Nethood

NetHood is a non-profit organization based in Zurich (Association, or “Verein”, by the Swiss law), founded in January 2015 with the goal to create a flexible institutional framework where activities of the academia and the civil society integrate around participatory research and action processes, allowing people with diverse profiles to freely develop their skills and creativity and bring together knowledge and experiences from different fields.

The concrete outcome of NetHood’s action research is the design and implementation of convivial tools that empower people in localities to get in contact, to learn collectively, and to self-organize around common projects. These tools include the organic Internet, complementary currencies, cooperative housing models, neighbourhood catalysts, and alternative food cultures. They take the form of real-life projects like the L200 collective space in Zurich; toolkits and guidelines like the MAZI toolkit and the netCommons participatory design methodology booklet; simulation games like the Flexonomix District Currency Game; scientific publications and popular articles; software tools like the Really Simple Federation framework.

NetHood has also strong facilitation, communication and dissemination competences, manifesting through key roles in big EU-funded projects such as technical leader (EuComMeet), interdisciplinary framework leader (MAZI), and dissemination leader (SINCERE and netCommons); the organization of interdisciplinary events with high impact; the facilitation of knowledge exchange processes across cultures and contexts; the active engagement in international networks like the International Network of Urban Research and Action (INURA) and the Internet Society (ISOC) and national civil society organizations like Neustart Schweiz; and the production of dissemination material of high quality like the SINCERE, netCommons and 7at7.digital identity concepts.