We often proceed from the assumption that filesharing has created a new ethics, but we often forget that the other side has also shifted the debate tremendously, and has undermined longstanding civic practices and attitudes regarding the sharing of knowledge. Thanks to Stephen Downes for reminding us of this. Stephen Downes: “I think you may… Continue reading
Date archives "August 2011"
Transitioning (2): Fostering New Governance through the Creation of a World Transition Organization
Second in a series on the transition to a sustainable economy. Excerpted from Christian Arnsperger: “The fundamental idea that global collective action is needed is perfectly sound. That this collective action should be aimed mainly, or even exclusively, at reinforcing — or, as it were, propping up — the current system by “reforming” it is… Continue reading
Four challenges for the Open Source Spaceflight Hardware Movement
Republished from J. Simmons: (the original has links) “Discussion of open source spaceflight hardware groups reveals a number of repeated challenges facing this movement. These challenges include licensing open source hardware, the development of web-based project management tools for engineering, overcoming the costs associated with engineering software, and resolving the conflict between open source methods… Continue reading
Exploring Community Resilience published
This new publication from Fiery Spirits CoP gathers a mix of experience and academic insight into how local communities are learning how to cope – and even thrive – through difficult times. Written in an accessible style its stories highlight experience from Cumbria to the Scottish Highlands, and from New Orleans to Tooting, London. Web… Continue reading
Global Class Warfare: Global Capitalist Class vs. New Transnational Labour Class
Italian communist and political activist Antonio Gramsci’s core concepts like hegemony, organic crisis, passive revolution, historic bloc, transformismo, war of position and war of manoeuvre are central for our understanding of today’s complex global capitalist system, as well as the catastrophic changes that are currently taking place in it. Recently, Stephen Gill, a prominent neo-Gramscian… Continue reading
Book of the Week: Share or Die (1)
Share or Die is the first collection of writing from Generation Y about post-college work and life in the 21st Century. It was recently published by Shareable.net, edited by Malcolm Harris. A new economy based in collaboration rather than competition is growing, and young people are at the cutting edge. Unsatisfied with their parents’ communities,… Continue reading
Hungarian interview on p2p infrastructures and ChokePoint Project
The image above is from a Hungarian publication which interviewed us recently. They asked us a few question like how the ChokePoint Project differs from OpenNet Initiative with it’s focus on concentrating mostly on the possibility of complete Internet blockouts and the ways to circumvent it by means of “distributed internet infrastructures”. Arpad: “Could we specify, with examples,… Continue reading
The Role of Open Methods in the Development of the First Airplane
Interesting case study from J. Simmon: “The Open Source Spaceflight Hardware Movement has its roots in both the growing open source hardware movement, which is itself based on the open source software movement, and the application of open methods in aerospace engineering which dates back to the earliest days of the field. In fact, this… Continue reading
Urban Roots: documentary on urban farming in Detroit
“Urban Roots is the next documentary from Tree Media. Produced by Leila Conners (The 11th Hour) and Mathew Schmid and directed by Mark MacInnis, the film follows the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit. Urban Roots is a timely, moving and inspiring film that speaks to a nation grappling with collapsed industrial towns and the need… Continue reading
Transitioning (1): De-growth and an Economic Kyoto Protocol
First in a series on the transition to a sustainable economy. Christian Arnsperger: We need “to build up an economic-growth “Kyoto protocol” in which (a) the world growth rate is calculated so as to be a cap on humanity’s ecological footprint, (b) that world growth rate is furthermore adapted downward (if necessary) or upward (if… Continue reading
The Challenge of Open and Decentered Learning and Knowledge Creation
The Challenge of Open and Decentered Learning and Knowledge Creation Call for Symposium Papers – To be held at the 8th International Conference on Networked Learning will be held on 2-3-4 April, 2012 in Maastricht, The Netherlands (http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/). Symposium organizers: Joseph Corneli, Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, [email protected]; Marisa Ponti, Department… Continue reading
On the direct relationship between money and energy supply
* Article: The supply of money in an energy-scarce world. Posted on August 4, 2011 by Richard Douthwaite. An excerpt from the FEASTA book, ‘Fleeing Vesuvius‘, from Richard Douthwaite: “Money has no value unless it can be exchanged for goods and services but these cannot be supplied without the use of some form of energy…. Continue reading
Ugo Mattei on the State, the Market, and the Commons
An absolutely crucial text by Ugo Mattei * Essay: The State, the Market, and some Preliminary Question about the Commons. Ugo Mattei. Here is an introduction by David Bollier: “One of the most penetrating essays on the commons that I have encountered in the last few years was published this year by Italian comparative law… Continue reading
Commercial vs. civic government
Marvin Brown, author of our P2P Book of the Year in 2010, on the recurring, but also twarthed, promise of true civic government: (context is the experience in the U.S.) “Do you want a government run by a CEO, guided by commercial interests, that works for the wealthy; or a government run by civic leaders,… Continue reading
A nine minute presentation of the Open Source Ecology project
Recommended by Marcin Jakubowski: The (Open-Source) Ecologist from News21 Berkeley 2011 on Vimeo.
Is empowerment the key Pirate Party value?
If ‘sustainability’ is the one-word wrap up of the green movement, what is the key value of the Pirate Parties? Rick Falkvinge proposes “empowerment”: “So I come back to the original question all the time: what has changed, and where are the new lines of conflict? What I come back to all the time is… Continue reading