Everyday Growing Cultures Farida Vis writes: “Focusing on two distinct yet connected communities: allotment, growing communities (plot holders; allotment societies; those waiting for plots; allotment governing bodies) and the open data community (open data activists; developers; local government; data journalists). Allotment and open data communities may initially seem unconnected, but they share many concerns: around ideas of knowledge… Continue reading
Worker Ownership as inclusive capitalism
today there are over 19,000 companies that collectively employ over 25 million workers that fit under a broad definition of employee ownership. That figure comprises nearly 16 percent of the American workforce. A related statistic from the University of Chicago’s General Social Survey reports that about 18 percent of those who work for companies in… Continue reading
The Crisis of Representation and Autonomy of Self
The thirst for real democracy is a thirst to be free. It is the spirit that drives us to find our true aspirations within. Our self is empty. When society loses its grip and leaders become devoid of morals and compassion for humanity, we need to declare autonomy from all those outside who try to… Continue reading
Openness as a Competitive Advantage for Hardware and Manufacturing Eco-Systems
Excerpted from Simone Cicero: “Let’s think to Apple for a while: it’s by far one of the most successful product and user driven innovation ecosystems of the computing history. Despite its software is open at least in terms of interfaces (APIs), Apple keeps its hardware strongly closed, also using non-standard interfaces, for example in power… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Ugo Mattei on the Commons Movement in Italy
Interview conducted by Alain Ambrosi with Ugo Mattei commoner and president of ABC Naples which is the company who runs the water system in Naples. An interview 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: This video… Continue reading
GDP Growth Is Against Life
Excerpted from Vandana Shiva: “The concept of growth was put forward as a measure to mobilise resources during the second world war. GDP is based on creating an artificial and fictitious boundary, assuming that if you produce what you consume, you do not produce. In effect , “growth” measures the conversion of nature into cash,… Continue reading
The feudal mode of computing (2): the resistance
We exceptionally republish a full article, from Bruce Schneier, in two parts. Today we focus on how to re-dynamise the power of distributed networks: 3. A strategy for re-invigorating distributed power “All isn’t lost for distributed power, though. For institutional power the Internet is a change in degree, but for distributed power it’s a change… Continue reading
Video of the Day: George Por on the Art of Commoning
Interview conducted by Alain Ambrosi with Georges Pór co-director of the School of Commoning in London. An interview produced by Alain Ambrosi, at the Economics and the Commons Conference which took place in Berlin from 22 to 24 May 2013. For more videos on the commons see http://www.remixthecommons.org/
The Open Allocation Task Distribution and Management Method at GitHub
Excerpted from Chris Dannen: “Open allocation is one theory that answers one of the most crucial questions for any company: how to innovate and make that innovation repeatable. There are four essential problems with systematized innovation, and in most businesses, structure can be a solution. McKinsey says that 62% of corporate executives report manipulating company… Continue reading
The "Heather Marsh affair", or: The Facts behind ‘a storm in a teacup’
On the morning of November 7, I received a number of worried emails about accusations that appeared on one of the Twitter feeds of Anonymous (@YourAnonNews), which reaches 1m plus members. In that tweet, it was said that we had published a CC-licensed work of ‘Georgie BC’, the pseudo of Heather Marsh, which ‘refused to… Continue reading