Coredem:Charter
Un article de Coredem.
Sommaire |
Introduction
New forms of citizen‘s participation are being created to face the challenges of the 21st century. Global democracy implies a collective ability to tackle the complexity of global problems. This means creating innovative approaches, means of exchanging, enhancing and analysing as well as broad dissemination of the information that can play a role in reinforcing citizens’ initiatives.
Nowadays the Web is a well of knowledge. It is impossible to exchange without using it, and documentary resource sites have developed with their visions, objectives, publics and specific themes. Their objective is one and the same: to contribute to global democracy by making a structured collaborative documentary portal that is based on shared values, available to all actors.
It is these values that define the objectives and principles of the collective work and that can be found in the Charter of the Confederation of resources for global democracy. (Coredem).
I. Observations and commitments of Coredem
The members of Coredem share the following observations and commit to the objectives as stated hereafter:
- We are convinced of the interdependency of peoples at global level, as well as between humanity and the biosphere.
- We are convinced of the need to assume this interdependency by learning to jointly manage our planet, which is unique, complex and fragile.
- We are equally convinced that human society is enriched by its diversity. As peoples are now facing similar challenges, they can learn from each others’ experience, and the confrontation of analyses and proposals made by people, organisations and networks of different horizons are a determining factor for inventing and implementing essential change.
- We affirm that the organisation of this exchange of experience, sharing of internationally useful information and definition of proposals that emerge from all sectors of society determine true democracy, from local to global level. It also contributes to building another kind of globalisation, based on democracy, responsibility, diversity and solidarity.
- We affirm that we are living in a highly populated world that has limited resources, and where the search for well-being and dignity for all human beings depends on their development of goods that multiply by being shared. This applies first and foremost to knowledge and experience.
- We are aware that information and communication technology and Internet in particular open up new possibilities to gather, structure treat and share information, and that they provide us with considerable opportunity. This is on condition that the method and the structuring of the information allow us to cope with the excess of information available.
- We recognise the need to invent new tools and methods that will enable us to create joint systems while preserving our specificities, independence and identities.
- We are further convinced that the promotion and active dissemination of useful ideas and tools is fundamental to reinforce new forms of participation and citizens’ action.
The promoters of this resource site jointly:
- Decide to found a Confederation of resources for global democracy aimed at serving the development of a base of experiences and interlinked resource sites, to develop and share tools and methods of collective intelligence aimed at reinforcing organisational capacities, reflection and social proposals.
- Commit to freely sharing their work and discoveries as well as respecting the nature of common goods of knowledge. We also recognise the diversity and richness of different professions and skills required to develop tools and methods pf collective intelligence and the right of all participants to be paid for the services rendered to various organisations.
Members of Coredem commit to respecting mutual ethical principles and to using, respecting, adapting and promoting joint projects.
II. Joint principles
In order to create a coherent approach, Coredem is based on ethical principles that recognise diversity, plurality, transparency and awareness of the nature of relations in a complex world.
Coredem is the result of collective, transparent, open group work:
- It is collective because the promoters of the resource sites are committed to developing systems of exchange that enable joint construction.
- It is diverse and transparent because the promoters of the resource sites are committed to sharing and disseminating the results of the work with the objective of sharing knowledge.
- It is open because new promoters of resource sites can join in the reflections on the governance of the resource sites. They will however have to agree to abide by the principles of this charter.
Coredem is founded on the principle of unity in diversity:
- The promoters of resource sites commit to recognising the specifics of each resource site (vision of the world, public, objectives)
- The promoters of resource sites commit to respecting the diversity of view points and convictions. The socio technical organisation will favour joint perspectives without however attempting to express opinions.
- The promoters of resource sites commit to developing a thesaurus to index information and participating in building a joint atlas of relationships. This is aimed at helping to develop an understanding and mastery of the complexity of global interdependencies.
III. How the project will operate
Information and work undertaken by Coredem are shared by:
- A search engine (Scrutari) that will allow people to navigate in all the sites and to interconnect them.
- A wiki tool (wiki dem) to jointly develop the key ideas of the site.
- A resource site of general interest dph, where files from organisations that do not yet have the means of developing their own site, will be made available.
- An atlas of relationship is currently being developed. It will facilitate understanding of subjects considered and provide a means for navigate between different data bases; it will be based on concepts that are logic related.
Coredem is an informal, open organisation:
To join, it is necessary to sign the charter. Coredem works on the basis of trust. New members must be sponsored by an existing member, and initially invited to participate for three months.
Should a problem arise, a group of guarantors supervise the respect of the constitutive Charter and, should a difference of opinion arise between members, are responsible for deciding on the interpretation of the Charter. This charter was drawn up in 2008 for a period of two years by the founders Pierre Calame and Suzanne Humberset and by…. It shall be renewed and if deemed necessary increased by co-opting.
The Ritimo/dph team is responsible for the secretariat and moderation.
Coredem is a FPH initiative. The FPH participates as both a resource site and provides long-term support for the development and improvement of the tools. The FPH is the legal owner of the Coredem server.
