Decentralizing Cooperatives

Web 3.0 UX Case Study

A case study on how we might improve and bring in technology for blockchain cooperative companies to increase participation through incentivization.

Category: Web 3.0 UX research and design

Team: Blessing Emole, Kristine Yang, Nancy Chan, Rithika Repakula, Theresa Merchant

My Role: UX Research, UI design

Tools: Adobe CC, Figma, Miro

Background:

This study is looking into the key issues platform coops face, exploring how they are run, managed, and how decisions are made. Also exploring how the affordances of blockchain can ease key technical issues coops face. With research in different coop governance models, the study hopes to find a balance between the democratic nature of coop and funding from investors.

What is a COOP?

A company that is owned and democratically run by its member workers.

What is a Platform COOP

A COOP that utilizes web or app-based technology for its basic functions

Structure of a COOP

What is a Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO)?

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are already present on the blockchain. Smart contracts automate the functionality decided by a core team of community members made up of people who own governance tokens and whose Votes are reflected on the blockchain making them secure and immutable. One of the issues with this is that as 1 governance token = 1 vote: power is centralized toward the wealthier members of the community who are able to purchase more governance tokens

Similarities between DAO and COOP

Problem Statement:

How might we use blockchain technology to streamline onboarding, increase participation and make the voting process more transparent for coop members?