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)

Table of Contents

• The Permaculture of Money: observe the flow of currency, find ways to capture and retain it, aim for inputs=outputs, share surplus
• Ying Yang spectrum
  • Yang: tax collection, competition, debt-based, quick profit, fear-based, interest (musical chairs), scarcity-requiring, efficient, treasure-hoarding, idealistic, exponential-curve pattern, long-distance trading for 10,000 years
  • Yin: gift circles, cooperation, mutual-credit, long-term planning, trust-based, demuragge (negative interest rate), abundance, community-building, appropriate, realistic, sine-curve pattern, star trek (all imagined technologies are now real except moneyless economy)
• Da Vinci Tai Chi move altogether (make sure to reverse the moves when in front of the group):
  • connect with the archetypes: warrior, engineer, nurturer, lover, and integrator : we need them all; we need yang and yin currencies
• Tell a few stories (as time permits) , especially High Middle Ages, Ancient Egypt and Argentina
• Make Money exercise: Catalog Offers/Request on cards for all to see; write out IOU cheque vouchers, circulate for a bit, debrief
• Detailed explanation of Gift Circles, Timebank and Seedstock
• the 4 components of CC success (to avoid the 80% failure rate since 1983):
  • Constant Catalog Updates
  • Active Matchmaker,
  • Transparent Accounting (and appropriate medium: digital, paper vouchers, relationship to national currency)
  • Respect Gifts (do not monetize remaining gift economies, and allow natural transition of CC to gift economy)
• Real live example of CC design using a participant's project

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

references

• Community Currencies