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Dear Members & Friends
LETS is in the News
!
TV and radio are full of reports and discussions about
the Credit Crunch, and journalists are pursuing both LETSlink
UK and individual LETS groups to hear what is being offered
in the world of complementary currencies. So life has
been busy not just for central office, but also for local
groups, giving interviews and helping with filming projects.
We would be grateful for reports and links to these reports
to be sent to us.
Have
System will Travel
This was our last website headline and it related to our
quest for software, which has continued throughout the
period from 2005 to 2008. Our method was firstly to analyze
the essential requirements for running a LETS. We began
the process during the training course we ran in London
in 2005 – thanks to Mamading Ceesay for beginning
this work, which we called “specification for a universal
transaction engine”. In 2006 we continued to refine
it, and to shortlist existing software to see how it matched
our requirements – thanks to Matthew Slater for support
on this throughout 2006. From this work we did not immediately
find anything that seemed quite specific enough, and were
inspired to create a special website for a city-wide LETS,
which Matthew began and Progga developed during 2007 and
implemented for London-wide LETS.
Along the way, we found customized PHP
sites and content managed or social networking systems
adapted for LETS with only partial success, demonstrating
an urgent need to continue our research – which is
a moving target as the technical work continues. Currently
we have identified “Local Exchange” as the system
which best fulfils our criteria. It was commissioned by
Francis Ayley, an experienced LETS practitioner from the
UK, and coded by Calvin Priest in the USA. Progga adapted
it for the UK, and implemented it for four groups during
2008, with several others in the pipeline. Further improvements
are being coded by Chris MacDonald, working with Rob Follett
in Cornwall. Overall progress is being recorded in our
members’ area, as well as on a dedicated website:
www.cxss.info.
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Research
Continues . . .
Inbetween the software project we have
continued our earlier mission of mapping LETS all over
the UK, for the practical reason of enabling the public
to find them. When we are able to speak to LETS organizers,
we ask them how it’s going. Many are doing well,
maintaining a consistent size and serving their members
needs well. Few are expanding, leading us to wonder if
there is an ideal size for a LETS, or whether, given appropriate
software which takes care administrative tasks, organizers
will be able to increase the effectiveness of their group.
Neither the lottery nor the government
is paying for this research, so we need to cut to the
chase, and have learnt to diagnose what is happening in
a LETS group by listening to the symptoms. We can tell
quite a lot from phone and email, but if we are going
to install software, we have learnt from the projects
already undertaken, given that our time is a scarce resource,
the necessity of direct contact with key members of the
group, to ensure that if software is installed,organisers
will adopt it, and that the project as a whole is capable
of benefiting from it. This has led us into another whole
area of discourse, ie the detailed issues of management
and co-operation, and as we continue our research, it
is likely that we will discover not just one, but a number
if different successful models suiting different circumstances.
This is why, the attached, Renewal and Questionnaire encourages
a broad range of response with space for groups to tell
us all the positive things they are doing to maintain
their LETS.
New
Kid on the Block
On our travels we have come across Transition
Towns, which have gained popularity during the past two
years. Putting the ideas of permaculture into an urban
context, their mission is to up-skill communities to meet
the challenge of Climate Change and Peak Oil by embracing
“energy descent”. Given that TTs are mainstreaming
the concepts that LETS have promoted over two decades,
and are attempting to engage with the local economy, we
are encouraging all LETS organisers to contribute your
expertise to TT projects near you: if you need support,
contact: admin@LETSlinkuk.net
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