Summary
A story commons is storytelling organised as a shared resource: stories made by and for communities, under rules those communities agree, instead of being shaped by media owners. The term comes from the People’s Newsroom at Opus, which defines a commons as “a collective resource sustained by those who rely on it”. In 2024 it spent six months learning with UK groups already working this way, among them CIVIC SQUARE, Greater Govanhill and MAIA.
Its argument is that “Generative and life-giving stories will only come from generative and life-giving practices”. More diverse newsrooms or more fact-checking aren’t enough; how stories get made, and who holds them, has to change too.
Rationale
Here the telling itself is commoned, betting that how a story gets made teaches as much as its content. Part 2 lists “a commoning initiative” among contexts where people can experience different deep dispositions.