Via Worldchanging’s Kirstin Butler, who reports on the Sourcemap project: “Finally the tools to enable meaningful supply-chain transparency have come of age, and more people than ever before can use them. Until recently, visualizing global goods’ sourcing was the domain of contemporary artists and technoactivists. Tracing an object back to its origins could be a… Continue reading
Date archives "September 2009"
Join our conference on collaborative platforms for open manufacturing
Manchester will again be the birthplace of a new industrial revolution. Thanks to Nathan Cravens, and Phoebe Moore of Salford University, for making this possible by their tireless organization work. This will be the first event of our P2P Research Group, before the event on “P2P Conflicts” at the University of Hull.
The common immateriality of traditional and post-industrial eras
Apichai Puntasen, a good friend and also the author of the first textbook on Buddhist Economics, forwarded me an interesting thesis: * Thesis: The relevance of Buddhist Economics: Capitalism, Morality, and the Global Financial Crisis. By Timothy Allen Golden, 1033690. Dept. of Economics, Lingnan University. Submitted: May 4, 2009 You can obtain a copy from… Continue reading
Triumph of the commons
Via Alessandro Delfanti: In an article published by New Scientist and titled Triumph of the commons: Helping the world to share, the social psychologist Mark van Vugt mixes psychology, ecology and politics to tackle the old problem of managing the commons. Excerpts: “Do you ever get the impression that civilisation has degenerated into an unedifying… Continue reading
Vaccine skepticism gone viral
A skeptical view of vaccination is gaining currency, while health authorities around the world are preparing to resort to compulsory vaccination against the H1N1 strain of influenza. H1N1, also termed the swine flu virus, is said to have developed in part from a virus that infects pigs but also containing parts of viral material from… Continue reading
von Busch: P2P Fashion as harbinger of Industry 2.0 models
Ultimately, von Busch’s work does, as yet, not give us a complete set of answers to the many questions of a Post-Industrial production paradigm. This is, so far, tentative exploration on a new frontier. But it’s certainly vital exploration. Clearly, even clothing is going to be designed, made, used used very differently and fashion mean… Continue reading
Civil War in Cyberspace
Evgeny Morozov has become the main spokesperson for those that look at how forces hostile to democracy are also using the internet to their great advantage, and his latest piece in Dissent gives a good overview of the latest debates on the issue of whether the “internet is good for democracy … or not”. (in… Continue reading
P2P Architecture? The HIB Modular Building System
We asked Eric Hunting to review the HIB Modular Building System: “The notion of a ‘lego-like’ method of building has long been an ideal among the inventors of modular building systems -going back longer than there was even a lego toy to use as an analogy. Inventors have long sought the ‘superior brick’ which could… Continue reading
Exposing the spiritual authoritarianism and exploitation of Andrew Cohen
Book: William Yenner, American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing-former students of Andrew Cohen speak out, Epigraph Publishing, 2009. For all those who are mesmerised by EnlightenNext … David Lane reviews an important expose of contemporary spiritual exploitation: “In Yenner’s explosively revealing book, American Guru, we learn that Andrew Cohen displays all sorts… Continue reading
What is the Common: An International Conference
What is the Common?, An International Conference 10-11 October 2009 University of Gothenburg Sweden Description: In the shadow of the global crisis of capitalism, the common, somehow obliterated in the recent past, has emerged as an indispensable and central notion. The conference addresses this notion both as a real movement and as an already present… Continue reading
Operation Revelation to save network neutrality in Europe
We need to make sure the MEPs know. It is time to defend the open internet by revealing ourselves. We are the internet, we are the ones that make the future worlds. Thus, it is time for Operation Revelation. 26 leading Internet civil society organization, including the P2P Foundation, “call on the Members of the… Continue reading
German Internet Manifesto with 17 theses on the future of Journalism
The Internet’s open architecture constitutes the basic IT law of a society which communicates digitally and, consequently, of journalism. It may not be modified for the sake of protecting the special commercial or political interests often hidden behind the pretense of public interest. Regardless of how it is done, blocking access to the Internet endangers… Continue reading
Beyond siloed proprietary platforms: the new rights of the people-centric web
Since 2007, we moved from a document-centric web to a people-centric web, but the new model is not mature yet and limited because of the dominance of siloed proprietary platforms: Chris Messina and Jyri Engeström: The “real-time web is not mature yet, since the platforms that sequester all of our activities today are proprietary ones… Continue reading
The return of the Age of Water
I am by now convinced that Charles Eisenstein is the metaphysician of the emerging peer to peer era. Here’s the latest manifestation of his luminous writing, an excerpt from a longer piece. Charles Eisenstein: “For tens of thousands of years, fire has defined our civilization. It is fire that has allowed us to smelt metals,… Continue reading
Derek K. Miller on Digital Executors
“One of the things that Derek has been thinking about his digital legacy, and what should happen to our web presence when we die. Do we need to appoint a digital executor to oversee our online belongings? Someone who would know all of your passwords and keep up the payments for your domain name, for… Continue reading
Open Declaration on Public Services 2.0 in Europe
On November 19-20, 2009, the EU ministerial conference will define the main priorities of e-government in the next three years. Help craft a collective, open declaration that will push governments to embrace the web culture of openness and collaboration in designing future public services. By working together and tapping the collective wisdom of a large… Continue reading