Taxonomy of Engagement Spaces

• Is the space physical, digital or a hybrid? 
• A roundabout is a physical-only engagement space. A trading platform is a digital-only engagement space. In most cases a hybrid form is used to eliminate limits imposed by a need for physical contact.  
• Who owns the space? 
• A government body, or a community, or a company ? 
• Is the space open to participants to enter or leave at will, or is it a closed gated community with barriers for entry? 
• A closed gated community can impose extra rules and create sanctions for rule-breaking, but limits the accessibility. 
• An open engagement space has a very low barrier to entry. 
• Can the engagement space function without requiring every stakeholder to participate? 
• It can be difficult to get every stakeholder to participate. An engagement space that delivers value to willing participants while other (similar) parties use different methods is easier to start and allow gradual adoption. 

The accounting system used 

• Necessary or not? 
• A roundabout does not need tokens or accounting, a planning engagement space usually does 
• Non-monetizable tokens, or monetizable? 
• Tokens that cannot be converted to money have multiple benefits:  
• Barrier to distortion of the purpose or even hostile takeover by parties with a lot of money 
• Accessible for lower incomes with hardly any discretionary residual income 
• Who controls the accounting system?  
• Government, neutral body, community, company?  

The governance of the space 

• One party 
• Does one party control the rules? 
• Community 
• Is a “governing the commons” governance structure used for community governance? 

The enforcement of rules 

• Does the governing party or the accounting party enforce the rules? 
• Are enforcements based on community sanctions or government sanctions? 

The legal context 

• Is the governance based on agreements within commercial law, or on regulations based in public law?