Inclusive Organisational Technology Research

Self-Organizing is the natural way that cells have made it through evolution to become the magic that we see all around us everyday. Many animal formations are great examples of this today, such as colonies of ants or geese flying in formation over long distances. It doesn’t seem to come as naturally however to many of modern society’s organizations and groups of people. Which tools and technology do we have available to us as a movement to become better, and more inclusive, at organizing ourselves?

Project Aims

Development & research into inclusive organization modes (technology and tools) within self-organised bodies / communities to be developed and revised by teams / circles.

Research, testing and prototyping into inclusive ways that is documented and shared widely within the community.

Funded with 19, 500 GBP through next steps

STATUS : ongoing

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Team

Research: Aimee Fenech, Meyi Lekuona

Consultant: Andy Goldring

Reporting Officer: Aline VaMo

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Area

Prototyping, Next Steps Project

objectives 2023

Objective 1: Review and update the aims of the CoLab as an exercise in simplification.

Objective 2: Simple review of available tools (S3 etc).

Objective 3: Description of current situation (working / not working / gaps).

Objective 4: Development of simple new ‘User Guide/Handbook’.

Objective 5: Documenting the process of how the above is done to be shared as a case study.

OUTCOMEs 2023

Objective 1: Simplified Mission, Vision and Aims consented by the CoLab community: https://www.perma.earth/vision/

Objective 2: Review of available tools:

Form sent out to all CoLab members, explaining what our research is about:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/bHxeKjNkZqzST7Z

Results gathered in NextCloud sheet:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/BkbxFzeAFpQoT3J

Futher tools researched and added to the following baserow database:
(link to come)

Objective 3: Description of working – not working – gaps

Survey was included in the form sent out to all CoLab members under Objective 2, results were harvested here:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/rXgCDccSSN4k77r

Observe by Mapping, for ease of Analysis – Miroboard
https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVM_VWswI=/#tpicker-content

PDF for ease of sharing visuals
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/C5E5RQjjGtJxSEQ

Objective 4: Development of Simple New User Guide
https://wiki.app.perma.earth/books/international-permaculture-colab-user-guide

More translations underway

Objective 5: Document the above process as a case study:
https://cloud.perma.earth/s/RA4Yb47WpAScBqz (edited)

objectives 2024

Objective 1: Research and document the term INCLUSIVE

Objective 2: Research how others do it

Objective 3: Train on the optimal use of and document the use of open source digital Tools for collaboration

Objective 4: Research and share an article (in English, French, Spanish) on the topic: Simple English and Gender Inclusive Writing

Outcomes 2024

In the “Research and Design in Inclusive Organizational Technology” (IOT) project, we explore online collaboration tools for self-organized organizations, reflecting CoLab’s role as a digital and permaculture laboratory. Our goal is to develop or capacitate in ethical, inclusive technology that cares for people, the planet, and future generations by sharing knowledge fairly.

We began by defining key terms like “inclusive” and “organizational technology,” analyzing tools for self-organization inspired by nature. Insights are summarized in the outputs below.

Next, we studied four organizations—Transition Network, Eureka Idea Co., REPESEI, and Eixarcolant—to identify successful self-organizing practices. These include digital tools (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Suite, Drupal) and social technologies (e.g., sociocracy, consensus decision-making).

In our third workpackage we explored more ethical, open-source alternatives that provide similar functionality. We produced video tutorials on six open-source tools, now available on the CoLab YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@permacolab. We’re considering a transition to an open-source video platform for greater alignment with our principles.

Lastly, we developed two practical guides on creating inclusive digital content and writing. These resources aim to enhance future permaculture communications by making them accessible to diverse audiences.

The IOT project offers tools and insights for inclusive, self-organized organizations. Year 2 has been a productive experiment, laying a solid foundation for future CoLab initiatives.