Proposed by Magius: “Let me make some theoretical considerations about open production. Imho the two big differences between immaterial production (ip) and material production (mp) now are: 1. design/product 1.1 in ip, the design and the product are the same (code is an “executive design”) 1.2 in mp the design and the product are not… Continue reading
Date archives "July 2010"
Using emerging, open source fab technologies and other innovations to build local self-reliance
The economist Juliet Schor spoke at Seattle’s Town Hall May 24, 2010 on her vision of using emerging, open source fab technologies and other innovations to build local self-reliance, adapt to structural unemployment, and create sustainability. (somewhat U.S.-centric but informative for everyone) Juliet Schor: Plenitude from toddboyle on Vimeo.
Finding the ancient lore of the early appropriate technology movement for the creation of a new Gaianomicon
1. green wizards: By this I mean individuals who are willing to take on the responsibility to learn, practice, and thoroughly master a set of unpopular but valuable skills – the skills of the old appropriate tech movement – and share them with their neighbors when the day comes that their neighbors are willing to… Continue reading
KiteGen – Community based wind power generation
KiteGen is a wind power generation system that makes use of medium altitude winds not accessible to ground based conventional wind power generators. The technology is being developed in Italy, with a base at the University of Turin. Communities, even those that do not have ideal conditions for establishing a wind power site could, with… Continue reading
An early report on the re-enclosure of free online journalism
Michael Wolff reports on the paywall that Murdoch installed at the Times and Sunday Times, which have become a “desert of the real”: “My sources say that not only is nobody subscribing to the website, but subscribers to the paper itself—who have free access to the site—are not going beyond the registration page. It’s an… Continue reading
U-Cubed: A new model for occupational networking? (+ labor, unions and internet recap)
For those interested in building occupational or sectoral networks within their union, here’s an intriguing experiment to follow. More at http://www.unionofunemployed.com/ucubed-resources/communicating_cubes/ Unemployed people in the USA are signing up and then linking themselves (if & when they choose) to others with the same zip code. Together, six members form a cube. If they like, this… Continue reading
Monopolisation as anti-innovation, and some alternative approaches
Today, America’s five largest banks control a stunning 48 percent of bank assets, double their share in 2000 (and that’s actually one of the less consolidated sectors of our economy). Similarly, the debate over health insurance reform awakened many of us to the fact that, in many communities across America, insurance companies enjoy what amounts… Continue reading
Family education or homeschooling as a commons-based economy
A contribution on the Family Educator Commons by Maria Droujkova and Carol Cross. This essay is an introduction to family education from the perspective of the commons. “Groundbreaking books, such as The World is Flat and A Whole New Mind, have suggested that a whole new kind of educational system is necessary to prepare today’s… Continue reading
The Wizard of Oz and the Great Depression of the 21st Century
Intriguing, well worth watching, thiis is a trailer that contains snippets from key people who can help us with the financial literarcy needed to understand the current crisis, such as Ellen Woods, author of the Web of Debt:
Open Education is NOT an institutional alternative
Open Education is not an attempt to reform educational institutions, insists Stephen Downes (responding to Michael Feldstein) “As I said here “the functions of production and consumption need to be collapsed, that the distinction between producers and consumers need to be collapsed. The use of a learning resource, through adaptation and repurposing, becomes the production… Continue reading
New Online Local Currency System With Ecommerce, Mobile Phone Capability
Bruce Colley says on the openmoney forum that he has developed a system (LocalMart) which establishes a local currency and gives it an internet Ecommerce capability. Each vendor/provider gets a web site presence and shopping cart, with the local currency used for payment for online purchases (without transaction fees). It also has the capability to… Continue reading
When copyright goes bad
Via the EFF: “Consumers International has released an excellent short film, When Copyright Goes Bad, which chronicles the rise of copyright as a global consumer rights issue and the ongoing fight for fairer copyright laws. The film features interviews with EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann, Professor Michael Geist from the University of Ottowa… Continue reading
From Ecological Economics to just plain Physical Economics
This is from the introduction by Richard Register, to a special issue (July 2010) dedicated to ecocities by Ecocity Builders magazine: Richard Register: “We already have environmental economists, ecological economists, bioecological economists and so on, described in various places as “fields of academic research.” Why then have they failed to focus clearly on what we… Continue reading
P2P, capitalism, socialism, and beyond
This is a modified version of a response to Daniel Araya in the p2p research mailing list, which Alex Rollin found publishable. We are often asked how we relate to left and right politics, and how the p2p/commons preference relates to earlier political approaches such as socialism. Here is a possible answer: “Communism was the… Continue reading
OpenPCR, a new open source biotech tool
A new project from people involved in the Californian DIYBio community is emerging to give garage biologists a new tool. OpenPCR is the name of a project launched just a few weeks ago and that has already risen the minimum amount of money its founders established as the threshold to start building it. The PCR,… Continue reading
Cory Doctorow: Technology Can Be a Force for Liberation
Introduction to the Persian edition of the science fiction novel Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, London, June 2008 Available for free download via http://www.archive.org/details/LilBroPersian, under the “Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0” Creative Commons license. Cory Doctorow: I wrote this book because I believe that technology can be a force for liberation. Not always, and not easily, but… Continue reading