Excerpted and adapted from Silke Helfrich: “At 4’23 in the video I say (see below): Commons are not the presence of non-exclusivity but the absence of exclusivity. While Carolina Botero in her suscint keynote put it as follows (attributed to Dusollier): Commons is not the absence of exclusivity but the presence of non-exclusivity – which… Continue reading
On the convergence between p2p/commons production and the social/solidarity economy
This is a French-language interview on the possible convergence between commons-based peer production and the social and solidarity economy. The occasion was the Rencontres du Mont Blanc, a gathering of social economy leaders, November 9 to 11; the interviewer was Andrea Paracchini. “Avec Michael Bauwens, fondateur de la P2P Foundation, on essaie de creuser les… Continue reading
The Commons Economics of Knowledge, a report
This is from the Final Report on the Economics and the Commons Conference, crafted by David Bollier, and as republished by Mike Linksvayer. We reprint the part on the Knowledge Stream, first the keynote, then the deliberations and finally the conclusions by the streamleader. Excerpts: “Science, and recently, free software, are paradigmatic knowledge commons; copyright… Continue reading
The Edge Net – Can mobile phones extend and secure the internet?
Surveillance of the net and of all our communications has become commonplace with the NSA rapidly gaining the dubious distinction of worst offender. But including the communications of everyone and sundry in their dragnet, not even stopping before diplomats and foreign heads of State, the surveillance culture has overdone it. A serious backlash is now… Continue reading
9 Reasons Why Green Modernist Architecture is a Myth
Excerpted from the sidebar of a new essay by Nikos Salingaros and Michael Mehaffy at On the Commons. “We can now turn to debunk the recent claim by many practitioners, alluded to previously, that modernist architecture can actually be more sustainable. True, many modernist “high tech” architects claim that their work represents the height of… Continue reading
On Democracy and the Commons
Interesting conversation with Marvin Brown and Smàri Mc Carthy, conducted by Michel Bauwens and produced by Alain Ambrosi, at the Economics and the Commons Conference which took place in Berlin from 22 to 24 May 2013. Watch the video here:
Seven Ways to Lead a World-Changing Swarm
From a review of Rick Falkvinge’s book, Swarmwise, by Nina Misuraca Ignaczak: “As Falvinge explains, decentralized does not mean leaderless. The leader of or a swarm leads by inspiration and example, setting the vision and goals for the organization while building a culture that empowers members of the swarm to act. Falvinge contrasts this approach… Continue reading
New Book: Thrivability by Jean Rusell Part 2
This is the second part in this weeks series of posts featuring “Thrivability Breaking Through to a World that Works” by Jean Rusell While our first post featured a summary and the books introduction, today’s post is from the books conclusion. The book is available now from Triarchy Press. Conclusion from Thrivablity by Jean Rusell… Continue reading
An update on discussions around complementary currencies
An update on discussions and controversies, by Ruby Van der Wekken, who attended the Economics and the Commons Conference in Berlin, in May 2013, and the complementary currency conference in Hague, in June 2013 (see also http://www.commons.fi/timebanking-20). (go to the original for the links) Money as debt shaping our relations As Jem Bendell (professor at… Continue reading
Internet without servers: Information centric architecture locates data, not servers
Can the internet do without servers? A group of scientists at Cambridge University thinks it can and should. A Future Internet Might Not Use Servers One of the major bottlenecks in getting data and content on the net is the capacity of servers to respond to large traffic demands. The change that is being proposed… Continue reading