Thanks to feedback from Bernard Lietaer, Marco Sachy and Gael van Weyenbergh and learning from Thomas Greco during his UK tour in November 2012, I would like to change the proposed structure of the “Representational Charge” dimension as follows (original article here). The unit of account (as the only necessary and for some currencies sufficient […]
A reminder from the Natural History Museum in London: “There are many ways of organise things. But while there are no correct and incorrect ways of classifying them, some are more useful than others. Would you sort these by age? Shape? Colour? Beauty? Value?” Often complementary currencies seem to be treated like the contents […]
Trying to understand complementary currency often comes down to trying to sort them into a typology. Many attempts have been made towards that (see for example Blanc, Martignoni, Lietaer/Kennedy/Rogers) but none has so far satisfied theory and practice. This article won´t fill this gap, but explores the matter propaedeutically from the traditional perspective of the […]
Founded in 1996 as a timebank for the whole of the westernmost austrian province/state of Vorarlberg, the Talente System (www.talentiert.at) is now one of the most successful and innovative grass-root currency systems in operation. (Update 2014: The efforts are now carried forward by the social enterprise Allmenda: http://allmenda.com) Always rooted in practice rather then theory, […]
This short explanation was requested manifold by those who heard me use this hairy little neologisms of mine: “WEaseling”*. The term proved helpful in pointing to a phenomenon in groups and group-processes, that quickly creates a feeling of joint direction but, on the flip side, leads to disappointment and disengagement afterwards. Especially in groups that […]
This interview appeared in the Community Currency Magazine (archive link), April 2012 While Madison, Wisconsin had been more in the news for their public struggle against right wing legislators last year, Dane County TimeBank has been constantly setting benchmarks for successful currency-led community developments. We talked to its founder, director and senior activist Stephanie […]
Parts of this interview appeared in the Community Currency Magazine (archive link), April 2012 What are the questions you would most want to explore with fellow movers and shakers in the complementary currency movement? My question is: How to get the currency thinking into the mainstream? But more then talking, I prefer to create examples […]
This interview appeared in the Community Currency Magazine (archive link), April 2012 John Rogers has been working on the forefront of the CC movement for nineteen years, fourteen as a LETS coordinator, Time Bank Developer and researcher in Wales and since 2007 as a trainer, consultant and author based in Germany. There, we asked John […]