Date archives "April 2009"

Six policies for the revitalisation of the Urban Commons (1)

From a very extensive article in On the Commons. Philip Cryan: “Many commons-based solutions have been advanced in efforts to revitalize and empower urban communities, even if citizens and grassroots organzations don’t necessarily use the language of the commons. A commons-based society is one that values and protects commons assets, managing them for the benefit… Continue reading

The deep cause of evil in psychological disfunctionality (1): introducing ponerology

Extracted from Political Ponerology – A Science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes, by Andrew M. Lobaczewski Note: It is necessary to give some explanations regarding the connection of this article to p2p theme. This book was written by a recently deceased Polish psychologist working under difficult conditions in the Communist Poland…. Continue reading

Towards master partnerships for the shared custody of intellectual property

A proposal by Chris Cook. Law is Code ….and the requirement is, I believe, for a form of legal XML which links together disparate jurisdictions and enterprises in the same way that XML links disparate hardware and software. Chris Cook: “Public/Private is an artificial “either/or” distinction of absolutes. What we mean by them is either… Continue reading

The Renaissance of New Communalism

“We are as gods and we might as well get good at it.”[1] In the 1969 issue, that was the first line to instill the purpose of the Whole Earth Catalog. Stewart Brand, with a network of people with various views, launched a medium to network readers with others. It presented the necessary tools, used… Continue reading

Is the P2P economy already bigger than the “information economy”?

In his remarkable presentation at Oekonux 4, Philippe Aigrain made a startling statement: the share of GDP for providing means to non-market exchanges of information is twice bigger in developed countries than the economy of selling informationg as goods or services. In other words, the business of creating platforms for p2p exchanges is already bigger… Continue reading

The end of paper, open gates to on-time democracy (not about journalism)

Ismael Peña writes about The End of Paper on ICTlogy The End Of Paper, Open Gates To On-Time Democracy (Not About Journalism) by ismael peña-lópez main categories: cyberlaw, governance, rights | participation, engagement, use, activism | e-government, e-administration Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play is not a (good) film about the end of print newspapers and… Continue reading

Comments not allowed at your council website? Here’s how to answer back

Adrian Short posted this on the Mash the State blog: A few people have raised the objection that what Mash the State is currently doing with council RSS feeds is really just helping councils to deliver their PR (or as those critics often like put it, “propaganda”). In one sense, they’re right. A council’s press… Continue reading