Excerpted from the article, Illegal Copying in Mark Magazine#24. By Bert de Muynck: “Every architect in the Chinese capital has the phone number of a salesperson dealing in books who takes a call, at virtually any time of the day, and invariably appears at the door an hour or so later. What this type of… Continue reading
Date archives "October 2011"
A reflection on Pirate Party policy and politics
As the German Pirate Party hit double digits in a nationwide poll in Germany: The Pirate Parties worldwide are in the process of going from “party for tech people” to “party that demands privacy, accountability and transparency, and support for a connected lifestyle”. This is a lifestyle that the oldparties don’t live, and therefore, they… Continue reading
Consensus Hand Signals and the Human Microphone at the #OccupyWallStreet Protest Camps
Methodological innovations at #OWS: Alex Klein on the Consensus Hand Signals: “When faced with questions big and small — Should we demand international debt forgiveness? Should we rent a commercial kitchen? — a rough count of happy fingers is the best way for facilitators to determine whether there is a majority support for any given… Continue reading
Is Google censoring its search results for political reasons?
Michel Bauwens recently called to my attention a case of censorship, by Google, of ampedstatus.org, a site providing news and commentary on current events. There were two instances of censorship, documented in articles on the ampedstatus.org site. The first one goes back to April 2010 and is detailed here: Shocking Censorship at Google News and… Continue reading
Why Self-Organized Networks Will Destroy Hierarchies
Republished from the DFW Alliance, by Kevin Carson: “Hierarchies are systematically stupid and inefficient, for the following reasons. 1. Hayekian information problems: The people in authority who make the rules interfere with the people who know how to do the job and are in direct contact with the situation. The people who make the rules… Continue reading
Crowdsourcing democracy through social media
As reported on physorg.com Liberia, a country that only recently emerged from a brutal civil war, is having presidential elections. A Georgia Tech professor is experimenting with a novel idea: Crowdsourcing reports on how elections are running and making available timely reports to prevent any dangerous situations from occurring. During the election, Georgia Tech Associate… Continue reading
The World of Free and Open Source Art
We are very happy to announce the addition to the P2P Foundation wiki of a fantastic new resource on The World of Free and Open Source Art. The collection commissioned by the Arts Council of England for Thinking Digital 2011 was produced by Furtherfield, curated by Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett with additional texts by… Continue reading
We are the 1 percent – We stand with the 99 percent
We are the 1 percent – We stand with the 99 percent is an interesting collection of testimonies on tumblr. Lots of people who were born into wealth or were just lucky (or smart) and who have more than enough. They feel they are part of the 1% and yet … they stand with the… Continue reading
“The Fragile Beauty of P2P Movements in South Korea”
“The Fragile Beauty of P2P Movements in South Korea”
The Revolutionary Role of a Transnational Counterparty
Post by Dmytri Kleiner In explaining the Initiative to form an International Debtors’ Party I have discussed the issues of why “Debtors” and why a “Party”, now I would like to introduce some ideas as to how the Debtors’ Party will be different from other parties, by proposing the idea of a “Transnational Counter-party.” A Transnational… Continue reading
Chris Hedges on the significance of #OccupyWallStreet: tinkering with the corporate state is no longer sufficient
What took place early Friday morning in Zuccotti Park was the first salvo in a long struggle for justice. It signaled a step backward by the corporate state in the face of popular pressure. And it was carried out by ordinary men and women who sleep at night on concrete, get soaked in rainstorms, eat… Continue reading
Money As Debt II: promises unleashed (full movie)
Paul Grignon’s second presentation of “Money as Debt” tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its “Duncan Initiative” received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as… Continue reading
The anthropology of horizontalism at #OccupyWallStreet
In a way, the demographic base of OWS is about as far as one can get from that of the Tea Party—with which it is so often, and so confusingly, compared. The popular base of the Tea Party was always middle aged suburban white Republicans, most of middling economic means, anti-intellectual, terrified of social change—above… Continue reading
Greek crisis strengthens complementary currency networks …
The New York Times reports about the …Local Alternative Unit, or TEM in Greek, RACHEL DONADIO: “Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, the Volos network has grown exponentially in the past year, from 50 to 400 members. It is one of several such groups cropping up around the country, as Greeks squeezed… Continue reading
Book of the Week: Open Design Now!
* Book: OPEN DESIGN NOW. WHY DESIGN CANNOT REMAIN EXCLUSIVE. By Bas van Abel, Lucas Evers, Roel Klaassen, Peter Troxler. Bis Publishers, 2011 This book is a co-production of Premsela, Waag Society and Creative Commons Netherlands in association with BIS Publishers Summary: “Design is undergoing a revolution. Digital technology is empowering more people to create… Continue reading
We need social hacking, not just technological hacking
Short intervention at ContactCon on October 20. The other provocations are here.