Two quotes of interest, from the Attention Trust blog, and copied from the Wall Street Journal: Esther Dyson on the Intention Economy ” I think you’ll see a fundamental shift in the balance of power towards individuals. Individuals will declare what kinds of vendors they want sponsoring their content, and then those vendors will have… Continue reading
Date archives "May 2006"
The people who make peer to peer happen
Our work at the P2P Foundation is not just about documenting concepts and organizations, but also about the individuals who make it happen through their creative and courageous engagement. If you want to know ‘Who is Who’ in the open, participatory and commons-related movements, then we recommend that you consult our P2P Indviduals Directory, which… Continue reading
Swarming and peer governance in the French events
Here’s an interesting analysis and report of the French events. Two of the discussed aspects caught my attention. The first citation concerns the governance of the movement, and the second concerns the swarming tactics used. Please note I have previously collated similar quotes concerning the networked aspects of the Alterglobalisation movement, and through the P2P-Activism,… Continue reading
Artificial agent community experiment launches
JamesBurke: I picked this story up while browsing Mark Wallaces fascinating blog on the metaverse, called 3pointD . There are a number of theories and approaches speculating on the arrival of greater intelligent forms. Often called AI, although with many variations, NEW TIES funded by the EU explores collaborative intellgence modelled on humans, done by… Continue reading
Franz Narada on the three modes of peer production
Franz Narada, the tireless promotor of the concept and practice of Global Villages, recently gave a remarkable speech that can serve as a good introduction to peer production. Particularly illuminating are his distintions regarding three phases in the development of peer production, based on the intensity of the collaboration between peers, and its relation with… Continue reading
Sociocracy: method of peer governance?
In issue 90 of P2P News, I had already mentioned the management method of Sociocracy, whose workings are described in the P2p Encyclopedia. As one of the few self-conscious implementations of peer governance, it deserves our continued attention. After briefly describing the method just below, we introduce a recent controversy, dealing with the tension between… Continue reading
Is there a difference between the common and the collective?
When we speak about the commons, we do not speak about a collective property that is set apart from us, as is the case with the public property that is managed by the state. Universal common proprety regimes such as the GPL or the Creative Commons do not create a collective property, but a proprerty… Continue reading
Knowing Networks and the Power Law
Most distributed networks take the form of Scale-free networks, which are affected by what is called the Power Law. It seems that whenever free and equal nodes start interacting, they automatically create inequality. Obviously, if we define peer to peer as the relational dynamic at work in distributed network, and these very peer relations create… Continue reading
Four P2P seminars, part Two: the controversies surrounding the Immaterial Labour Conference
Michel Bauwens: I’m continuing the promised report about the four P2P seminars which took place in April 2006. Again, since I’m late and have lost my notes, I will refer to reports by others. The previous report is here. The ILC, was held from April 28th to 30th in the Keynes Hall at King’s College,… Continue reading
Chris Cowan on Spiral Dynamics and P2P
Spiral Dynamics is a system of interpreting psychological development in terms of successive phases based on the ideas of Clare Graves. Chris Cowan explains how peer to peer can apply at different levels in different ways: “Successful P2P models require minds at a level where ‘peer’ includes both information systems and emotive relationships among people…. Continue reading
Kevin Kelly on Symmetrical Technology and Symmetrical Accountability
Asymmetrical technologies have a lopsided power structure; symmetrical technologies create a balance. In the following blog entry, which I’m almost quoting in full, Kevin Kelly applies the concept to the world of privacy and control. An enlightening contribution. Kevin Kelly: “When communication technologies become ubiquitous and employed by powerful institutions they can scare us because… Continue reading
Resources on A2K, open access to knowledge
I look forward to participate as an attendee to the upcoming Asia Commons conference, to be held in Bangkok from June 6 to 8. In preparation, I compiled a list of encyclopedic sources on open access to knowledge, which I’m simply listing here: Book Commons, http://www.p2pfoundation.net/index.php/Book_Commons Budapest Open Access Initiative, http://www.p2pfoundation.net/index.php/Budapest_Open_Access_Initiative Circulation of the Common,… Continue reading
Adrian Chan on mimetic desire
Adrian Chan continues the reflection on P2P and how it relates to the abundance/scarcity distinction, in the context of Rene Girard’s theories on mimetic desire, which in summary says that we want the things that other humans want, making abundance/scarcity into subjective, rather than objective, qualities. Here’s just an excerpt, I recommend reading the whole… Continue reading
Four P2P seminars, part One
I had promised to some of my friends and subscribers to report on the four p2p-related seminars I attended in Europe last month. I’m not so good at note taking, and with this two-week delay already, I’m only going to give a very general impression. The P2P Un-Conference in Leuven The first event was in… Continue reading
New Report: Commons Rising
David Bollier of the excellent blog On The Commons informs us that the Tomales Institute has published a new report, co-written by him, on positive news from the rising commons movement. The focus is on material commons rather than on the digital one. When the market fails in terms of social inequality and the destruction… Continue reading
The Ethical Economy vs. Neoliberalism
Does the future of a country depend on competition, or rather on cooperation? The first view is represented by a recent Danish commission’s report, Globaliseringsradet ; the second is represented by an excellent critique and provisional counter-report by Adam Arviddson and the Kesera group. What is wrong with the neoliberal view? – it focuses on… Continue reading