the overall development of all these initiatives.
The disruptive potential of these models is enormous, but challenges lie ahead. What are they?
There is little knowledge about the potential impact of these new models, and little systemic vision about the change they will bring to society and the economy.
Too few of these projects are actually collaborating. Few know about each other, and a lot are stuck in a competing mindset. We believe they could benefit from learning from each other, while accelerating the pace of change and enriching the commons.
The collaborative economy needs better exposure and education, which could fasten the adoption of new user practices, encourage policy-makers to support sustainable models, and drive business model reinvention by enlightened professionals.
OuiShare is dedicated to addressing these issues. How? By building knowledge, events, tools and connections, while setting up a community-powered accelerator for inspiring projects.
Facts & things we do
Offline, OuiShare connects local hubs to foster collaboration and new ideas, by organizing events all around the world, such as meetups, conferences and creativity workshops. Since January 2012, we have organized 40+ events in 20 european cities.
Online, we provide people from the community with a place for online conversations, and invite them to share their ideas and inspirations on OuiShare.net, our collaborative online magazine. Launched in July 2012, it now counts 120+ articles from 70+ contributors, published in french, english and spanish, under a creative commons license.
Born in January 2012 out of a Facebook group in Paris, OuiShare now counts 400+ members from 20 countries in Europe, North America and Latin America, contributing in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. Among them, a passionate team of 30 connectors is now bootstrapping OuiShare and co-designing this collective adventure with the community.
Our Values
Openness. We strongly believe that a culture of openness has many benefits. OuiShare is a non-hierarchical organization, which anyone can join and contribute to. Decision-making is based on peer governance and meritocracy. What we produce is open source, making it easy to reuse, remix and share alike.
Transparency. As an open organization, it is our priority for everyone to understand what we do, how we work and how we are funded. As we grow, our aim is to disclose all information in a reader-friendly fashion.
Independence. We are happy to work with companies on individual projects, but do not enter exclusive partnerships of any kind that could compromise our independence. You may not like this at first, but in the long term you’ll see the benefits.
Impact. Our mission is stated as “to accelerate the shift toward a more collaborative economy”. Maximum impact in doing this is what ultimately guides our actions.
MPRL (Meet People In Real Life). Amazing things happen in real-life. The internet cannot replace real-life interactions; it is only a tool that supports them.
Action. We don’t like talk without action. When you have a great idea, don’t wait for others to execute. Build something yourself from day one and watch people join you!
Permanent beta. OuiShare is an ongoing experiment with a lean startup approach. With curiosity and an open mindset, we strive to continuously try new things and challenge our assumptions. Release early, fail often, learn by doing and iterate.
Feedback. Regular and personal feedback is critical to sustaining the participative dynamic of OuiShare and enabling everyone to learn and progress. This is why we praise valuable contributions, celebrate achievements and encourage constructive criticism.
Inclusion. Innovation happens in diverse environments. OuiShare benefits from having members across the globe and from very different backgrounds: entrepreneurs, designers, makers, hackers, social innovators, environmentalists, researchers, journalists, public officials, activists, and many more.
Play. Work doesn’t have to be boring. We want collaborative lifestyles to go viral, and believe that this can only be achieved if work is as fun and creative as play.
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