An informative introduction to the power of online networks and collaborative practices, this uplifting documentary explores the power of mass collaboration and participation in our changing society.
Directed by Ivo Gormley with a variety of contributors, Us Now reveals what online networks can achieve. Whilst investigating ideas of ‘participative governance’, the film documents examples such as Zopa, a banking system with countless customer-managers who lend and borrow money to one other; Ebbsfleet United, a football club owned and managed by its online fans and Couch Surfing, an online community whose members open their doors to accomodate travellers they have never met before.
Through interviews with leading thinkers – and doers (We-Think author Charles leadbeater; Paul Miller, founder of the School of Everything); politicians (UK Cabinet Minister Ed Milliband; Shadow Chancellor Georges Osborne) and members of online communities, Us Now illustrates the power of mass collaboration and community and poses the questions of how much further mass collaboration can go and if this influences the way we are governed.