Common Knowledge

Common Knowledge is a not-for-profit worker cooperative of technologists, designers, researchers and facilitators. Working in direct collaboration with grassroots organizers and communities around the world, Common Knowledge uses their digital expertise to multiply their impact and capacity. Their session at O!MM, Seeing the field: Mapping for strategic organizing will be held by Alex Andrews, Everin Scott, Gemma Copeland and Jan Baykara. We asked Gemma some questions to learn more.

Your session Seeing the field: Mapping for strategic organizing teaches mapping as a technique for organizers to cut through complexity and analyse their work field. Can you give us a concrete example of how an organization has used mapping successfully in their work?

Hope Not Hate have been using Mapped in the local elections to counter the threat of the far-right. They have a large network of supporters and custom datasets from detailed MRP polling that segments the Reform coalition: from the committed racists who are unmovable to those who are much more persuadable through deep canvassing. They use this to direct canvassing and leafleting efforts, working at a hyper-local level. We are at the point now where their use of the tool is far beyond anything we taught them to do. It is incredible to see them just run with it, using it in ways we didn't imagine when we first began working together.

Can you share something with us that keeps you coming back to the good fight?

We have a poster on the wall of our office with a quote from David Graeber: “the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it’s something that we make and could just as easily make differently”. This idea is foundational to our cooperative. Despair is a luxury in times like these – we refuse to give into it. We are committed to the idea that the future is not set in stone, that the way we live together is not fixed. We have agency. We can turn up every day, support each other, imagine the futures we want and work together to get there.