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Reading & sources

A growing, annotated shelf of the talks, research, and writing we’ve found useful — and the sources behind pages elsewhere in this wiki.

Plurality, radical markets & digital democracy

Section titled “Plurality, radical markets & digital democracy”
  • Cecile Green & Seth Frey on the Commoning Standard — Democracy Innovators Podcast (2026) — a wide-ranging conversation on self-governance as a universal literacy, the forms of power, and where technology fits. The source behind our Commoning Standard and related Concepts.
  • Cecile Green, Collaboration that Works: A Ruthlessly Practical Handbook for a Generative World — a practical handbook of power-sharing practices, summarising the research behind the Commoning Standard’s “Collab.”
  • Council of Europe — Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture — an official European framework of the values, attitudes, skills, and knowledge people need to take part in a democratic culture.
  • US Army — ADP 6-22, Army Leadership and the Profession — the “be, know, do” leadership doctrine; a striking example of an institution treating leadership as something to teach everyone, not just those at the top.
  • David Bollier on the commons — Team Human w/ Douglas Rushkoff (2025) — a clear, wide-ranging conversation on what the commons really is, why the “tragedy” was a myth, enclosure, and the OntoShift. The source behind our commons concepts and two Stories.
  • Participatory Grantmaking During Polycrisis — Participatory Grantmaking Community (2024) — three funds that hand grant decisions to the communities they serve, on what happens to that practice when crisis removes the time it depends on. With Nino Ugrekhelidze (Dalan Fund), Yara Dowani (Rawa) and Ruby Johnson (Global Resilience Fund), moderated by Coco Jervis (Mama Cash). The source behind our participatory grantmaking page.
  • David Bollier, Think Like a Commoner (2nd ed.) — a short, accessible introduction to commons thinking and practice.
  • David Bollier & Silke Helfrich, Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons (2019, open access) — the fuller treatment; source of “relationalised property” and the OntoShift.
  • Robert C. Ellickson, Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes (Harvard, 1991) — how Shasta County cattle ranchers resolve disputes by informal social norms rather than the law: self-governance in the wild.
  • Deep Democracy — Leen Schelfhout (introductory session, 2024) — a hands-on introduction to deep democracy: the “wisdom in the no voice,” the resistance line, and consent-based decision-making. The source behind our deep democracy concept.
  • Arnold Mindell, The Deep Democracy of Open Forums (2002) — the founding text, applying Process Work to group conflict and collective decision-making.
  • Myrna Lewis, Inside the No: Five Steps to Decisions That Last — the practical Lewis Method of deep democracy, developed in 1990s South Africa and now taught worldwide.
  • Margaret Wheatley, Who Do We Choose to Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity (2017) — on relationships as the heart of any organisation, cited as the closing note of the deep-democracy approach.

Deliberative democracy & citizens’ assemblies

Section titled “Deliberative democracy & citizens’ assemblies”
  • Nathan Schneider — Democracy Innovators Podcast (2026) — on implicit feudalism, modular politics, protocols, and AI-interpreted governance. The source behind our online-governance Concepts.
  • Nathan Schneider, Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life (University of California Press, 2024) — the book that names “implicit feudalism” and makes the case for democratic design of online communities (open access).
  • “Modular Politics: Toward a Governance Layer for Online Communities” — the Metagov paper (Frey, Schneider, et al., 2021) behind the modular-politics framework.
  • “Nathan Schneider: Contributions to a Glossary of Protocol” — Protocol Town Hall (2025) — protocol as a “pattern of interaction” and a site of creativity, not just control; vernacular protocols and protocol sovereignty. A source behind our protocol concept.

Infrastructure, the commons & the bigger picture

Section titled “Infrastructure, the commons & the bigger picture”

This shelf grows as we process new sources. Have something that belongs here? Use the “Edit page” link below.