The realization that we are an empathic species, that empathy has evolved over history, and that we are as interconnected in the biosphere as we are in the blogosphere, has profound implications for rethinking the mission of education. New teaching models designed to transform education from a competitive contest to a collaborative and empathic learning… Continue reading
“There is no other”: Increased “super”interdependence leads to super-cooperation
Watch this video by Tim Flannery, on the new sciences of cooperation based on the latest findings in evolution, genetics, and the cognitive sciences:
London P2P Event May 14: Governance in worker cooperatives, p2p networks, and commons
From Mark Jagdev: Dear fellow commoners, As you may have heard, Michel Bauwens, the founder of P2P Foundation will be taking part in a panel discussion at Re-rooting digital culture – media art ecologies unconference at the University of Westminster, London on Friday 13th May. In addition to that, Michel has gracefully accepted our invitation… Continue reading
From open (city) government data to participatory city budgetting
Excerpted from an appeal by Darren Sharp: “It’s time for Gov 2.0 champions to ask the hard questions about what participatory democracy really means in a networked world. What options are on the table that can really change how government institutions work for the better? If the Gov 2.0 community is serious about the role… Continue reading
Slavoj Zizek on cloud computing as corporate enclosure of the ‘general intellect’
Excerpted from Slavoj Zizek: “Users today access programs and software maintained far away in climate-controlled rooms housing thousands of computers. To quote from a propaganda-text on cloud computing: “Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure ‘in the cloud’ that supports them.” There are… Continue reading
Video on the Open Commons experience in the Linz region of Austria
“A report on the information meeting for all interested parties at the “Knowledge Tower Linz” on 11 April 2011. With the initiative “Open Commons Region Linz” – which is unique in Europe, the city of Linz creates a new perspective for the expansion and improvement of free access of data, software, teaching and learning materials,… Continue reading
Zizek: Is Charity Immoral?
Zizek always makes us think. Animated lecture at RSA:
Yochai Benkler receives Ford Foundation ‘Visionaries Award’
Yochai Benkler, Faculty Co-Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Harvard Law School, today received the $100,000 Ford Foundation Visionaries Award — one of 12 innovators chosen for their vision, leadership, and pioneering work. The formal announcement from the Ford Foundation follows, below, with… Continue reading
What’s the nature of the Wikipedia bureaucracy?
Interesting study on “The Nature and Roles of Policies and Rules in Wikipedia”. * Article: Don’t Look Now, But We’ve Created a Bureaucracy: The Nature and Roles of Policies and Rules in Wikipedia by Brian Butler, Lisa Joyce, and Jacqueline Pike. A commentator writes: “Many view Wikipedia as emergent, complex, messy, informal, popularly uncontrolled, non-organizational,… Continue reading
Beyond idealism: university-level training in free technology
“Software, technology, knowledge and culture should be free!” summarizes the battle cry of the activists of “free”. It’s only by by putting free technology in the hands of free and empowered people that one can achieve wider freedom in the 21st century, according to Benjamin Mako Hill. But this situation can only be achieved by… Continue reading
Cory Doctorow on techno-optimism and techno-pessimism
Excerpted from a very interesting editorial by Cory Doctorow: “To understand techno-optimism, it’s useful to look at the free software movement, whose ideology and activism gave rise to the GNU/Linux operating system, the Android mobile operating system, the Firefox and Chrome browsers, the BSD Unix that lives underneath Mac OS X, the Apache web-server and… Continue reading
Is digital technology reshaping the political landscape?
From SME Web The relationship between social media and politics will be put under the spotlight by leading international academics and activists during a three-day conference at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge from 11-13 May. Organised by Anglia Ruskin academics Dr Joss Hands and Dr Jussi Parikka, Platform Politics will focus on the role digital… Continue reading
Nigel Shadbolt – Lessons from the UK Open Data Initiative
“In June 2009, Nigel Shadbolt and Tim Berners-Lee were appointed as Government Information Advisors to help transform public access to UK Government information. Their work resulted in the launch of data.gov.uk.” “The Open Data Initiative is a attempt to encourage every government agency and department to open its doors and data to the public so… Continue reading
Three bottom-up eco-actions that could reduce western individual footprint by 75%
Excerpted from a proposal by Vinay Gupta: “All over the internet there are small and large communities of practice – centers of excellence in organic farming or living cheaply or doing home solar. There are professional networks for architects and designers. There is a grass roots movement which has been running since at least the… Continue reading
Bolivia’s ‘Mother Earth’ law – not an easy sell
In an article titled The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia’s Historic Bill Nick Buxton looks at the difficulties the historic law change in Bolivia will have to overcome if the intention of bringing in a different system that respects the environment in which we live is going to be successfully transformed into reality. “The… Continue reading
The politics of urban gardening
how can a garden be an attack, a flower a critique, a trowel an agent of social change? Interesting article by George McKay. Excerpt: “Notions of utopia, of community, of activism for progressive social change, of peace, of environmentalism, of identity politics, are practically worked through in the garden, in floriculture and through what art… Continue reading