Book: Brett Frischmann. Infrastructure: Social Value of Shared Resources. Oxford University Press, 2012 From the publisher: “Infrastructure resources are the subject of many contentious public policy debates, including what to do about crumbling roads and bridges, whether and how to protect our natural environment, energy policy, even patent law reform, universal health care, network neutrality… Continue reading
Date archives "October 2012"
Introduction to the Synthetic Overview of the Collaborative Economy
This month we will be serialising the report “Synthetic overview of the collaborative economy”, coproduced by Orange Labs and the P2P Foundation. Today we post the introduction to the report written by Michel Bauwens of the P2P Foundation and Valérie Peugeot of Orange Labs. (Of course if you can’t wait you can download the full… Continue reading
Howard Rheingold on Peeragogy
The Peeragogy Handbook is a volunteer-created and maintained resource for bootstrapping peer learning. Watch the video here: Peeragogy – Welcome from Anna Keune on Vimeo. Details: ‘With YouTube, Wikipedia, search engines, free chatrooms, blogs, wikis, and video communication, today’s self-learners have power never dreamed-of before. What does any group of self-learners need to know in… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Microfinance and the Illusion of Development
Here is a critique of microfinance by the famed economist Ha Joon Chang. * Article: Microfinance and the Illusion of Development: From Hubris to Nemesis in Thirty Years. By Milford Bateman, Ha-Joon Chang. World Economic Review, Volume 1, No 1, 2012 From the abstract “The contemporary model of microfinance has its roots in a small… Continue reading
“Terms of Service; Didn’t Read” need your help!
Source: Terms of Service; Didn’t Read “I have read and agree to the Terms” is the biggest lie on the web. We aim to fix that. We are a user rights initiative to rate and label website terms & privacy policies, from very good Class A to very bad Class E We need your help From September 17 until October… Continue reading
Preface to the Synthetic Overview of the Collaborative Economy Report
As mentioned yesterday, this month we will be serialising the report “Synthetic overview of the collaborative economy”, coproduced by Orange Labs and the P2P Foundation. Today we start by posting the preface to the report. (Of course if you can’t wait you can download the full report here) Preface “The theme of the following work… Continue reading
An update from cooperation studies: The Brain Physiology of Empathic Motivation
See the article: * Brain Physiology, Egoistic and Empathic Motivation, and Brain Plasticity: Toward a More Human Economics. By John F Tomer. World Economic Review, Volume 1, No 1, 2012 From the abstract “The brain physiology research of leading evolutionary neuroscientist, Paul MacLean, has important implications for human economic motivation. Gerald Cory in his research… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Accounting for future generations
New metrics and incentives are key for a sustainable economy. Here is a discussion of Long-Term Discounting Frameworks by Simon Levin: “Discounting is in part a reflection of uncertainty about the future. But what is the right discount rate to use? It would be difficult enough were we contemplating just our own futures, or even… Continue reading
Urban Public Spaces as Commons
Interesting essay: * CHALLENGE OF NEW COMMONS – URBAN PUBLIC SPACES . Veronika Poklembovái, Tatiana Kluvánková-Oravskáii, Maroš Finkaiii. From the abstract: “New commons are shared resources that have recently evolved or have been recognized as commons (Hess 2008). Urban commons, in this case urban public spaces, can be also put into this category. Urban public… Continue reading
Strike Debt: #OccupyWallStreet’s activist child
Debt is not personal, it is political. The debt system aims to isolate us, silence us, and scare us into submission with the all-powerful credit rating. Now is the time for us to step out of the shadows together in public. Debt is immoral. It is indentured servitude, a type of bondage. We are forced… Continue reading
How can the Commons approach be applied to global digital resources?
About Community Governance in Digital Commons, excerpted from: * Article: An Introduction to the Digital Commons: From Common-Pool Resources to Community Governance. Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay and Hervé Le Crosnier. In summary: “This article proposes an introductory analysis of digital resources and commons-based peer production online communities with the framework of the common pool-resources. Trying… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Empowering Public Wisdom
Tom Atlee. Empowering Public Wisdom: A Practical Vision of Citizen-Led Politics. EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books, 2012. Description Lifelong activist Tom Atlee proposes innovative ways to distill the wisdom of ordinary people in order to better guide public policy. In Empowering Public Wisdom, Atlee recognizes currently popular forms of progressive democracy advocates, such as citizen participation… Continue reading
when the economy becomes collaborative
The P2P Foundation is pleased to repost below the official post from Orange announcing “The report “Synthetic overview of the collaborative economy”, coproduced by Orange Labs and the P2P Foundation”. During this month we will be serialising the report here on the blog, or you can download it immediately! Source: Orange.com when the economy… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Centralized cloud environments vs. Decentralized alternatives for peer-production
* Article: The Commodification of Information Commons. By Primavera De Filippi and Miguel Said Vieira. Today, a follow-up of yesterday’s first excerpt on enclosures through the cloud. What can we do against it? GOVERNANCE AND ARCHITECTURE DESIGN, By Primavera De Filippi and Miguel Said Vieira: a. Decentralized peer-production “As mentioned in previous sections, most (successful)… Continue reading
Book of the Day: How to Thrive Online
Book: Net Smart: How to Thrive Online. By Howard Rheingold. Description Like it or not, knowing how to make use of online tools without being overloaded with too much information is an essential ingredient to personal success in the twenty-first century. But how can we use digital media so that they make us empowered participants… Continue reading
Monitoring Bitcoin – Bitcoin Foundation, GLBSE Closure, and the ASIC Arms Race
(From our collaborator Jon Holmquist, Bitcoin community insider and entrepreneur) This week in the dramatic and sometimes comedic world of Bitcoin, the internet’s favorite crypto-currency: 1- The Bitcoin Foundation was announced in the last days of September. The Bitcoin Foundation has proposed three main goals: Standardizing and maintaining the code that is Bitcoin by funding the… Continue reading