Dear Bike!Bike attendees and community bike project peoples!
For 10 years, BB has been an entity without formal structure or organization. In many ways, this is part of what makes BB amazing.
At the same time, BB is changing; the bike movement gains momentum; and the members and needs of community bike projects grow and shift.
Over the past couple of years, members of the Bike!Bike! community have begun discussing the pros and cons of creating a non-profit entity to better support the mission and logistical feasibility of Bike!Bike! This discussion developed through open conversation during Bike!Bike! itself, and has continued remotely through the Bike!Bike! Working Group, an informal network of individuals committed to continuing this discussion between conferences.
The goal of this work is not to graft a structure of authority onto the collective phenomenon of Bike!Bike!; rather, we want to work cooperatively toward developing a simple legal framework and shared toolkit that will make Bike!Bike! easier to attend, host, and replicate. Folks interested in contributing to this work are always encouraged to participate.
In an effort to be transparent. I suggest we discuss this topic using the open source tool, Loomio.org https://www.loomio.org/discussions/7933 . It is a software that came out of the occupy movement in New Zealand. It is built to help large groups with consensus discussion and decisions. It does mean another login and website :-( but I think it will be worth it. We will write monthly emails to the Thinktank and BikeBike Facebook page to invite people to review or join the discussion.
Other options include google groups or a facebook group. Do other people have suggestions about technological tools that will help facilitate this conversation?
What do you all think?
-momoko