* Article: Commons for Peace. James Quilligan. Kosmos Journal, FALL | WINTER 2011 Summary: “Although the term ‘human security’ has various meanings, two have predominated. Following the Cold War, several major studies—including the UN Secretary-General’s 1992 report, Agenda for Peace; the 1994 World Development Report of the UN Development Program; and the 2003 report, Human… Continue reading
Date archives "August 2015"
Rebel Architecture – Working on water
Architect Kunle Adeyemi sets out to solve the issues of flooding and overcrowding in Nigeria’s waterside slums.
Women in P2P: Interview with Alison Powell (Part 1)
Alison Powell interviewed By Rachel O’Dwyer Alison Powell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media & Communications in the London School of Economics. Her research examines the history and future of openness within new media. Alison’s research explores open-source cultures including community wireless networks, free software advocates and people interested in open sourcing… Continue reading
Anthropologist Harry Walker on the Lessons of Amazonian Commons
Sometimes it takes anthropologists to ask the really deep questions and help us imagine another world. That became clear to me after listening to Dr. Harry Walker, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, give the prestigious Malinowski Memorial Lecture in late May. Walker has long studied the people of Peruvian-Amazonia, with special attention… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Shadow Work
* Book: SHADOW WORK. The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day. By Craig Lambert, 2015 Excerpted from a review by Barbara Ehrenreich: “There’s still plenty of work to do, even if no one is willing to pay for it. This is the “shadow work” that Craig Lambert appealingly brings to light in his new… Continue reading
Commoners Descend on Chieri, Italy, for Major Festival
Italians once again took the vanguard in advancing the commons paradigm by hosting a three-day festival in Chieri, a town of 60,000 people on the outskirts of Torino, Italy. The International Festival of the Commons featured films, musical performances, video exhibits, lectures, panel discussions, food and drink, and lots of enjoyable conversation. I think festivals… Continue reading
Feminist Theory and Free Software
Excerpted from Katja Mayer and Judith Simon: “Feminist scholars and feminist expertise are rarely mentioned in the context of FS studies, and if so, relating mainly to topics such as the “gender gap” (Kelty 2008) or the “coproduction of gender and technology” (Faulkner 2001; Oudshoorn et al 2004)3. However, we claim that instead of merely… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Quantifying the Value of Open Source Hardware Development
* Article: Pearce, J.M. (2015) Quantifying the Value of Open Source Hardware Development. Modern Economy, 6, 1-11. doi: 10.4236/me.2015.61001. open access From the abstract: “With the maturation of digital manufacturing technologies like 3-D printing, a new paradigm is emerging of distributed manufacturing in both scientific equipment and consumer goods. Hardware released under free licenses is… Continue reading
Herman Daly: Nationalize Money, Not Banks
Excerpted from Herman Daly: “If our present banking system, in addition to fraudulent and corrupt, also seems “screwy” to you, it should. Why should money, a public utility (serving the public as medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account), be largely the by-product of private lending and borrowing? Is that really an… Continue reading
Michael Shuman on the Need for Personal and Local Community Investment Strategies
Excellent presentation which asks citizens to re-invest their savings in the local economy. Watch the video here:
Book of the Day: Flat World Navigation, Collaboration and Networking
* Book: Kim Chandler McDonald. Flat World Navigation, Collaboration and Networking: Building dynamic relationships in the global digital economy. Kogan Page, 2015 A book about how the business world is adapting to networking through ‘social business design’. Here is a summary: “The future of doing business successfully centres around the ability to make and maintain… Continue reading
Stanislas Jourdan on Joining Positive Money to Make Quantitative Easing Serve People
Excerpted from his blog, Stan Jourdan talks about his new role working with Positive Money and how it ties in with his previous work on Basic Income. After serving for the past 4 years as coordinator for the basic income movement in France and at European level, I will now be focusing on monetary reforms… Continue reading
Just Published: The Italian Edition of “Think Like a Commoner”
I am happy to report that the Italian translation of my book, Think Like a Commoner, has now been published. La Rinascita dei Commons: Successi e potenzialita del movimento globale a tutela dei beni comuni — or The Rebirth of Commons: Successes and Potential of the Global Movement for the Protection of Commons –was translated… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Re-Commoning Food to Crowd-Feed the World
* Article: Transition towards a food commons regime: re-commoning food to crowd-feed the world. By JOSE LUIS VIVERO POL From the abstract: “This paper analyses the main fault lines of the industrial food system and the consequences of the absolute commodification of food. Then, using the food regime theory and exploring the developments in the… Continue reading
We need a Copernican revolution in economics: Prof. Steve Keen
Very interesting conversation with one of our favourite economists! Watch the video (a podcast in fact) here:
Art Data Money
Art Data Money invites people to discover new ways for cryptocurrencies and big data to benefit us all While the sustainability and legitimacy of our global systems are daily called into question, our network cultures point to a wealth of possibilities for mutual prosperity. Over the next 3 years, Art Data Money includes: Art Shows… Continue reading