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   Nathan Schneider (ntnsndr@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 04:21:59 JST Nathan Schneider

   Academics: would you feel better about a campus AI contract if it went to a nonprofit co-op, controlled by universities, that runs inference with diverse models on renewable energy and follows university-governed data protection? An OCLC for AI?

   • Embed this notice
     Alex Rodríguez (arod@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 04:26:24 JST Alex Rodríguez

     in reply to

     @ntnsndr what do you mean by non-profit co-op?

   • Embed this notice
     Nathan Schneider (ntnsndr@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 05:21:40 JST Nathan Schneider

     in reply to

     • Alex Rodríguez

     @arod like OCLC or credit unions in the US: the purpose is not to distribute dividends but the provide a service at cost.

   • Embed this notice
     pjw (pjw@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 06:43:14 JST pjw

     in reply to

     @ntnsndr yes, absolutely. I'd want it to be democratically accountable, and I may have other concerns, but you didn't ask whether I'd be all in for it, you asked whether I'd feel more comfortable. And in that case it's a definite yes.

   • Embed this notice
     J. Nathan Matias 🦣 (natematias@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 08:41:29 JST J. Nathan Matias 🦣

     in reply to

     @ntnsndr yes, with the caveat that it would need robust and rapid alignment / safety / content policy updates in partnership with mental health services.

   • Embed this notice
     Nathan Schneider (ntnsndr@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 12:58:21 JST Nathan Schneider

     in reply to

     • J. Nathan Matias 🦣

     @natematias Absolutely. This would be a chance for an interface that more fully reflects academic values.

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     Nathan Schneider (ntnsndr@social.coop)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 20:56:26 JST Nathan Schneider

     in reply to

     • John Mark Ockerbloom

     @JMarkOckerbloom fair enough! Any cautionary tales?

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     John Mark Ockerbloom (jmarkockerbloom@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 12-Jun-2026 20:56:27 JST John Mark Ockerbloom

     in reply to

     @ntnsndr I read your last question as a cautionary check on what precedes it, since while what you proposed sounds appealing in some ways, it does *not* describe OCLC as it exists (though it might describe it as some would like or had hoped it would be).

   • Embed this notice
     Nathan Schneider (ntnsndr@social.coop)'s status on Saturday, 13-Jun-2026 04:44:47 JST Nathan Schneider

     in reply to

     • Nemo_bis 🌈
     • John Mark Ockerbloom

     @nemobis @JMarkOckerbloom yep, if the board is not chosen by members, definitely not a cooperative.

   • Embed this notice
     John Mark Ockerbloom (jmarkockerbloom@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 13-Jun-2026 04:44:49 JST John Mark Ockerbloom

     in reply to

     • Nemo_bis 🌈

     @nemobis @ntnsndr Yeah, talk to cataloging librarians, and you'll hear some stories.

     I don't know your criteria for co-ops (I haven't read all you've published on them) but I generally assume that a requirement for a true co-op is that members choose the governing officials, or at least a controlling share of them. That's not the case with OCLC. (There's a council chosen by libraries, but it's subordinate to the board of directors, where the majority of seats are *not* electable by council.)

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     Nemo_bis 🌈 (nemobis@mamot.fr)'s status on Saturday, 13-Jun-2026 04:44:49 JST Nemo_bis 🌈

     in reply to

     • John Mark Ockerbloom

     @JMarkOckerbloom Right, so it clearly fails the test of "Cooperatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members".
     https://ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity

     The current OCLC presumably exists to serve the interests of its own staff, i.e. maximising their wages and money extraction from universities. This is often the end result of 501(c) controlled by a self-perpetuating board.

     Would a worker-owned cooperative avoid such a mismatch? What if members were workers at "customer" libraries?

     @ntnsndr

   • Embed this notice
     Nemo_bis 🌈 (nemobis@mamot.fr)'s status on Saturday, 13-Jun-2026 04:44:51 JST Nemo_bis 🌈

     in reply to

     @ntnsndr Where to start? OCLC has long lost any semblance to its supposed mission. It's a rent-seeking SaaS provider like any other.

     When a "non-profit cooperative" tries to sue its own members' employees into oblivion without a shred of evidence, you know for sure it's beyond redemption (like JSTOR with Aaron).
     https://torrentfreak.com/alleged-annas-archive-operator-dropped-from-u-s-scraping-lawsuit-250417/