”Although writing is one of my passions, getting a book done can be a long, lonely and burdensome process – unless you apply principles of P2P production to it.” says Tomi Astikainen, author of a free eBook called ”Mind Your Elephant – How to get rid of your ego, connect with others and save the… Continue reading
Shareable magazine on the Rise of a Sharing Industry
One of the top trends for 2009, selected by Shareable magazine: (go to that original article for the links mentioned below) “This year saw the founding of services like Rentalic, Share Some Sugar, and Neighborgoods—all of which rely on the web and mobile technologies to facilitate neighborhood-level sharing. In 2009, the ridesharing service Zimride allied… Continue reading
Revisiting the sustainability/resilience of suburbs
After publishing an analysis by Eric Hunting recently, Jeff Vail, whose work we consider fundamental for a p2p-oriented hierarchy theory, pointed out his own research on the matter: Jeff Vail: ” While I think that how we address suburbia will be critical (and probably a great barometer of progress) in how we address issues of… Continue reading
Towards Public Open Source Services, An ingenious P2P Funding proposal by Jeff Lindsay
An ingenious proposal by Jeff Lindsay: “The point is this: Twitter is an important piece of infrastructure. Even if it didn’t change for a long time, people would still use it because it is useful. If there was no business behind it (which there practically isn’t — got revenue?) … would the community pay for… Continue reading
Online privacy – is it just theater?
In a post on Tech Crunch, Rohit Khare, award-winning researcher in the fields of Internet protocols and decentralized systems, charges that when social networks tell us they are protecting our privacy, much of it is make-believe. Rohit calls it a theater they play for out benefit. His article Privacy Theater: Why Social Networks Only Pretend To… Continue reading
Is car-sharing environmentally counter-productive?
Is car sharing necessary or even a good idea for dense cities where public transit is ubiquitous and where most goods can be bought within walking distance? What are the best modes for service implementation? The Transport Politic blog by Yonah Freemark has serious questions about car-sharing actually increasing the amount of individual transport: (for… Continue reading
Reclaiming the Streets as a commons
Part of the most important sharing trends selected by Shareable magazine: “For most of human history, everyone shared the streets. They were a commons where kids played and neighbors chatted. Today, legally speaking, the streets still belong to us all; but in reality they have become the exclusive property of motorists. And when traffic proliferates,… Continue reading
Launch of the Solidarity University in Vienna
A superb way to start the new year, this is a milestone event! Via the The U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (SEN): “A few minutes ago, the Solidarity University (kritische und solidarische Universität = KriSU) was founded in Vienna, Austria. KriSU-activists revitalized rooms which are vacant since 2 years for the public. KriSU reacts on the… Continue reading
Openness has a treshold
Open source is often presented as a methodology, not an ideology – i.e. open source is an approach of collaborative work, shared creation, continual iteration (insert your favorative Torvalds or Raymond quote of bugs, many eyes, cathedrals, bazaars, release early/often, etc.). But openness is not a methodology. Openness is an ideology along the lines of… Continue reading
The tactics of protest are changing
Whilst MPs voted for the privatisation of Higher Education on December 9th, another British institution – the protest march – was undergoing a transformative moment. Interesting analysis of the UK student protestor’s tactics by Jonathan Moses: “The landscape of political organisation is changing, and a new infrastructure is proving capable of rapidly mobilising disparate, localised… Continue reading
Greenwashing or conscious capitalism?
Over the last 20 years, we have shifted from functionally centric brands to emotionally centric-brands to values-centric brands. Today, brands must be inspirational in a socially responsible way. It is no longer enough for brands to define themselves in terms of what they are: they must make a statement—environmentally, culturally, and socially—about what they want… Continue reading
Tom Athanasiou the Greenhouse Development Rights framework for effort sharing on climate change
The world of Greenhouse Development Rights, in other words, is not merely a world divided between North and South. It is also a world in which both North and South are divided between rich and poor. Which has a very particular implication: developing countries must curb their emissions, but the global consuming class – the… Continue reading
3rd Ward in Brooklyn: a successfull maker place and community
Via Jay Standish: 3rd Ward is a successful example of a maker and coworking community for artists, craftspeople, makers, and digital creatives in Brooklyn, NY: 3rd Ward from Bryan Sykora on Vimeo.
The 10 lenses of collaboration
Tom Haskins offers only nine, leaving one for us to imagine. Interesting is that he also mentions each visions’ dark side. Tom Haskins: “This morning I’ve been making connections in my mind (cognitive network) between the many different ways that increased collaboration is emerging globally. I then pondered the possibility that each of these different… Continue reading
Slow Money for sustainable Local Food Systems
A animated introduction to the slow money approach to sustainable investing in a resilient (food) economy: See also the following video: * Woody Tasch on Slow Money
Hazel Henderson on Policies and Economics for Real Wealth
A good way to start the year is this fascinating interview with Hazel: