* Report: * Frank Edwards, Philip N. Howard, Mary Joyce, “Digital Activism and Non-Violent Conflict,” Digital Activism Research Project, 2013. 23 pp. Seattle, University of Washington. URL = http://digital-activism.org/download/1270/ Description “We define a digital activism campaign as an organized public effort, making collective claim(s) on a target Thick rub. Nicely buy generic viagra will she… Continue reading
Date archives "February 2014"
Dmytri Kleiner on the workings of a venture commune
For our third and final extract from the transcript of the C-Realm Podcast Bauwens/Kleiner/Trialogue, Venture Communist and Miscommunication specialist, Dymtri Kleiner offers a proposal to answer the following question: How can we create socially-oriented companies without the start-up capital to fund them? So, to try to explain what “venture communism” is, which is my own… Continue reading
Michel Bauwens on the pitfalls of start-up culture
Our second extract from the transcript of the C-Realm Podcast Bauwens/Kleiner/Trialogue, Michel Bauwens talks about the disconnect between young idealistic developers and the business models many of them default to, unaware that there’s better options. I’d like to start with outlining the issue, the problem around the emergence of peer production within the current neoliberal… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Think Like A Commoner
* Book: Think Like a Commoner. A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons. by David Bollier. New Society, 2014 URL = http://www.newsociety.com/Books/T/Think-Like-a-Commoner Description From the publisher: “The biggest “tragedy of the commons” is the misconception that commons are failures – relics from another era rendered unnecessary by the Market and State. Think Like… Continue reading
Project of the Day: P2P Value
= P2PValue: Techno-social platform for sustainable models and value generation in commons-based peer production in the Future Internet URL = https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:P2Pvalue “Commons-based peer production (CBPP) is a new and increasingly significant model of social innovation based on collaborative production by citizens through the Internet. This project will foster the CBPP phenomenon by providing a techno-social software… Continue reading
Building alternatives while challenging established power structures
Extracted from Patrick Chalmers at Open Democracy. Don’t miss the full article for other creative reactions to Europe’s austerity crisis. “Barcelona’s Aurea Social seems too posh a place from which to plot a global revolution, let alone bring it into being. Less so when you find its occupants are under imminent threat of eviction. Tucked… Continue reading
Podcast of the Day/C-Realm: David Brin on self-deception, factionalism, and righteous indignation
Reposted from the C-Realm podcast a wide ranging conversation between KMO and Science-Fiction author and social commenter David Brin on the egotism keeping our social evolution at bay. From the shownotes to the episode: KMO welcomes SF author, futurist, and contrarian, David Brin to the C-Realm to talk about the themes of his new novel, Existence. Those themes include… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Open Source Ink
Description 1. Simone Cicero: “The overall excitement with regards to the work done by the group led by Thomas Landrain (president) shall grow even more when you think about an incredible project that is slowly taking off and that, hopefully, will hit public visibility soon: the realization of an open source ink, produced by bacteria…. Continue reading
Essay of the Day: People-Powered Health
* Report: More than Medicine: New services for People Powered Health. By Katharine Langford with Peter Baeck and Martha Hampson. Nesta, 2013 URL = http://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/more_than_medicine.pdf Description “This report brings together our practical learning and evidence on different ways to integrate and promote community-based services into health and social care. Key findings Three elements help the… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Beyond Growth or Beyond Capitalism?
Richard Smith’s stunning essay is a long read, but well worth the effort. Although nominally a critique of the Steady State Economy proposals put forth by Herman Daly, Tim Jackson and NEF, it stands on its own as an impeccable critique of the Capitalist mode of production and its basic incapability to stop the ongoing… Continue reading
Podcast of the Day/XE: Gwendolyn Hallsmith and Bernard Lietaer on Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies
From our friends at The Extraenviromentalist Podcast. From the episode notes: Occupy Wall Street has directed our attention to the extreme concentration of wealth resulting from decades of policy designed to trickle down prosperity. Through using a single type of bank debt currency, we allocate our labor and resources to benefit a global elite instead of our… Continue reading
John Restakis on Social Co-ops
Extracted from a transcript of the C-Realm Podcast Bauwens/Kleiner/Trialogue, John Restakis describes the transformation of the traditional cooperative model into today’s growing Social Coop movement. “Historically, cooperatives have been primarily focused around providing support and service to the members. Cooperatives, which are basically a democratic and collective form of enterprise where members have control rights… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Groundswell
= an organization that helps communities gain access to affordable clean energy by pooling their purchasing power. URL = http://www.groundswell.org/ Discussion Will Byrne: ‘We founded our organization, Groundswell, to answer one question: How can we jumpstart a new, clean economy that truly lifts up those who need it most? Before Groundswell, I, like others on our… Continue reading
Technologically enhanced basic income as a solution to technological unemployment
A recent post on the dark AI blog (http://darkai.org/?p=1) lays out a vision for achieving a basic income for all in a manner independent of governments. It is argued that governments are notoriously difficult to steer in the right direction, and that we have, with ever increasing computer capabilities, and the recent successful introduction of… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Baugruppen Housing Model
= “basically collectives formed with the intent of building housing — but eliminating the developer in order to keep costs down significantly”. URL = http://bruteforcecollaborative.com/wordpress/2012/04/16/a-new-approach-to-affordable-urban-living/ Description “Baugruppen fall somewhere between a communal home and a condo association. As Eliason noted, an intentional community drives the model and is the common denominator. Beyond that, though, baugruppen become… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Impulsive Furnishing Unit
Impulsive Furnishing Unit = “With this production unit a whole furniture factory is reduced to the size of a standardized plywood palette”. [1] Description Christian Fiebig: “A new CNC machine that is directly mounted on a plywood palette where it then cut one sheet of plywood after the other. With this production unit a whole furniture… Continue reading