Loomio

Last updated
Stable release
2.5.0 / 6 November 2020;3 years ago (2020-11-06) [1]
Repository
Written in Ruby, JavaScript [2]
Platform web
License AGPL v3 [3]
Website www.loomio.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Loomio is decision-making software and web service designed to assist groups with collaborative, consensus-focused decision-making processes. It is a free software [3] web application, where users can initiate discussions and put up proposals. [4] [5] [6] [7] As the discussions progress to initiating a proposal, the group receives feedback through an updatable pie chart [5] or other data visualizations. Loomio is basically a web based forum (has optional email delivery interface) with tools to facilitate conversations and decision making processes from starting and holding conversations to reaching outcome. [8]

Contents

Loomio was built by a small core group of developers, based out of Wellington, New Zealand. [9] Most of the work was made by this core group but more than 70 contributors from around the world participated occasionally with small contribution. [10]

In 2014, Loomio raised over $100,000 via a Crowdfunding effort to develop Loomio 1.0. The Loomio web interface supports mobile access and other enhancements. [11] As of 2016, Loomio was used in more than 100 countries, with the software being translated into 35 languages. [12]

History

Loomio emerged from the Occupy movement. In 2012, it launched its first prototype. It was utilized in the Occupy movement in New Zealand. After using the first prototype in this, the team behind Loomio felt that it would be easier to give everyone a voice with an online software, leading to the launch of Loomio 1.0. Since the launch of Loomio 1.0, Loomio has stopped using occupy hand-signals in the interface. It has since been developed into a social enterprise as Loomio Cooperative Limited. and linked to the popular trend of "platform cooperativism" [13] [14] and targeting also mainstream markets.

Operation

How Loomio works as diagram Loomio 2.jpg
How Loomio works as diagram

The top-level organizational structure in Loomio is the group. A group is made up of members, who are granted permission to that group. Groups can be both public and private, permitting for both privacy and transparency.

Within the groups, members create discussions on specific topics. During a discussion, members of the group post comments and create proposals.

Proposals solicit feedback from members on a specific proposition. Members can either agree, disagree, abstain, or block. Blocking is essentially a strong form of disagreement.

Funding

Loomio is funded through contracts with government and business, and donations from its users. [15]

Reception

Loomio has been used by the Wellington City Council for discussion with their citizens. [16]

The Pirate Party of Hellas used Loomio [17] [18] to create 461 groups, covering 18 federal departments, 13 regions of Greece, 23 prefectures, and hundreds of counties and municipalities. The Internet Party of New Zealand also used Loomio to develop policy during the campaign for the 2014 General Election. [19]

El Partido Pirata de Chile has also adopted Loomio through their own fork called Lumio, offering a slightly different translation into Spanish for the voting options aiming at both remarking the importance of consensus and improving language style by using verbs in the first person singular (Concuerdo, Discrepo,Me abstengo y Solicito Reformular). Additionally, the PPCL has promoted the use of Lumio in different areas of political discussion and group coordination inside and outside the Party. [20]

Loomio won the MIX Prize Digital Freedom Challenge in April 2014. [21]

Product Overview

There are three target items Loomio utilizes to create its collaborative working environment:

Groups: Within the "group" settings, administrators are able to manage the membership of its users and grant access of controls to specific employees, create subgroups of which managers allocate break out rooms to specific departments, and utilize other applications simultaneously with Loomio's active integration system.

LOOMIO 2.5.4 discussion view LOOMIO interface 20201218 1.png
LOOMIO 2.5.4 discussion view
LOOMIO polls & notifications LOOMIO interface20201218 2.png
LOOMIO polls & notifications

EU specific

Loomio has committed to address the needs and regulations of the EU market. In 2018 the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect and Loomio confirmed that it is GDPR compliant. [22] In 2019 Loomio started planning a Loomio.eu service to use EU based hosting in response to requests from EU users. [23]

Integrations

Recent versions include more features of integration with other software. It is possible to connect Loomio group notifications to Slack, Microsoft Teams and Mattermost. It is also possible to add a Single Sign On (SSO) using central authentication provider like Microsoft Azure Active Directory. [24]

Prominent Projects using Loomio

Prominent projects that have used Loomio for collaborative work based on democratic process:

Research projects using Loomio

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-democracy</span> Use of information and communication technology in political and governance processes

E-democracy, also known as digital democracy or Internet democracy, uses information and communication technology (ICT) in political and governance processes. The term is credited to digital activist Steven Clit. By using 21st-century ICT, e-democracy seeks to enhance democracy, including aspects like civic technology and E-government. Proponents argue that by promoting transparency in decision-making processes, e-democracy can empower all citizens to observe and understand the proceedings. Also, if they possess overlooked data, perspectives, or opinions, they can contribute meaningfully. This contribution extends beyond mere informal disconnected debate; it facilitates citizen engagement in the proposal, development, and actual creation of a country's laws. In this way, e-democracy has the potential to incorporate crowdsourced analysis more directly into the policy-making process.

