To celebrate the importance of patterns, The Imaginary Foundation released the Pattern Seekers Trading Cards, each one highlighting a unique “patternist” who has made a profound impact on the world by discovering a “metapattern”. Upon reading about these guys, you’ll see the “meta-pattern” that defined their life and thinking. We selected those names from the… Continue reading
Michael Hudson on the Autonomy of the Financial System and Accrued Interest
” The ECB demands that governments (“taxpayers”) in Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal take full responsibility for making good on the bad loans and reckless speculation of banks, so that wealthy and institutional investors who placed their credit and fortunes behind such schemes would be saved from having to take any loss. In such cases… Continue reading
The state of free culture, 2011: Towards Institutions for the Cultural Commons
Felix Stadler has written a very readable overview and introduction to the Free Culture Movement, focusing on its historical roots and developments, and how it is now in the phase of experimenting with appropriate institutionalization: “The Free Culture Forum released the Declaration on Sustainable Models for Creativity in the Digital Age in February 2011 following… Continue reading
Egypt and beyond: Skype not secure as an activist tool?
Egyptian security services had the ability to listen in to Skype conversations, says this report. Excerpted from Salem Muhammod: “Skype was the method of choice for secure communications among anti-government organizers in Egypt during this past winter’s uprising, believing that Skype “cannot be penetrated online by any security device.” However it turns out the protestors’… Continue reading
From #spanish to #european and #globalrevolution
Latest post by Amaia on the situation in Spain and beyond: [View the story “From #spanish to #european and #globalrevolution ” on Storify]
The Shanzhai Electric Car Revolution in China
In China, you can get Shanzai (‘knock-off brands’, i.e. the illegal but tolerated version of open and shared design) electric cars for about $3,000, less than a tenth of the price of normal ‘IP’-augmented electric cars. Eric Hunting writes: “Very nice video discussing the explosively growing phenomenon of ‘shanzhai’ electric cars in China. I learned… Continue reading
What is open design thinking?
Watch this video in which a variety of young designers express their feelings and thinking on open design: Chasing the Buffalo from KS12 on Vimeo.
Kachikachi – Quantum dosimeter radiation detection
The kachikachi project by Leopold Zyka in Vienna is a proposal to promote the application of a quantum dosimeter chip, a CERN related patented invention described here for distributed radiation measurement. The technology is more simple and potentially cheaper than the Geiger counters available today, and it could be used by anyone concerned with levels… Continue reading
The continued role of cyber-activism in Egypt
Excerpted from a report by Al Jazeera, where Monica Villamizar spoke with Ramy Raoof: “It feels like there is something wrong; it’s hard to tell if the army is with the revolution.” Raoof, 24, is among a group of influential characters in the Egyptian youth movement. He has just helped organize a day to blog… Continue reading
OKCon 2011 – Update
The following post is from Hauke Johannes Gierow who is on the [OKCon 2011] organising team, and is a Community Coordinator at [OKF Deutschland]. At the Open Knowledge Foundation we work towards an open society with open content, open data, and free/open source software all over the world. We work with developers, designers, civil servants,… Continue reading
Lecture on the sustainability of open design
Sy Taffel attented the conference held in Westminster University and organized by Furtherfields.org, i.e Re-Rooting Digital Culture – Media Art Ecologies. I think this is a fair representation of my arguments, so I reproduce his summary: “One thing which left me somewhat confused was why the event was billed as an unconference, when in reality… Continue reading
Minimum Demands of Barcelona Protest Camp
Minimum demands from the Barcelona Protest Camp May 31, 2011 -TRANSLATION- from 15 May Revolution (Originally posted at http://acampadabcn.wordpress.com/demandes/ consulted 31 May 2011 17:00 ) Minimum Demands In Barcelona several documents are being written collectivly, ?? they collect the wisdom and the contributions of hundreds of people. These documents speak about the different levels… Continue reading
Are self-organized networks a dangerous and mistaken idea?
Famous documentary-maker Adam Curtis has an intriguing editorial in the Guardian, which I recommend you read in full here. It’s hard to summarize but the essential thesis that the idea that ecosystems, and possibly human peer to peer systems, are self-organizing systems that tend towards equilibrium are a dangerous “right-wing” idea. This connection is even… Continue reading
Governance for the Global Commons: Recognizing Planetary Boundaries
1. Earth-system science is still in its infancy and much more needs to be known to create a robust solution to humanity’s global dilemma. Nevertheless, we know enough now about the functioning of the Earth system that we must learn to respect the hardwired limits of our own life-support system. 2. Respecting the boundaries means… Continue reading
Los Invencibles de la plaza Cataluña 27/05/2011
The first video shows the police attempt to dislodge the peaceful occupaton of plaze Cataluna in Barcelona, on May 27th. The second video shows Manuel Castells speaking at the same camp, in Spanish. Via: Video: Manuel Castells en #acampadabcn
Vote of The People’s Assembly of Syntagma Square
Document and website related to the mobilization in Athens, Greece. VOTE OF THE PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY OF SYNTAGMA SQUARE For a long time decisions have been made for us, without us. We are workers, unemployed, retirees, youth, who have come to Syntagma Square to fight and struggle for our lives and our future. We are here… Continue reading