Sustainable micro-business: can virtual guilds offer a solution?

This project investigated how virtual guilds, which are communities of
practice based on open source principles, can enable micro-businesses to
become more sustainable. The project worked with two micro-businesses in
the North West of England, taking an action research approach that also
aimed to benefit the partnering organisations in terms of their
development. This dataset contains six reports, three for each
organisation: 1) An organisation description, based on data from
participant observation of workshops facilitated by the organisation,
together with interviewing key individuals within the organisation and
examining organisational documents (primarily the organisation's
website and social media feeds). 2) Report on the first design workshop
held with each organisation, which was focused on developing a
specification for a prototype virtual guild model that could be
implemented by them as part of their strategic development.  3) Report on
the second design workshop held with each organisation a year later,
focusing on how the design technique of value-led personas could enable
them to consider how their stakeholders would interact with the
organisation.