A new theme: non-possessive collaboration

2024-08-03

I've now gone through two major milestones of later life, this year.

1. I retired from partnership at Cetis LLP, and with that, my last paid work; and at the same time, I've started drawing a state pension.
2. After nearly 43 years since my oldest child was born, the youngest of my children has reached legal adulthood, as of a few days ago. No legal dependents any more!

And I've been thinking about this title theme for some time now.

I'm taking this title – “non-possessive collaboration” – both because it captures for me the essence of one of the new paradigms that has not been expressed well, and because that exact phrase appears not to have been publicly used, at least as I write this it turns up no results with a search on Google. And as an extra, non-possessive collaboration can be abbreviated NPC, which is a nice play on NVC as in Nonviolent Communication.

My intention is to write a series of pieces here. I intend to explore:

• any history and background I can find
  • for example, the quote attributed to Aneurin Bevan, “The purpose of getting power is to be able to give it away.”
• related terms like collaborative filtering and collaborative signposting
• some references to the history of possession in the sense of property
• a simple explanation of old-paradigm competitive marketing
• examples of how this aspect is missing from a lot of new paradigm actions, and even thinking
• how non-possessive collaboration might work…
  • in membership organisations
  • with internet platforms
  • for web sites more generally
  • in intentional living and learning communities
  • with investment and funding
  • in parenthood and family life
• how we might get there … my transformative healing narrative

Please get in touch if you might want to contribute to anything here.

So, as a starting point for where other people might be around this idea, I tried the idea out with claude.ai, with the query “what could “non-possessive collaboration” mean, and how would that relate to other current ideas?”. Here is the response:

“Non-possessive collaboration” is an intriguing concept. While not a widely established term, we can interpret its meaning and explore how it might relate to current ideas in collaboration and knowledge sharing. Here's an analysis:

Potential meaning of “non-possessive collaboration”:

1. Open sharing: Participants freely share ideas without claiming exclusive ownership.
2. Collective ownership: The group owns the outcomes, rather than individuals.
3. Focus on common good: Prioritizing collective benefits over personal gain.
4. Ego-less contribution: Valuing ideas based on merit, not their source.
5. Fluid participation: People can join or leave without disrupting the collaboration.

Related current ideas:

1. Open-source movement:
   • Shares principles of freely sharing and collectively improving knowledge or products
   • Example: Linux operating system development.
2. Creative Commons licensing:
   • Allows creators to share work while retaining some rights.
   • Facilitates non-possessive use and remixing of content.
3. Peer production:
   • Collaborative creation of content or products without traditional hierarchical organization.
   • Examples: Wikipedia, citizen science projects.
4. Commons-based peer production:
   • Extends peer production to focus on creating shared resources.
   • Emphasizes non-exclusive access and use of outputs.
5. Gift economy in digital spaces:
   • Sharing information or skills without expectation of direct compensation.
   • Seen in online communities, forums, and some social media platforms.
6. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs):
   • Blockchain-based organizations with distributed ownership and decision-making.
   • Align with non-possessive ideals in governance and value distribution.
7. Co-creation in business:
   • Involving customers or stakeholders in product development.
   • Shares aspects of collective ownership of ideas.
8. Open innovation:
   • Companies using external ideas and paths to market for innovation.
   • Involves more open sharing of intellectual property.
9. Collective intelligence:
   • Harnessing diverse perspectives to solve problems or create knowledge.
   • Aligns with the non-possessive approach to idea generation and problem-solving.
10. Commons-based economy:
    1. Economic systems based on shared resources and collective management.
    2. Extends non-possessive collaboration to broader economic structures.

“Non-possessive collaboration” seems to emphasize a shift away from individual ownership and credit in collaborative efforts, focusing instead on collective benefits and open sharing. This aligns with many emerging ideas in digital collaboration, knowledge commons, and alternative economic models.

• non-possessive collaboration