Open-source governance is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles to enable any interested citizen to add to the creation of policy, as with a wiki document. Legislation is democratically opened to the general citizenry, employing their collective wisdom to benefit the decision-making process and improve democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QGIS</span> Open-source desktop GIS software

QGIS is a free and open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system (GIS) application that supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data.

The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed in February 2006 to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader Free and open-source geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources.

Pseudonymization is a data management and de-identification procedure by which personally identifiable information fields within a data record are replaced by one or more artificial identifiers, or pseudonyms. A single pseudonym for each replaced field or collection of replaced fields makes the data record less identifiable while remaining suitable for data analysis and data processing.

This is a comparison of notable web frameworks, software used to build and deploy web applications.


This is a comparison of notable free and open-source configuration management software, suitable for tasks like server configuration, orchestration and infrastructure as code typically performed by a system administrator.

Data portability is a concept to protect users from having their data stored in "silos" or "walled gardens" that are incompatible with one another, i.e. closed platforms, thus subjecting them to vendor lock-in and making the creation of data backups or moving accounts between services difficult.

In FOSS development communities, a forge is a web-based collaborative software platform for both developing and sharing computer applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GitHub</span> Hosting service for software projects

GitHub, Inc. is an AI-powered developer platform that allows developers to create, store, and manage their code. It uses Git software, providing the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous integration, and wikis for every project. Headquartered in California, it has been a subsidiary of Microsoft since 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liquid democracy</span> Combination of direct and representative democracy

Liquid democracy is a form of delegative democracy, whereby an electorate engages in collective decision-making through direct participation and dynamic representation. This democratic system utilizes elements of both direct and representative democracy. Voters in a liquid democracy have the right to vote directly on all policy issues à la direct democracy; voters also have the option to delegate their votes to someone who will vote on their behalf à la representative democracy. Any individual may be delegated votes and these proxies may in turn delegate their vote as well as any votes they have been delegated by others resulting in "metadelegation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Node.js</span> JavaScript runtime environment

Node.js is a cross-platform, open-source JavaScript runtime environment that can run on Windows, Linux, Unix, macOS, and more. Node.js runs on the V8 JavaScript engine, and executes JavaScript code outside a web browser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LiquidFeedback</span> Software

LiquidFeedback is free software for political opinion formation and decision making, combining aspects of representative and direct democracy. Its most important feature is the implementation of a delegated voting system which is to establish a new form of political representation and participation that takes into account the knowledge disparity of its participants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Data Protection Regulation</span> EU regulation on the processing of personal data

The General Data Protection Regulation is a European Union regulation on information privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and human rights law, in particular Article 8(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It also governs the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA. The GDPR's goals are to enhance individuals' control and rights over their personal information and to simplify the regulations for international business. It supersedes the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and, among other things, simplifies the terminology.

The OpenPOWER Foundation is a collaboration around Power ISA-based products initiated by IBM and announced as the "OpenPOWER Consortium" on August 6, 2013. IBM is opening up technology surrounding their Power Architecture offerings, such as processor specifications, firmware and software with a liberal license, and will be using a collaborative development model with their partners.

Online deliberation is a broad term used to describe many forms of non-institutional, institutional and experimental online discussions. The term also describes the emerging field of practice and research related to the design, implementation and study of deliberative processes that rely on the use of electronic information and communications technologies (ICT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NOYB</span> European data protection advocacy group

NOYB – European Center for Digital Rights is a non-profit organization based in Vienna, Austria established in 2017 with a pan-European focus. Co-founded by Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Max Schrems, NOYB aims to launch strategic court cases and media initiatives in support of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the proposed ePrivacy Regulation, and information privacy in general. The organisation was established after a funding period during which it has raised annual donations of €250,000 by supporting members. Currently, NOYB is financed by more than 4,400 supporting members.

Civic technology is technology that enables engagement and participation, or enhances the relationship between the people and government, by enhancing citizen communications and public decision, improving government delivery of services and infrastructure. This comparison of civic technology platforms compares platforms that are designed to improve citizen participation in governance, distinguished from technology that directly deals with government infrastructure.

