* Book: Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Computers and Less From Each Other. Sherry Turkle. Description of the book by author Sherry Turkle: “Technology is seductive when what it offers meets our human vulnerabilities. And as it turns out, we are very vulnerable indeed. We are lonely but fearful of intimacy. . …. Continue reading
Date archives "January 2011"
Is it really the beginning of the end for Facebook?
Mark Ritson tries to explain Douglas Rushkoff counter-intuitive prediction that Facebook is cashing out, sensing its possible decline: (see my own, I believe important, remarks below) “In an article for CNN earlier this week, he was in no mood for equivocation. He believes Facebook’s current success will be short lived. Rushkoff argues: “We are witnessing… Continue reading
Reading Evgeny Morozov’s Net Delusion after the Wikileaks affair
The first passage is excerpted from the Independent review by Pat Kane; the two following excerpts are from an in-depth review by Adam Thierer, who says that Morozov’s critiques are justified, but that he goes overboard in his conclusions. * Book: The Net Delusion: How Not To Liberate The World. By Evgeny Morozov. Allen Lane,… Continue reading
Does the use of the internet automatically force us to accept certain values?
A contribution by Roberto Verzola, previously published in a dialogue on the p2p-foundation mailing list: “I find myself agreeing somewhat with Doug Engelbart, inventor of the mouse, who said we shape our tools and our tools then shape us. He talks of co-evolution of the human and their tools. We might call this “mutual determinism”…. Continue reading
Dutch study confirms: Mobile electro-magnetic radiation affects the health of trees, animals, human brains, and fertility
1. The choice we have is very simple. Wireless communication using electromagnetic radiation is irreconcilable with organic life as we know it. Cell phones and wireless internet have to go, or else we have to go. In the Netherlands we have a good proverb on this subject: “When the calf has drowned, the well is… Continue reading
Manual for open source brands
“Open production models start from a different assumption as to how intellectual works are created. They do not see the creation of new works as the end result of the labour of relatively isolated authors, but as the end result of processing and altering already existing works” – Felix Stadler Zoe Romano writes at OpenWear:… Continue reading
Do open access commons exist?
Not really, Silke Helfrich explains: “One of the issues discussed is if, say, Free Software or the Wikipedia could be called „open access commons„. If they are *un*structured commons with no need of clear management rules concerning access. Some considered, this being the case and that tthe non existence of access rules is not a… Continue reading
Tunisian cyberspace as a terrain of struggle
Excerpted from a detailed report by Nate Anderson in Wired: “Here’s a guide to the part of this battle fought in cyberspace over the last month. * Web blocking: Soon after the protests began, Tunisia ramped up its attempts at controlling the internet. These started simply enough, with straight-up site blocking. In an open letter… Continue reading
The participatory turn as the most significant philosophical turn since Kant
The title above is inspired by a review of the book edited by Jorge Ferrer and Jacob Sherman, The Participatory Turn. The first excerpt is from a review by Chris Clarke in Network Review: Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network, 101 (2009); The second excerpt is from George Adams iand appeared in the Journal… Continue reading
Book of the Week: a (new) history of the internet
* Book: A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. by Johnny Ryan. Reaktion Press, 2010 Johnny Ryan has produced a very readable one-volume account covering all aspects of the internet, including its social aspects and usage. One of the book blurb authors writes: “A history of the Internet and the digital future is… Continue reading
Reporting from the Hyderabard Commons Conference: assessing the comparative threats from market and state
The IASC conference marked significant progress on numerous fronts. With the appearance of environmental ministers from India and El Salvador, Ostrom’s Nobel Prize, and several instances of the commons movement gaining audiences with government leaders and key policymakers, it’s clear the commons movement has grown from a largely intellectual and academic station to playing a… Continue reading
Can digital organisms can yield biologically significant results?
Interesting contribution from Steve Talbott, in the journal AntiMatters. Presentation is by the editors. “Talbott takes aim at those who believe that experimenting with digital organisms can yield biologically significant results: Transfixed by the intrinsic force of their own logic, they have lost their investigative anchor in the world’s sense-perceptible phenomena. The world has become… Continue reading
International Village Conference, Berlin, May 13-14, 2011
Via Franz Nahrada: ERCA – the European Rural Community Association (an association of village movements in Europe) – organises an International Village Conference in cooperation with Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation in 2011. It will take place on 13th and 14th of May in the rooms of the Rosa-Luxemburg- Foundation in Berlin. The conference has two central aims: First… Continue reading
Three conditions for a stable panarchical system
Our friend Paul Hartzog’s tagline on is panarchy.com website is “many.2.many ** peer.2.peer ** d.i.y” He writes that it is “precisely because it takes all three of these conditions for an effective panarchy, i.e. complex adaptive socio-economic-political system to remain stable. No one of them is sufficient.” “D.I.Y.” is necessary but not sufficient. “Many to… Continue reading
Open Action Network – get in on the action!
What if the internet could become an effective tool to bring people together in action? Not just let everyone know about what’s going on, but catalyze and help organize real world action. Some people think this is a worthwhile goal to strive for and they started a collaborative project to code this. Open Action Network… Continue reading
The role of the internet and netroots in recent UK social movements (with Tunisia update)
Part One: The UK (part two covers Tunisia, see below) 1. Discontent has mobilised across several groups, including schoolkids, university students, trade unions and, most importantly, passionately concerned members of the British general public from a diversity of backgrounds. The first organised and innovative manifestations of this discontent have been facilitated by networks not organisations…. Continue reading