Date archives "November 2008"

User-Driven Innovation in the Nordic Countries

Via the Experentia blog: “The Nordic Innovation Centre recently published a report on user-driven innovation in the Nordic region. The 137 page report describes in detail what user-driven innovation actually is, outlines the current state of affairs in each of the five countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), showcases what companies are doing through… Continue reading

Is Guifi.net an alternative independent internet?

During a conference the Urbanlabs conference in Cornellà/Barcelona’s Citilab early October, I was fortunate to meet a presentation on Guifi.net, a mostly Catalan initiative to create an internet network that can operate without passing through Internet Service Providers. I asked some of the organizers of the project, mostly Roger Baig Viñas with some extra comments… Continue reading

Book of the Week: Digital Virtues, part one

In the next installment, we will reproduce an excerpt from the author’s (Father Julian Fox) speech during the education and free software conference in Quito, Ecuador, organized by the Salesian (Catholic) teaching order. This introduction is a contribution by Marco Fioretti, co-founder of the Eleutheros Project and the author of the Family Guide to Digital… Continue reading

Harvard Business Review discovers the Ethical Economy

in a fascinating posting Umair Haque of Bubblegeneration, and now the Havas Media Lab, points at some directions for overcoming this recession. They center on what he calls ‘authentic value’ meaningful, long term. and genuinely productive economic activities: ‘How should boardrooms respond to the macro crisis? Is it just a case of recession-as-usual: budget-paring, personnel-slashing,… Continue reading

The art of creating intentional spaces

A very interesting and important presentation of a research project by Amy Lenzo, reproduced in full below. The project asks the following questions: *Where are these meeting places that have demonstrated their transformational influence? *What are the characteristics and qualities they demonstrate? *How do they contribute to experiences of transformation and generativity? *What is the… Continue reading

Arboricoli, village in the trees, and the seeding of Global Villages

Franz Nahrada went to visit the Vienna presentation of a fascinating global village experiment in the north of Italy. His report: “Dear Lucertola, after your moving talk yesterday I feel we agree a hundred percent that Global Villages are the only viable planetary solution in our times of deep transformation and change, the most dramatic… Continue reading

Individual consciousness is not enough: the case for virtual collective selves

“Most individuals today do not have healthy selves — they have highly delluded, unhealthy self-constructs. This in turn is reflected in the higher-order self-constructs of the groups, organizations and communities we build. One of the most important things we can work on now is creating systems that provide collectives — groups, organizations and communities —… Continue reading

Healthcare as a Commons

Via WorldChanging, David Bollier reviews an article on the topic. The article referred to appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), June 13, 2007, and entitled: “Managing Medical Resources: Return to the Commons?” David Bollier: “Drs. Christine K. Cassel of the American Board of Internal Medicine and Troyen E. Brennan, a medical… Continue reading

A P2P Power Grid based on Rice Husks for Rural Areas

Via WorldChanging: “Chip Ransler is the co-founder of Husk Power Systems (HPS), a for-profit company that cost-effectively converts rice husks into electricity. HPS utilizes a proprietary technology to run 35-100 kilowatt mini power plants, delivering pay-for-use electricity to un-electrified villages in India’s “Rice Belt.” HPS’ five pilot projects have become operationally profitable within six months,… Continue reading