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diff --git a/inquiries/volontary-hours/tick-tock.mdwn b/inquiries/volontary-hours/tick-tock.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cad86c --- /dev/null +++ b/inquiries/volontary-hours/tick-tock.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +--- +title: Tick Tock +subtitle: Voluntary interests and hours +author: + - Gustav Eek + - Albin Söderqvist + - Leif-Jöran Olsson + - Lola Möller +date: Oct 26, 2019 (Dec 27--30) +track: Ethics, Society & Politics +abstract: > + Is there a point in making in-kind contributions explicit and + transparent? We introduce a model that serves the purpose of exploring + the concepts of participation on a voluntary basis and voluntary labour. +State: rejected +... + +At 35C3 we listened to Guy Standing. He presented universal basic income +(UBI) as the solution to a broad range of issues. UBI is still popular +as a general solution, but the problem is often indistinctly formulated. +In this talk, the speakers aim to present a more adequate formulation of +the problem and present a model for how to deal with the question of +work and compensation. + +The model reflects (a) varying needs, (b) the multitude of incentives +for community participation, and (c) solidarity in relation to diversity +in leanings toward effort and sacrifice. + +Many participants of 36C3 are familiar with the complex of problems, +since they actively take part in free software projects or technology in +general with societal impact. + +In the various movements important values risk getting lost: + + * Ideology, the value of being idea-driven + * The ideals of popular education (*Bildung von unten*) + * Participation on equal terms + * Passion, engagement and interest + * Freedom and liberation + * Autonomy + * Self organisation + +The economic rationalism of New Public Management, performance targets +like SMART, measurements, evaluation, statistics, undermine classical +values present in grass-root movements. + +In the European Union, organisations are encouraged to engage in +benchmarking. Also in-kind contributions are valued to every miniscule +detail in hours and euros. To give an example, the Nordic Council of +Ministry, in the context of financing, stands completely at loss before +the concept of the volunteer. The point is that the translation is +mutually weak between, on the one hand, the Scandinavian "ideell +förening" (ideeller Verein) and Anglo-Saxon "not-for-profit", on the +other. + +Nevertheless, there are positive aspects of transparency with regards to +utilisation, in-kind and other contributions, and what values are +materialized. + +In this talk, the speakers share insights from many years of experience +of voluntary and "not-for-profit" involvement in: + +**Fripost**, an association for democratic electronic communication, +active in Gothenburg since 2010, originating from free software +community and formed as a reaction to the enclosure of commons; + +**JAK** (land -- labour -- capital), a democratically controlled ethical +bank, the biggest member bank in the Nordic countries, founded in the +1960s and now counting 40.000 members. The initiative was successful +during 40 years, combining ideology with practice. JAK experienced a +drop in membership numbers, however, after the fact that voluntary +contributions were devaluated compared to reimbursed labour. + +**FSCONS**, a participation-organised conference in the Nordic +countries, promoting free software, free culture and a free society, +since 2007. A fundamental idea of the organisation is that it is based +on voluntary efforts. + +**The Nordic Summer University**, international academic study circles +and a nomadic university, celebrating 70th anniversary 2020. The +circumstances around financing of the organisation has shifted +immensely: The primary financier, the Nordic Council of Ministry, is +moving from operations based to project based financing. The university +is now facing a heavy increase in administrative burden. + +**SAC**, an anarcho-syndicalist nation-wide trade union federation. The +organisation has a broad member base distributed over a large number of +self-organised local divisions. In parallel there is an industrial +division. SAC and its direct-action methods are directly and actively +opposed by legislation and other trade union organisations. The workers' +movement is particularly hurt by the individual success project. + +Those example organisations have certain circumstances in common: + + * Driven by "not-for-profit" interests + * On a voluntary basis + * By voluntary efforts and funding + * With sprinkles of fully employed resources + * Variation in competence, experience, and resources + * Differing stakes and levels of motivation + +Our model is simple to apply for projects and associations. We introduce +and explore the concepts of participation on a voluntary basis and +voluntary labour. We will give explicit examples of how to account for +values within the two. The model is a wink to the society of metrics*,* +affirming some of its concepts, but constitutes an immanent critique of +the system. + + |