References

  1. ↑ "Releases - loomio/loomio" . Retrieved 5 November 2020– via GitHub.
  2. ↑ "loomio/loomio". Github. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 "loomio/LICENSE.txt". GitHub . Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Pullar-Strecker, Tom (16 August 2013). "Group decision-making software ready to run" . Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Can Social Software Change the World? Loomio Just Might" . Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Occupy Democracy: Loomio attempts to re-invent group decision-making… as a co-op". 2 May 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  7. ↑ de Taar, Charlie. "InterTwinkles: Online Tools for Non-Hierarchical, Consensus-Oriented Decision Making" (PDF). MIT. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  8. ↑ "Overview | Loomio Help". help.loomio.org. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  9. ↑ "Loomio - The Enspiral Network". Enspiral Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Contributors to loomio/loomio". Github. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Out in the Open: Occupy Wall Street Reincarnated as Open Source Software". Wired . 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Schneider, Nathan (26 April 2016). "How a Worker-Owned Tech Startup Found Investors—and Kept Its Values". Yes Magazine. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  13. ↑ Nathan Schneider (April 26, 2016). "How a Worker-Owned Tech Startup Found Investors—and Kept Its Values". YES! Magazine.
  14. ↑ Jackson, Sam K.; Kuehn, Kathleen M. (2016-10-14). "Open Source, Social Activism and "Necessary Trade-offs" in the Digital Enclosure: A Case Study of Platform Co-operative, Loomio.org". TripleC. 14 (2): 413–427–413–427. doi: 10.31269/triplec.v14i2.764 . ISSN   1726-670X.
  15. ↑ "Loomio". Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
  16. ↑ "Loomio Launches Exciting Collaboration with Wellington City Council". blog.enspiral.com. 15 March 2013. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013.
  17. ↑ "Loomio used for large scale citizen democracy project in Greece". blog.loomio.org. 14 March 2014.
  18. ↑ "The Largest Loomio Project Yet". techpresident.com.
  19. ↑ "LOOMIO GIVES POLICY POWER TO MEMBERS". Internet Party of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  20. ↑ Partido Pirata de Chile (8 June 2017). "Declaración Pública Partido Pirata de Chile sobre el Uso de herramientas digitales para mejorar la democracia". www.partidopirata.cl.
  21. ↑ Lumio (3 April 2014). "Wellington Tech Startup Loomio Wins International Award". Scoop.co.nz.
  22. ↑ "Loomio GDPR compliance | Loomio Help". help.loomio.org. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  23. ↑ "Loomio dev roadmap 2019 | Loomio Help". help.loomio.org. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  24. ↑ "Integrations | Loomio Help". help.loomio.org. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  25. ↑ "Diaspora* project wiki". Archived from the original on 2013-08-30. Retrieved 2014-10-29.
  26. ↑ "Realdemocracy project website". Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-10-29.
  27. ↑ "¿Cómo usar Loomio?" [How do you use Loomio?] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-02-10.
  28. ↑ Shaw, Mike. "Get involved in the Students for Cooperation Loomio!". Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  29. ↑ "Board Meeting 2020-01-27 - OSGeo". wiki.osgeo.org. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  30. ↑ Karwowska, Anita (2020-12-22). "Strajk Kobiet: Popracujmy nad pomysłami na Polskę, gdy PiS będzie już przeszłością" [Women's Strike: We're working on ideas for Poland after PiS]. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2020-12-22. The activists from All-Poland Women's Strike want the work that up to now has been done by the Consultative Council working groups to now include the internet, on the Loomio platform. (Polish: Aktywistki Ogólnopolskiego Strajku Kobiet chcą, by prace, które do tej pory odbywały się w zespołach tematycznych Rady Konsultacyjnej, teraz toczyły się w internecie, na platformie Loomio.)
  31. ↑ "Loomio group of Pirate Party of Belgium". Loomio.org. Archived from the original on 2020-12-23.
  32. ↑ https://ia802808.us.archive.org/30/items/scienceforallpubliclyfundedresearchreportjune2018november201928.11.19/Science%20for%20All%20-%20Publicly%20funded%20research%20report%20-%20June%202018-November%202019%2028.11.19.pdf
  33. ↑ Nunn, Jack (2022-10-14). Genomics Research and Involving People (thesis thesis). La Trobe. doi:10.26181/21330897.v1.
  34. ↑ "COM-IC – collaborative development of core outcome measures for dementia care - Wikispore". wikispore.wmflabs.org. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  35. ↑ "COM-IC – collaborative development of core outcome measures for dementia care". chsr.centre.uq.edu.au. 2022-06-24. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.