Open Money

Self-portrait

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 remains a work in progress - a continuation of almost 25 years of LETSystem and community currencies 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 services provider - ccsp.

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. (http://www.openmoney.org/)

Description

Open Money generates infrastructure and information for the democratization of the creation and use of money, with the aim of transforming conservative practices of this tool of transaction so that any person or community may be able to create it and use it according to their needs. Open money is the result of 25 years of LETSsystem (Local Exchange Trading System) and the development of Community currencies around the world, amongst other projects.

One of the purposes is to develop an open platform with a set of files, administrative tools and software systems to be used under the concepts and values that they themselves promote, and not under the interests of any party or person in particular. Since 2011 the Hakuhodo corporation and the Japan Research Institute have sponsored Japan Open Money Project (JOMP) with an edition of magazines dedicated to the future of social design.

There is also an Open Money Manifesto involving the problem of money and its conventional forms of use, as well as solutions that can be generated with digital cash, through the play and appropriation of financial tools against monopolies.

It is considered that Open money doesn't necessarily have to be digital. It can take any form that may respond to the needs and desires of the ones that create it and the place in which it is activated. However, virtual technology can help in some important issues of current relevance, such as long distance transactions, and hence it becomes a possibility of access and democratic use of many individual entities that interact with each other, rather than the management of transactions on the part of big institutions.

Interview

Michael Linton http://dpya.org/en/index.php/Michael_Linton

Links

URL: http://www.openmoney.org/

Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.openmoney.org/