How to put on a "Design your own Currency" Workshop

Learning Objectives

• participants will be able to identify, differentiate and determine the appropriate uses of a gift currency, a time currency, an unredeemable token currency, a redeemable proxy currency and a tax-collection currency
• participants will feel enthousiastic about the growing field of community currencies while realizing it is still very experimental
• participants with a design background (PDC?) will be able to design a currency as a component of wholistically solving a real problem they are familiar with

Prepare before the workshop

• samples of all the various types of community currencies (and some proxy yang currencies)
• prepare Yin and Yang attribute cards (ed note: insert content of the cards here or in a separate wiki page)

Introduction

• form a semi-circle so everyone can see the center of the circle
• Ask participants to throw whatever currency they have on themselves into the middle of the circle (throw your own collection in)
• lay down the Yin and Yang attribute cards (might be better to do that while waiting for session to start as a stimulant)
• quickly explain the spectrum and ask participants to help you justify where the various currencies fit on the spectrum (place them)

Stories

• anecdotes about Bernard Lietaer the co-designer of the Euro, Michael Linton the local and global pioneer
• the story of the High Middle Ages
• the story of Ancient Egypt
• the story of stamp scrip in USA and Austria
• the story of Argentina 2002
• the story of LETS and Timebanking
• the story of Seedstock and Transition Towns currencies
• optionally: the story of chiralkine (quantum) money

Activities

• create real money (pass blank notes around) and go through step by step how real money is created out of thin air
• catalog creation
• matchmaking
• go through the design process systematically using a real and local example that participants can relate to

references

• Community Currencies