“While eBay provides a circulation of objects, and cradle-to-cradle provides a circulation of materials, modular construction systems provide a circulation of parts and components. Our ambition is to create puzzles instead of static objects. The system should generate objects of which it is not entirely clear anymore who designed them. An object evolves as it… Continue reading
Date archives "January 2013"
David Graeber on Giving It Away, an introduction to the gift economy
Kevin Flanagan: The following article entitled “Give it Away” is by Anthropoligist David Graeber. It was originally published on August 21, 2000 by ‘In These Times’. The article includes an introduction to the French Anthropologist and Sociologist Marcel Mauss as well as the French group MAUSS (Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste dans les Sciences Sociales) who were inspired… Continue reading
Book of the Day: The New Networked Social Operating System
People “have become increasingly networked as individuals, rather than being embedded in groups. In the world of networked individuals, it is the person who is the focus: not the family, not the work unit, not the neighborhood, and not the social group”. Several people recommended this book as a thorough scientific explorations of p2p relational… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Kit-Driven Innovation
Talented amateurs don’t just build kits; kits help build talented amateurs. And healthy innovation cultures — and successful innovation economies — need the human capital that their talent embodies. Kits are integral, indispensable, and invaluable ingredients for new value creation. See the full article by Michael Schrage on ‘Kitonomic Innovation’: “The Industrial Revolution began with… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Therapy Futures without Psy-Enclosures
“Therapists distill expertise about the human condition from the psyCommons and sequester it in professions. Therapy Futures tells how the psychological therapies diligently sought state backing for these professional enclosures and how this ambition failed. The case study that narrates this history is a story of ‘couch wars’, and a narrow escape from capture by… Continue reading
Going beyond “The Wealth of the Commons”
Leo Burke has read The Wealth of the Commons and gives recommendations for a second volume: “”If Bollier and Helfrich had the interest and energy to develop a second volume, I would ask them to expand on three key themes. The first is education. There is a brief article by George Pór on his pioneering… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Open Public Transportation Data
Excerpted from Sam Muirhead: “Open data presents an opportunity to compare statistics, to make graphs, apps and maps which allow us to better understand the world and see what needs improvement, to base our understanding on facts rather than impressions. Transport companies, the heart of a city’s circulatory system, hold extremely important data on how… Continue reading
Ten Years of Sharing Culture with IsoHunt
Tenth Anniversary reflections by the founder: “10 years of isoHunt. Jan. 22 to the day, when the domain was registered. When I started isoHunt during engineering school, I truly did not think I’d be working on it for 10 years, but here I am. Napster, Kazaa, Suprnova, LokiTorrent. Big names have come and gone, and… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won’t Change The World
Key thesis: The localist form of citizenship may empower us, but it cannot confront capitalism. Against a global network of power must emerge globalised forms of struggle. * Book: No Local. Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won’t Change The World. Greg Sharzer. Zero Books, 2012. Here is the summary of this book which challenges localist initiatives: “Can… Continue reading
Towards Integrative Ecosocial Design
Republished from Oyvind Holmstad: Aranya, my PDC-teacher, explaining the five zones of permaculture On my PDC-Course in Sweden I learned about the therm Integrative Ecosocial Design, and I fell in love with it. Here follow the history and description for this therm, from Gaia University: This descriptive name, Integrative Ecososial Design, arose from observations and… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Desktop Fashion
From an interview of Chris Anderson, conducted by Vikram Alexei Kansara: “BoF: How might digital fabrication apply to the fashion industry? Are we going to be able to print out a sweater or a shirt? Printing it out is probably not the right process, as the material is so important. But you will certainly be… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Rooftop Revolution
It’s time for a new revolution, an energy revolution, our revolution — a Rooftop Revolution. * Book: Rooftop Revolution. By Danny Kennedy. How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy — and Planet — from Dirty Energy. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012 An excerpt from author Danny Kennedy: “There’s an epic struggle afoot for the head and the… Continue reading
A review of “The Wealth of the Commons”
“This book is a remarkable collection of some 72 articles written by academics and activists on a variety of topics related directly or indirectly to the theory of ‘the Commons’ and the practice of ‘commoning’. The book explores the possibility that the concept of the Commons provides us with the model we need to build… Continue reading
Developing the Capacity to Hold a Collective Field
The text below is excerpted from the second part in a series on developing the new ‘p2p facilitation’ method called Collective Presencing. Source: The Circle of Presence: Building the Capacity for Authentic Collective Wisdom. By Ria Baeck and Helen Titchen Beeth. Kosmos Journal, Fall | Winter 2012 * Journey Through the Group — Developing the… Continue reading
Is Open Access Still Relevant in 2013
By Sumandro: Is Open Access still relevant? “The last years have been both satisfying and challenging for the Open Access community worldwide. On one hand, we have experienced numerous ‘victories’ of the OA agenda, such as the OA policy of Research Council UK, the Finch Committee report, and the OA policy of World Bank. Various… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Accountable Algorithms
“When I say that a public algorithm is “accountable” I mean that the output produced by a particular execution of the algorithm can be verified as correct after the fact by a skeptical member of the public”. Excerpted from Ed Felten, who also gives an example here: “Public processes often involve algorithms, and the public… Continue reading