Community currencies for community networks

Reading in parallel the description of community networks and community currencies reveals many similarities and differences between these two models of self-organization around networking infrastructures and monetary systems, respectively. This position paper brings together experts from both domains in an effort to share knowledge and experience and hint to possible integrated models of both community networks and community currencies in specific geographic areas, like Barcelona. For example, a special-purpose community currency can place a community network into a broader local economy that can reward investments in infrastructure and bridge the gap between professional and voluntary work. As working example, we choose Catalonia’s success story on community networks, Guifi.net, and Sardinia’s success story on community currencies, Sardex.net. The under-development commons-based district currency
will be proposed as a means to bridge the local (a housing cooperative or a small village running its own community network and a local circuit for computer reuse) with the global (a region-wide mutual credit system like Sardex) in a scalable and democratic way.