Research

Cooperativa digital: Creating a community-run mobile app in Brazil

While most digital platforms are controlled by private for-profit companies, some digital platforms like Wikipedia are controlled by their contributing members. These types of digital platforms are part of a longstanding organisational approach called commons, specifically platform commons.

‘Cooperativa digital’ builds on a digital platform created by a Brazilian social enterprise that takes advantage of a local law that allows people to donate a portion of sales tax (i.e. VAT) to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). As a platform, the mobile app matches donors with NGOs.

Now that the app is operational, the social enterprise wants to transfer control to the NGOs. To support this process, the partners are translating and transforming relevant concepts from commons scholarship into methods and tools that can be used in studio experiments with the community to create the rules for this platform commons.

The project asked: How can we transform commons scholarship into usable tools that support this community to create a digital platform commons? How does the community’s approach to discussing and creating greater equity inform understanding of the digital good?

The project highlights the importance of understanding the digital good through the lens of commons frameworks, emphasising the need for shared ownership of digital resources. It defined the digital good as an ongoing, iterative process that requires collaboration and consensus-building among diverse stakeholders. Through a series of three co-design workshops, participants engaged in discussions about fairness, equity, and social impact, shaping a fledgling governance model for the app that reflects their shared values and aspirations and a potential rank algorithm that filters initiatives based on impact metrics (eg projects completed, funds raised, beneficiaries reached). 

During a celebratory event in December 2023, participants were prompted to talk about the concept of ‘digital good’ within Cooperativa Digital through informal conversations in an open and friendly environment. A thematic analysis of these discussions revealed key themes in how participants described this digital good project. These included an equitable design process, ensuring fairness in participation, free from external imposition, allowing for ownership and control over the platform’s development; independent platform governance, unconstrained by external limitations; a platform grounded in the combined lived experiences of the participating NGOs; and a design tailored to the specific needs and abilities of those NGOs.