“The network of Open Source Ecology in Italy have to face new challenges and have new opportunity to deal with. There are a lot off differences between the USA and Europe and we will not let this differences stop us. The diffusion and the reproduction of the GVCS and the realisation of the Open Source… Continue reading
Date archives "August 2013"
Why you should read Red Plenty!
Nick Dyer-Whiteford contextualizes this important book: “Shortly after the great Wall Street meltdown of 2008, a novel about obscure and remote historical events provided an unexpected node for discussion of the ongoing crisis. Francis Spufford’s Red Plenty (2010) offered a fictionalized account of the failed attempt by Soviet cyberneticians of the 1960s to establish a… Continue reading
The Provision of Public Services by Civil Society
Excerpted from John Restakis (in ch. 6 of Humanizing the Economy): “The argument for promoting a renewed role for civil society in the production of social services does not mean the abandonment of the fundamental principle of collective responsibility for these services. Nor does it mean the abrogation of state responsibility in favour of private… Continue reading
Video: Sascha Meinrath on the Commotion Wireless Open Source Wireless Meshwork
The sofware enables “what is called a “mesh” network that allows you to share Internet access with other devices on the network. “It challenges this business model that everyone has to buy their own Internet connection, and it really puts forth this notion of, ‘Why don’t we share resources?’ We can share them across our… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Fair Phone
Fairphone: Buy a phone, start a movement from Fairphone on Vimeo. Fair Phone “Fair Phone’s mission is to bring a fair smartphone to the market – one designed and produced with minimal harm to people and planet” “The first-ever Fair Phone combines social values with smart, radical open design that considers the full life cycle… Continue reading
The concept of commonism as introduced by Nick Dyer-Witheford
Excerpted from an essay by Mike Neary and Joss Winn: “One of the more sustained renditions of a new commons is the notion of ‘commonism’ elaborated by Dyer-Witheford (2006, 2007), who, in a number of articles has sought to promote the concept of commonism as a way to avoid the bad history of authoritarian state… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Desmond Tutu on Ubuntu
The South-African Anglican bishop expLains the South-African relational concept of Ubuntu: ‘The ethic or humanist philosophy emphasizing community, sharing and generosity. The concept of Ubuntu is used in the political sphere to emphasize the need for unity or consensus in decision-making, as well as the need for a suitably humanitarian ethic to inform those decisions…. Continue reading
Project of the Day: Maleny Cooperatives
Maleny Cooperatives Brief Kamala Alister writes: Maleny is situated 100 kilometers north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Australia. It is surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, has stunning views of the Glass House Mountains, and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. It has a population of over 7,000 people. And it is a cooperative place. Maleny… Continue reading
Selected Citations on Peer Property and Common(s) Ownership
For the sources of the citations, see here. “The commons breaks with the individualistic vision as conceived by the capitalist tradition, a vision that has progressively transferred the idea of rights to individual people. The commons take inclusion and everyone’s equal right to access as its starting point, while property and the idea of the… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Manuel Lima on the Power of Networks
“In this RSA Animate, Manuel Lima, senior UX design lead at Microsoft Bing, explores the power of network visualisation to help navigate our complex modern world.” Video via
Project of the Day: Hackerspace in a Box
Hackerspace in a Box Brief: “Inspired by the global hackerspace movement, hackerspace-in-a-box is a classroom experiment exploring the horizons of emerging technologies, science, media, art, emotional/social intelligence, and PLAY through hackerspace facilitated workshops.” Further information: What are 21st Century Skills? After some talking we realized that, with regards to this question, we are really trying… Continue reading
Video of the Day: David Karpf on the Netroots Effect
An examination of internet age advocacy organizations and their effectiveness in running campaigns: “Karpf walked his audience through an examination of internet age advocacy organizations: examining their effectiveness in running campaigns; how they run campaigns as compared to legacy advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club (an organization that predates the internet by nearly 100… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Turkopticon
Turkopticon “Helps the people in the ‘crowd’ of crowdsourcing watch out for each other—because nobody else seems to be. Almost half of the Mechanical Turk workers who wrote their Bill of Rights demanded protection from employers who take their work without paying”. More information: “Turkopticon adds functionality to Amazon Mechanical Turk as you browse for… Continue reading
Selected Citations on P2P (and) Technology
Find the sources here. “Technological transformations do not impress me, biological technology does not impress me, Internet does not impress me. I say this not out of arrogance. No doubt much of what we do will change if we adopt the different technological options at hand, but our actions will not change unless our emotioning… Continue reading
Video: Wingham Rowan on Online Markets for Microworking and Microvolunteering
“Plenty of people need jobs with very flexible hours — but it’s difficult for those people to connect with the employers who need them. Wingham Rowan is working on that. He explains how the same technology that powers modern financial markets can help employers book workers for slivers of time. Wingham Rowan is the founder… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Carbon Co-op
Carbon Co-op ” Carbon Co-op, which launched in 2011, is one of a new generation of co-ops that are now aiming to address the critical issue of climate change by making houses more energy-efficient, which in turn will slash carbon emissions and in the long-run save homeowners money.” For more on this topic: “The UK… Continue reading