Accessibility

As a platform-based operation we're aiming to bring together at least two constituencies.

The first group are people who want to provide support to others who are working to set up or grow their cooperative. These people might want to provide that support in any number of ways: giving financial support, knowledge/expertise, time, assets/materials, etc. They may be happy to give that support freely, or they may want a return of some sort. The current small group of members pretty much all fall into this group I think.

The second group is made up of people who are looking for support. I think they'll begin to make themselves known in increasing numbers, as it becomes clearer that there is a useful pool of resource to be tapped in Platform 6.

A key challenge with any platform business is how to grow whilst maintaining some sort of balance between the two constituencies - the supply side and the demand side. Right new we've got a very small group of early adopters who have signed up out of a mixture of curiosity and solidarity.

So, to come back to your question Mark, I think that we probably need to do a bit of relatively detailed work to identify the next most likely tranche of low hanging proto-members, and seek to inveigle them into getting involved. My sense is that this next small group will most likely also be people like us. (I imagine that we could probably fairly quickly come up with a list of 20-30 names). I think that the invitation to these people is to work with us to collaboratively define/clarify the operating model in some more depth, from their perspective.

At the same time we need to be doing some work to understand how can reach out to the people on the demand side with a clear offer (hence the need for the detail on the operating model).

In terms of onboarding (enabling people to understand what we're talking about and making them feel welcome), my original game plan on this was to provide some good written information on our website, and also perhaps through a "drip" email campaign, backed up with the regular online community calls/member meetings.

Once we have established some clearer pathways about how to make things happen in the co-op, the thing will be able to begin to develop some life of its own.

More pictures and diagrammes rather than just chunks of text..?

Good point, thanks. My head doesn't naturally work in diagrams, so I tend not to include them on my to-do list, but this prompts me into action for all those diagram lovers out there. :-)

Hi all, just ready to engage again after being busy elsewhere. I finally managed to read through a few sets of minutes for feedback - thanks Cath Muller for insistent reminders!
As a barefoot cooperator (thanks for that term Mark Simmonds!), I am still wondering why I should be member of Platform 6. If one of the points of P6 is to get beyond the bubble, we’ll have to find some way of communicating with the intended beneficiaries in their own language, not in co-op geek speak. Inclusion, accessibliity and diversity are closely related issues. A good way to make any project/group/organisation accessible is to translate its ideas into the language of those it wants to connect with.

A simple introductory documents would be a good start. I agree with Adrian's point above that it needs to be visual rather than just dense text. The document should be no more than 2 pages A4 and explain
What is P6, what and who is it for?
What is a platform cooperative
How does P6 work?
Why should people get involved? How can they get involved?

Pleased to see that this is already on the Action list of the meetings. Mark, I'd be hapy to read through and feedback on your drafts. A second and separate action would be a glossary of abbreviations and technical terms, either with each set of minutes or on the front page of Loomio and somewhere easy to find on the website.

I'm looking at this watch this space