I’m attending the Unconference on Culture and Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro. This is one of the initiatives being discussed, as explained by Jose Murillo: “About the São Paulo Declaration: on January 29, 2012, the Brazilian Ministry of Culture organized another meeting at the ‘Thematic World Social Forum’ in Porto Alegre and the ‘Meeting of… Continue reading
Movement of the Day: the Las Indias cooperative movement
Las Indias is a cooperative, a contemporary example of the network form of Phyles, i.e. a community-supportive business network. They have an amazingly interesting english-language blog which is at the forefront of p2p theorizing, and I consider them as a true sister organization to the P2P Foundation. David de Ugarte explains what it means for… Continue reading
Hilary Wainwright on Cooperatising the State
Excerpted from Hilary Wainwright in Red Pepper (UK): “Genuine co-operative alternatives are making headway. The pressure to marketise grows in parallel with the mounting evidence of failure – the Southern Cross care home operator heads a growing list, as patients, users and medical staff become more confident whistle-blowers – but few want to return to… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Land Ethics
* Essay: The Land Ethic. By Aldo Leopold. from A Sand County Almanac, 1948 This is a text from 1948, but very important to re-establish a relationship with the land that nurtures and feeds us. Aldo Leopold: “When god-like Odysseus returned from the wars in Troy, he hanged all on one rope a dozen slave-girls… Continue reading
A Brazilian Copyright law innovation: the Open Unified Registry with Public License
The unified registry with public license, to be implemented with the new Brazilian Author’s Rights Law, is an important innovation, explains Jose Murillo, of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture: “In this last stage of process for the reform of the Brazilian Author’s Right Law, an important novelty was introduced by Minister Ana de Hollanda. That… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Dmytri Kleiner on Radical Openness
Excerpted from Dmytri Kleiner: “Thinking about “the challenges of a open practice” gets me thinking about what “radical openness” could mean. On the surface, it could just mean really, really, extremely, very open. But that’s a overly colloquial understanding of the word radical, as in “totally rad,” as opposed to “radical critique.” Extreme or drastic… Continue reading
Book of the Day: The Case for Copyright Reform
* Book: The Case for Copyright Reform. Rick Falkvinge and Christian Engström. Download free version here. Rick Falkvinge explains: “The book is a compilation of the strongest articles on reform of the copyright monopoly from Christian Engström (MEP) and myself, edited into book format for readability and bedside-table friendliness for those who want the whole… Continue reading
The Franklin Street Statement on Free Network Services, four years after
Free software is no longer enough in the age of socal media and proprietary platforms, so in 2008 a group of FLOSS activists gathered to formulate a statement to create a dynamic for free network services as well. At that time, Benjamin Mako Hill explained: “On March 16, 2008, a workgroup convened at the Free… Continue reading
The post-Westphalian implications of phyles and peer to peer currencies
Internet socialisation and practices are inherently global, and are creating new global institutions, argues Kevin Carson, author of the upcoming Desktop Regulatory State. This article is one year old but still an excellent argumentation about this thesis. Kevin Carson: “Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age” was set some years after encrypted currencies and e-commerce removed most… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Stephen Downes on What Have We Learned From MOOC’s
Excerpted from a speech to EdgeX2012, Delhi, India, March 12, 2012. Stephen Downes: “What this talk is about – it’s called “Education as Platform” – is the idea of exploring some of the experiences we’ve had with massive open online learning, and exploring some of the criticisms that we’ve experienced, some of the criticisms that… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Occupy This!
* Book: Judy Rebick, Occupy This! (Penguin, 2012) Excerpted fro a review by Donya Ziaee: “Reading long-time activist Judy Rebick’s new e-book Occupy This! re-awakened memories of my experience at the Occupy Toronto encampment in its very early days. The optimism, excitement and hope with which Rebick pens her latest book is quite reminiscent of… Continue reading
Open source housing and construction based on ‘Geopolymer’
A report by Eric Hunting: (for more direct info, see the Geopolymer House Blog) “Geopolymer is the general name of a growing family of materials offering a low-carbon alternative to traditional cements and concretes. Based on inorganic aluminosilicate chemistry rather than the calcium carbonate chemistry of traditional portland cement, geopolymers get their name from their… Continue reading
Video: What is at stake in Rio+20 and what are the alternatives?
Here is a 16-minute video fully subtitled in English (thanks to Nicola Bullard) with interviews of Pablo Solon, Edagardo Lander, Yvonne Yanez, Silvia Ribeiro, Tony Clarke, Nnimmo Bassey, Anabella Rosemberg. Among the issues: What does mean moving from sustainable development to green economy? What is hidden behind this new concept of green economy: green growth?… Continue reading
Spending directly for wellbeing not wealth: the Venezuelan paradox
The University of Columbia’s “Earth Institute” has released the results of its first happiness report, which highlight Venezuela as the happiest country in South America and the second happiest country in the region after Costa Rica. Here are some more details of this surprising study, from Rachael Boothroyd: “Whilst beating some of its Latin American… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Producing Industrial Goods Through the Commons
Excerpted from Wouter Tebbens: “It seems to be increasingly possible to produce industrial goods through the Commons. The main function of industrial production can be organised as a commons by applying straightforward rules to share knowledge. The Commons offers – at least potentially – the following advantages for industrial manufacturing over the proprietary model. *… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Towards Peer Production in Public Services
Ultimately, how do we find the right balance between the traditional forces of market, the state, and the emerging citizen-driven actions? * Book: Towards peer production in public services: Cases from Finland. Editors: Andrea Botero, Andrew Paterson and Joanna Saad-Sulonen. Aalto University publication series Crossover 15/2012. Helsinki, Finland A very timely and important book, paying… Continue reading