Contribute
Contents
Welcome
Welcome to the Commons Transition Wiki! Please read through the sections below to get acquainted with our working methods.
How you can contribute
We like to say that this project is itself a commons, open to contributions and intended for the benefit of those who need it. Feedback is especially welcome on any of the policy documents found on our wiki. Other ways to get involved include suggesting related projects for consideration, or sharing and discussing these proposals with your local policymakers, media and communities.
To contribute to this wiki, you will need some basic Wikimedia skills. If you're new to wikis, please read through the recommendations at the end of this page.
What the Commons Transition Wiki is (and isn't)
The Commons Transition Wiki is a directory of commons-oriented initiatives and policy proposals. It acts as an indexed repository of material on transitioning societies at all levels towards a commons orientation, both in the field of shared knowledge pools and material production. Our aim is to catalog, discuss and improve upon these proposals and to connect the social movements promoting them.
This wiki is, therefore, a specialized directory with a very precise (albeit inclusive) focus. For contributing and discussing more general P2P/commons theory and resources, we suggest our "mother" information database: The P2P Foundation Wiki which has a much larger scope.
How to join
Joining is very easy. We simply ask you to write an email to contactATcommonstransition.org answering the questions detailed below. Unless we really are not on the same page, we'll get back to you to provide you with a log in and any guidance you may require. Here are the questions:
Commons Transition survey questions
- Tell us your name; your contact information address; place of residence.
- How did you hear about Commons Transition and, specifically, this wiki?
- How would you like to contribute to the Commons Transition Wiki?
- How do you see a Commons Transition taking place?
- What attracts you the most about this project?
- Anything else you would like to add.
How to organize your contributions
The following section assumes that you're familiar with wiki-editing. If not, please scroll down to the last section for guidelines and help.
Regions, sectors, people and organizations
We want to keep this wiki as simple, clear and concise as possible so that commoners can easily find the info they may require. To that end, we request that you catalog any new entries with the following categories.
- Category: REGION Where is the project located? If it's a "Glocal" initiative, please add it to the Glocal Commons-Oriented Projects category. If the project is transnational in nature and not based in any particular region, please add it to the Transnational Commons-Oriented Projects Category
- Category: SECTOR What field of knowledge is being discussed. Please check whether any new entries fit in with these sectors.
- Category: PEOPLE Please use this category when adding a bio or profile page. Be sure to mention the organizations that the profiled person belongs to.
- Category: ORGANIZATION Apply this category to policy entries, bios, etc. Many of the organizations listed have their own categories to allow easy indexing of these organizations, policy proposals and related materials.
Policy Proposals
Policy Proposals also merit their own category:
Commons Transition Projects
Any material belonging to the two existing Commons Transition Projects should be first categorized as a CTP and then tagged with its own subcategory. These are:
- "Category:FLOK" for the FLOK Society Project
- "Category:CIC" for the Catalan Integral Cooperative
The Commons-Cooperative alliance is very important for us. We're very interested in cataloging both existing co-ops who are incorporating commons practises, and co-ops who are closer to the spirit of Open Cooperativism. Here are the corresponding categories:
Commons Transition Team Material
Lastly, all of the material directly created by the Commons Transition team should also be labeled with any or all of the following categories:
That's the basic lay of the land. When in doubt, please refer back to this page or consult the General list of categories to ensure you've categorized your contributions accordingly.
Collaborator Policy
Criteria
Participation in the Commons Transition Wiki isn't totally open. As a Commons we want to ensure a mutual understanding of what the wiki is about, so all contributors can work together comfortably. To collaborate, we will ask you to contact us via email and answer a few short questions about your involvement with Commons Transition. This policy has the added benefit of curtailing possible trolls and spam attacks.
Additional considerations are:
- our wiki is a 'perspectival' wiki, meaning that although it is pluralist, it does require an adherence to the a priori proposition that the emergence of a Commons Transition is a good thing. So, we can and do discuss the dark sides, and we may disagree on how to achieve broader acceptance of what a Commons Transition means, but we a priori agree that in most cases, it is better than authoritarianism and inequality (for example).
- we practice the principle of Vouching, this means that at least one existing participant must know you. We practice this very liberally, i.e. I cannot recall ever prohibiting anyone, but it insures that no one is completely anonymous.
Recommended Guidelines and Good Practices
- Please visit our Commons Transition Recommended Guidelines and Good Practices section.
Additional Resources
If this is your first time working with a wiki, we recommend the following links:
The Commons Transition Wiki Wiki help page is an excellent place to start. We then suggest you follow this 5 minute wikitext tutorial in our Sandbox, with our cheat sheet
