Here is a tailored invitation for Nathan Schneider, positioned around platform cooperativism, democratic governance, shared ownership, and building digital systems that communities can own and govern.
Dear Nathan,
I hope this finds you well.
I am writing to invite you to participate in MOBILIZED: CONVERGENCE, a new global media-and-action experience from Mobilized News designed to bring together the people, ideas, tools, stories, and public-interest solutions needed to redesign systems for life.
The purpose of CONVERGENCE is simple but urgent:
How do we move from systems that extract, divide, confuse, and control — to systems that inform, connect, restore, and empower?
Your work on platform cooperativism, democratic ownership, governance, cooperative technology, and the future of institutions speaks directly to one of the central questions of this initiative:
How do we redesign digital systems so the people who depend on them can also own, govern, shape, and benefit from them?
CONVERGENCE is not being designed as a traditional conference, technology expo, or vendor showcase. It is being created as a living media commons and working assembly: part solutions forum, part public-interest technology lab, part live newsroom, part collaboration network, and part global action experience.
Our operating framework is:
Signals → Stories → Solutions → Events → Collaboration → Action
We would be honored to invite you to participate as a featured conversation guest, systems lab host, strategic advisor, or public guide for one of the central themes of the event:
Platform Cooperativism, Shared Ownership and Digital Democracy
Some of the questions we hope to explore include:
- What comes after extractive platforms?
- How can digital platforms be owned and governed by workers, users, creators, and communities?
- What can platform cooperativism teach cities, media organizations, educators, nonprofits, and local economies?
- How can cooperative governance be designed so it is practical, inclusive, and durable?
- What role can open-source tools, public-interest technology, and shared digital infrastructure play in cooperative systems?
- How can communities create digital marketplaces, media platforms, care networks, mobility systems, and knowledge commons that do not extract value from them?
- What would it take to make democratic ownership understandable and adoptable for people who have only known corporate platforms?
Your perspective would help frame one of the defining questions of CONVERGENCE:
How do we move from platform dependency to platform democracy?
We are inviting a founding circle of leaders across digital sovereignty, open-source infrastructure, digital democracy, ethical AI, public digital goods, cybersecurity, regenerative economics, independent media, civic innovation, urban resilience, and community wealth.
The goal is not only to host conversations, but to produce practical outcomes, including:
- A Platform Cooperativism and Digital Ownership Action Guide
- A Community Platform Design Toolkit
- A Shared Governance Roadmap
- A Solutions Map of cooperative platforms, democratic ownership models, open-source tools, and community-owned digital systems
- Live and recorded interviews for global distribution
- Replication pathways for communities, media makers, cooperatives, nonprofits, public agencies, local businesses, educators, and civic groups seeking to build digital systems they can own and govern
Mobilized News was founded on the belief that a well-informed public is the most powerful and valuable natural resource of all. With CONVERGENCE, we are creating a platform where knowledge does not remain isolated, but becomes shared capability.
We would be grateful to explore your participation in one or more of the following ways:
- Featured conversation on platform cooperativism and digital democracy
- Systems lab on community-owned platforms and shared governance
- Interview for Mobilized News
- Strategic advisory conversation
- Contributor to the Platform Cooperativism and Digital Ownership Action Guide
- Partner introduction to aligned cooperative, commons, civic technology, media, and regenerative economy networks
We believe your voice would be essential in helping participants understand that the future of digital life does not have to be dominated by platforms that extract value from users. Another model is possible: one based on cooperation, shared governance, democratic ownership, mutual benefit, and public value.
Thank you for considering this invitation. We would be honored to speak with you or your team and explore how MOBILIZED: CONVERGENCE can amplify and support the work you are already helping lead.
With appreciation and respect,
Steven Jay
Co-Founder and Executive Producer
Mobilized News
MobilizedNews.com
st***************@***il.com