Some observations from (Singaporean) commons researcher Natalie Pang, in our forum discussion at Ning. The context was a call to improve diversity in the P2P Foundation participation. Natalie Pang: “My research and observations on online communities and women participation in the digital environment has led me to derive the following thoughts (which are not independent… Continue reading
Date archives "November 2008"
Broadband may create energy crisis
Via Bill St. Arnaud, who reports on a Australian study. Here is the essential finding: “In a world-first model of internet power consumption, University of Melbourne researchers have been able to identify the major contributors to Internet power consumption as the take-up of broadband services grows in the coming years. “It has now become clear… Continue reading
Xavier Comtesse on the new ‘direct territories’
Direct Territories: concept and report by Xavier Comtesse, summarized by Marc Dangeard. It can be downloaded here (French only). “Territories as defined by government have become disconnected from the ecosystems in which people and business live and work. New ways of communicating have created an additional layer on top of these territories and ecosystems, ultimately… Continue reading
Programmable money proposal: request for comments
Our friend Marc Fawzi requests feedback on a proposal for monetary reform based on ‘programmable money’. The Ning forum for responses is here. Here are the objectives of the project: “At the core of this proposal are these critical objectives: 1. Enable a lending model that rewards the lender without punishing the borrower by rewarding… Continue reading
The fifth solidarity
This concludes our discussion of the book by Michael Thompson, Organising and Disorganising, which we already excerpted here. In that entry, we presented the fourfold solidarities: market, hierarchy, egalitarianism and fatalism, and hinted at a fifth integrative position that Thompson calls “Autonomy”. Here’s a presentation of that fifth logic of relationships. Michael Thompson: “Yet, for… Continue reading
Eric Hunting on Adaptive ‘P2P’ Architecture (5): Conclusions
With this contribution, we conclude our presentation of a very important overview that examines the present and future of architecture in a world which must become sustainable. Here are the conclusions of this study by Eric Hunting: “There is clearly great potential in adaptive architecture, not only in terms of collaborative community development but also… Continue reading
The Hub: a place for open-source and peer-to-peer programming
I spoke for The Hub in London and Brussels, and have been absolutely charmed by the energy and dynamics of these interconnected co-working places for social enterpreneurs. Here’s a presentation of the concept and experience by Tatiana Glad in the latest issue of Kosmos Journal: “Freelancers, flexi-workers, nomad professionals and social entrepreneurs are more and… Continue reading
A critique of the Gore “New Green Deal”
A New Deal model of ecological adaptation would consider what we could do with the least possible increase in long-term indebtedness. Very thoughtful critique of the Gore proposals, with 77 responses in the comment field. It is not clear how much the Obama Green Stimulus proposals are inspired by these proposals. Any input on this… Continue reading
Do resilient communities represent a move towards a higher complexity phase transition?
I often claim that moving towards a peer to peer based society means moving to a higher level of complexity. Thus, we are not advocating a new type of society based on losing any contemporary advantages (broadly speaking), but rather saving the essential achievements and building on top of that. I then further distinguish two… Continue reading
Adaptive Architecture (4): Current Adaptive Building Technology
We continue our serialization of Erich Hunting’s landmark essay on a ‘peer to peer’ adaptive architecture, adapted to contemporary needs, which we started publishing on the 25th. Warning, this part is very long, as it outlines the different types of adaptive architecture currently available. Eric Hunting: “Let us now explore some of the specific currently… Continue reading
New Kosmos Journal issue on Social Enterpreneurship
Social enterpreneurship can be considered as the use of corporate and ‘capitalist’ formats, but to advance real social goals. In this context, profit is no longer the goal, but merely a means to create sustainable organisational forms that are not dependent on hand-outs or state subsidies. The excellent, must-read but mostly closed off Kosmos Journal,… Continue reading
Jared Diamond on societal collapse and what we can do about it
“The big problems facing the world today are not at all things beyond our control. Our biggest threat is not an asteroid about to crash into us, something we can do nothing about. Instead, all the major threats facing us today are problems entirely of our own making. Since we made the problems, we can… Continue reading
Adaptive Architecture (3): It’s role in collaborate community development
We continue our serialization of Eric Hunting’s essay, which we started on the 25th. Eric Hunting: “Adaptive architecture offers the potential to radically alter the logistics of habitat compared to common contemporary development methods, expanding personal and social control over development and shifting things back to a mode of habitat more akin to that of… Continue reading
Living off the grid
An update on resilient communities or at least resilient individuals, by Jeremy Williams, who reviews a book on the topic: How to Live Off-Grid. By Nick Rosen. Review by Jeremy Williams: “‘Ever wanted to unplug from the rat race?’ asks the front cover, ‘free yourself?’ For those described in this book, freedom has meant disconnection… Continue reading
Four solidarities plus one: the pluralistic society
Some time ago, we introduced Michael Thompson’s book as Book of the Week, but we did not get the excerpts in time to do a follow-up the same week. As a reminder, this book (Organising and Disorganising: A Dynamic and Non-Linear Theory of Institutional Emergence and its Implications) posits five different solidarities or types of… Continue reading
Eric Hunting on Adaptive Architecture (2): Types of Adaptive Architecture
We continue our serialization of Eric Hunting’s essay on the topic, which we started yesterday. Eric Hunting: “There are basically three ‘schools’ of adaptive architecture; adaptive reuse, functionally generic architecture, and adaptive systems. These further break-down into more specific building systems and design approaches. Adaptive reuse is based on the repurposing of a ‘found’ structure… Continue reading