A bottom line for this post — perhaps its punch line — is to propose the creation of a U.S. Chamber of Commons, modeled somewhat after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC). Indeed, how about a whole series of chambers of commons, at local, state, and regional levels!? They could form into a sprawling network… Continue reading
Date archives "December 2012"
Europe vs Facebook – Austrian students point to facebook terms ‘not in compliance with EU privacy laws’
Tracking changes in Facebook’s privacy policy and pointing to the implications of those changes, has become almost an obsession for a group of Austrian students based in Vienna University. But not only that, the students have made complaints to the Irish Data Protection Authority, pointing to specific shortcomings to be investigated. More at http://europe-v-facebook.org/EN/en.html Irish… Continue reading
Steven Johnson on Peer Progressives
Steven Johnson, Author, explains the themes of his book, Future Perfect: The Case For Progress In A Networked Age (Penguin, 2012) Watch the 3 minute video presentation here:
Combining the modularity of LEGO components with open source and 3D printing
It has been widely argued that the traditional manufacturing model of non-adjustable standarised products has started to shift towards alternative ways of manufacturing, such as 3D printing and other desktop manufacturing techniques. The need of adjustable or modular machines arose while the need of constantly improving machines and products followed suit. This is the point… Continue reading
New issue of Interface Journal: For the global emancipation of labour
Interface: a journal for and about social movements, presents the Volume four, issue two (November 2012) entitled “For the global emancipation of labour: new movements and struggles around work, workers and precarity” Volume four, issue two of Interface, a peer-reviewed e-journal produced and refereed by social movement practitioners and engaged movement researchers, is now out,… Continue reading
The first international conference on Internet Science
“The first international conference on Internet Science” April 10-11, 2013. Location: The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) Rue Ducale 1, Brussels (Belgium) Register online via the Conference Website To contact the event organizers, please email: In3conference@internet-science.eu You are invited to submit your original and innovative work to the In3 conference, “the 1st… Continue reading
Show your support for the P2P Foundation!
Another way you can support the P2P Foundation, besides donating, is by purchasing a cool t-shirt from our store – we earn a small amount from every item you buy. So wear your shirt with pride, or if you are a coffee addict, slurp your fave beverage from a P2P Foundation mug! Visit the store… Continue reading
A precondition for a commons-based society: David Ronfeldt on the need for a ‘assurance commons’
“By “assurance commons” I mean to tap into a notion that, as societies progress, becoming more complex, the prospects for the commons become less about resources and more about practices — specifically, about the deeper purposes and functions that citizens want assured in, for, and by their society. Accordingly, the commons consists of resources and… Continue reading
Shareable’s crowdfunding campaign
Our friends of Shareable needs your help to continue their fantastic work. Please help them by donating now! More about their campaign: Shareable is a non-profit. We’re in the final year of a startup grant. But the SHIFT Foundation will only continue to support Shareable if we diversify our funding. So we’re turning to our readers… Continue reading
Call for Papers: Potential and Limits of Social and Solidarity Economy
The full Concept Note for the Call for Papers is available in English and Spanish. In a context of heightened human and environmental insecurity linked to multiple global crises and market pressures, and as the international development community considers a post-2015 development agenda, UNRISD research is focusing on “alternative” development policy and strategy. One strand… Continue reading
Citations on the Commons by Contemporary Commoners
Compiled by David Ronfeldt: Jay Walljasper: “The commons is more than just a nice idea; it encompasses a wide set of practical measures that offer fresh hope for a saner, safer, more enjoyable future. At the heart of the commons are four simple principles, which have been practiced by humans for millenia: 1) serving the… Continue reading
Open Source Ratings Are Needed To Break the Ratings Agency Oligopoly
The current credit rating system is fraught with problems: from lack of competition, accountability and transparency, to politicization, inconsistencies, and untimeliness. Private sector competition and transparency are needed to overcome these problems. The open-source approach, as implemented by the Public Sector Credit Framework, provides one possible solution to our current credit rating problems. Other solutions… Continue reading
Stefano Serafini on the Emergence of Biourbanism
Excerpted from an interview with Stefano Serafini, Director Gruppo Salingaros and Research Director of Biourbanism in Rome conducted by Nicola Linza and Cristoffer Neljesjö during August 2012. The occasion was the Summer School in Neuroergonomics and Urban Design at the International Society of Biourbanism in Rome. Interview As director of the Summer School in Neuroergonomics… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Slow Democracy
* Slow Democracy: Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home by Susan Clark and Woden Teachout (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012). A summary: “Just as slow food encourages chefs and eaters to become more intimately involved with the production of local food, and slow money helps us become more engaged with our local economy, slow democracy… Continue reading
Some citations on governance in the p2p age
For the sourcing of the quotes, see here. The trust is to the commons as the corporation is to the market – Peter Barnes Peter Suber: From Profit-Maximization and Market-Orientation to Mission-Focused Profit maximizing limits access to knowledge, by limiting it to paying customers. If anyone thinks this is just a side-effect of today’s market… Continue reading
Beyond separative modern urbanism: looking for the connective design that’s already ‘out there’
by Øyvind Holmstad: But there’s a problem. We have fractured these urban networks, and rebuilt much more dispersed, “dendritic” systems, connected not by pedestrians, but by automobiles, dispersed suburban campuses and parks, and single-family monocultures, supplemented by telephones and now, computers. The majority of us lives in encapsulated houses, in encapsulated neighborhoods, and travel in… Continue reading