Community Charter

Organisationsprinzipien / Community Charter - Version 1.2

The Collaboratory is an open collaboration platform (community of practice), which is continuously undergoing further development ("perpetual Beta"). Its structure, processes and results are meant to be open to all possible influences.
The Co:llaboratory brings together Internet experts from all social areas to analyze changes in the digital world and to identify resulting opportunities for society. Thereby, the Collaboratory hopes to contribute to the social discourse in Germany such as current constitutional challenges and petitions or the work of the Bundestag’s Enquête Commission “Internet & Digital Society”. The Collaboratory’s work will help to make expert opinions more accessible to a wider audience thus accurately reflecting social pluralism. Simultaneously, professional debates, reports and recommendations are added up to create a powerful engine triggering further discussions or actions.

General Principles

• The Co:llaboratory is an independent and transparent platform for discussion and collaboration.
• The Co:llaboratory is committed to the public interest. Therefore, experts take voluntary and independent action in order to develop well-balanced positions and initiatives.
• The Co:llaboratory serves as a catalyst and mouthpiece for the German Internet community, connecting it to the world of politics and public administration.
• The Co:llaboratory aims to observe technical, legal and sociological changes in the digital society and involve all stakeholders. It will contemplate and discuss the changes and therefore contribute to solve unresolved challenges
• The Co:llaboratory bundles together extensive specialized knowledge in order to assess how the Internet will influence society’s future development. Thereby, the Co:llaboratory develops a unique capacity to identify important topics early on and to introduce them into the public discourse
• The Co:llaboratory is eager to receive additional proposals for important topics. To encourage this external contribution, the Co:llaboratory will be present in all strategically important online communication channels.
• The Co:llaboratory aspires to consider the entire range of topics dealt with in the internet-related discourse. It does so in a pragmatic, informal and constructive manner and, if necessary, proposes balanced courses of action.