Hello Thomas, Thank you for sharing your insights. Yes I thought the same as you did. In your own words... "First I thought: the project is great, but Votorola is not of much use for these guys, because the real benefits come for large groups. 30 people might still be able to sit together and work out their decisions without a software." and then I thought wait a minute...."The project does ofc include its supporters. They are the ones paying the 30 engineers for developing open-source hardware, so they should ofc have a say in this process. :-)" And here is the clincher which is the insight you gave me: "By taking part in the decision making they really become part of the project instead of just being donors. This is perfect, isnt it?" Yes I agree it is perfect! I am also thinking of developing a small farm project in community with others as an open system...open to the communities within which it is embedded for purposes of positive social change so that the potential of Votorala could impact on Town Hall meetings as well. I envisage it as a series of concentric communication circles where the potential for genuine grassroots decision making can be realized. <div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Aug 14, 2010 at 12:32 AM, Thomas von der Elbe <<a href="mailto:ThomasvonderElbe@gmx.de">ThomasvonderElbe@gmx.de</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> Hello, thank you Anne for the link to the openfarmtech-group. Very exciting stuff! I spend the whole day yesterday watching their videos on their progress. For the others: It is a project of 3 people and 100 supporters which work on open source hardware for resilient community building, i.e. open source tractors etc. The aim is to grow to a size of 30 people. Now, Alex introduced me to the idea of p2p decision making in economic contexts and I´m still struggeling to fully grasp the possibilities. (My initial approach was purely political.) But here it's obvious. First I thought: the project is great, but Votorola is not of much use for these guys, because the real benefits come for large groups. 30 people might still be able to sit together and work out their decisions without a software. But I was blind! The project does ofc include its supporters. They are the ones paying the 30 engineers for developing open-source hardware, so they should ofc have a say in this process. :-) By taking part in the decision making they really become part of the project instead of just being donors. This is perfect, isnt it? Is this, what you had in mind , Anne? Or am I getting something wrong? Actually I'm new to the depth of open-source-philosophy. Best, Thomas -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Votorola" group. To post to this group, send an email to <a href="mailto:votorola@googlegroups.com">votorola@googlegroups.com</a>. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to <a href="mailto:votorola%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.com">votorola+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com</a>. For more options, visit this group at <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/votorola?hl=en-GB" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/group/votorola?hl=en-GB</a>. </blockquote></div> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Votorola" group. To post to this group, send an email to votorola@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to votorola+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/votorola?hl=en-GB.