From an interview by Treehugger: “On your website you ask the question, “How can designers make low-cost products without factories?” Have you found an answer to this yet? Is it something we could accomplish on a large scale? I’m currently working on around 15 techniques for low-tooling, small-scale manufacturing of durable, beautiful goods with low… Continue reading
The internet, market domination, and the public utility vision
1. It is supremely ironic that the Internet, the long-ballyhooed champion of increased consumer power and cutthroat competition, seems, in the end, to be more a force for monopoly. To be clear, the Internet is still crystallizing as an area of capitalist development, and historically speaking, appears quite dynamic, so it is premature to act… Continue reading
The shock doctrine as applied to the American states
Naomi Klein the logic behind the Republican anti-labor measures in American states, based on the ideas of her book, The Shock Doctrine:
Real Cities, Real Transformations
Check out our recent blog post on our new blog at http://blog.futureforwardinstitute.com/2011/03/15/real-cities-real-transformations This post is a response to “How Seattle Transformed itself” by Edward L. Glaeser. Some highlights: Systems Matter First, system-effects matter. Cities exist in networks of flows that depend on existing infrastructure. That infrastructure has system-level properties, and it is these properties, not… Continue reading
Free College Textbooks for Ohio Students
University System of Ohio and Flat World Knowledge Team Up to Expand Access to College Textbooks and Measure Student Learning COLUMBUS – Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut today announced a joint pilot program between the University System of Ohio and Flat World Knowledge, the largest publisher of free and open college textbooks for students worldwide. The… Continue reading
A resource shared is a resource squared
Brilliant lecture, must see video, from the always entertaining Mark Pesce which touches on a variety of important p2p subjects: Main theme: choose your friends carefully, as they are “epidemiological vectors”, our puppet masters. This is why a sound, open and free “social graph”, is so essential. Don’t let yourself be manipulated by a corporate-owned… Continue reading
CopySouth Rio papers released
A new set of papers that critically analyse the failings and contradictions of the international copyright system are being released today by the CopySouth Research Group. The papers were presented at the third international conference of CopySouth held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the end of June 2010. Previous CopySouth events were held in… Continue reading
FTA announces guest lecture by Richard Stallman and other news
Preseting the last announce from the Free Technology Academy: Featured courses Deadline Early Bird discount – March 22nd, 2011 On April 18th the next round of courses will start! The FTA offers seven different modules in this term. A 10% Early Bird discount is available until March 22nd, so register now and enrol yourself to… Continue reading
Book of the Week: The History and Future of Civic Humanity
Covering a broad range of cases, the book identifies basic principles governing state’s relation to civil society. It shows how anarchist ideas and practices emerge naturally in civil society in response to different forms of state power. The book seeks to demonstrate how a proper appraisal of modern anarchy is enriched by a deeper understanding… Continue reading
The ecological commons: Seeing the Environment as Our Common Heritage
* Article: James K. Boyce. “The Environment as Our Common Heritage,” for the Fair Sharing of the Common Heritage Award, February 2011 Strongly recommended, as introduced via David Bollier: “The post below is excerpted from James K. Boyce’s acceptance speech, “The Environment as Our Common Heritage,” for the Fair Sharing of the Common Heritage Award,… Continue reading
Steps towards a new legal framework for indigenous communities
A contribution by Carolina Botero of the Karisma Foundation in Colombia: “In 2010 UNESCO recognized Colombia’s Amazon traditional indigenous knowledge as “intangible cultural heritage” (http://www.gaiafoundation.org/content/highlights-2010-and-path-ahead). Without a doubt the latter represents an invaluable move towards the community’s establishment of their own legal framework; empowering them with new tools to fight pounding threats (such as mining… Continue reading
Some thoughts on workplace groups | Netzwerk IT
Posted on March 13, 2011 by OrsanSenalp Collective ideas about self-organised and networked workplace groups, translated by Dave Hollis of Netzwerk IT from German. Translater’s Note To understand the nuances of this document it helps to know what Netzwerk IT is. Network IT, to use its English name, is a platform for the employed and unemployed. Individuals, groups… Continue reading
Participatory Sensing as a new form of P2P Regulation
Excerpted from David Bollier‘s review of the following report: * Report: Participatory Sensing: A Citizen-Powered Approach to Illuminating the Patterns that Shape our World,” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2009 David Bollier’s original has many links to individual projects: “Here’s an interesting idea for changing the political ecosystem of regulation: Use Web 2.0 platforms… Continue reading
Miguel Caetano on the self-organized precarity movement in Portugal
Miguel Afonso Caetano sent this to our mailing list this morning: “Greeting, dear all from Portugal. I know haven’t participated in any way in this list yet but the fact is that generally there is not much happening in a true P2P-sense around here for me to contribute anything of relevance to the list. Until… Continue reading
Elizabeth Eisenstein and Siva Vaidhyanathan on the emancipatory role of the print revolution
In this clip of Steal This Film 2, “Eisenstein describes the conditions of scarcity that characterized the book as artifact in the age of the scribe. Thereafter she describes the printed word’s role in the reformation, and how this served to transform the Catholic church’s view of print – towards which it had initially been… Continue reading
New issue of the International Journal of the Commons
International Journal of the Commons has just published its February issue at: http://www.thecommonsjournal.org/index.php/ijc. You will find among other things find a first selection of articles pertaining to a special feature dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons (the second part will be published in August, 2011). Also, we draw your attention… Continue reading