Essay of the Day: Open and Collaborative Developments

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Open and Collaborative Developments by Patrick Van Zwanenberg, Mariano Fressoli, Valeria Arza, Adrian Smith and Anabel Marin. Download PDF Experimentation with radically open and collaborative ways of producing knowledge and material artefacts can be found everywhere – from the free/libre and open-source software movement to citizen science initiatives, and from community-based fabrication labs and makerspaces to the production of… Continue reading →

Unions and the Gig-Economy: The Case of AirBnB

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In this article, reposted from Socialist Project, Steven Tufts examines union reactions to sharewashing platforms. Steven Tufts: The so-called gig-economy is celebrated, maligned, fetishized, and qualified by analysts. Whether it is called the collaborative, platform, crowd-sourcing, or sharing-economy, the rise of peer-to-peer exchanges does raise important questions for workers. Do emerging ‘sharing-economy’ platforms such as Uber and Airbnb mark… Continue reading →

Book of the Day: Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet

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Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet by Yasha Levine. In this fascinating book, investigative reporter Yasha Levine uncovers the secret origins of the internet, tracing it back to a Pentagon counterinsurgency surveillance project. A visionary intelligence officer, William Godel, realized that the key to winning the war in Vietnam was not outgunning… Continue reading →

Why Ecosocialism: For a Red-Green Future

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Republished from greattransition.org Michael Loewy: The capitalist system, driven at its core by the maximization of profit, regardless of social and ecological costs, is incompatible with a just and sustainable future. Ecosocialism offers a radical alternative that puts social and ecological well-being first. Attuned to the links between the exploitation of labor and the exploitation… Continue reading →

Michel Bauwens: Commons and Blockchain

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Reposted from Parallel 38º on Medium.com Michel Bauwens, founder of P2P Foundation, had a fireside chat in the Commons Foundation Korea office on Oct 2. Titled “Blockchain and commons, the connecting link” the discussion focused mostly on the origin of commons and the open source movement. Michel Bauwens interview in Germany during the meetup of… Continue reading →

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Derelict church becomes vibrant community hub

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Affordable rental space for creative or social uses in Amsterdam is rare, which impacts youth, elderly people and minorities who have few places to meet for social and community activities. Now a former Catholic church in the Waterlandpleinbuurt neighbourhood is providing members of community organization Stichting Bildung with a soon-to-be fully functioning neighbourhood living room…. Continue reading →

Amin Yosyo on the Smangus Aboriginal Community Labor Cooperative in Taiwan

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This presentation at the Platform Coop Conference in Hong Kong 2018 shows how an aboriginal community that was bleeding out its young, completely recovered by adapting to a cooperative strategy, choosing technological and value sovereignty to recreate community and cohesion. Platform Cooperativism Consortium 2018, Sept 28 | Day 1 Showcases I: Coops and Platform Conversions… Continue reading →