The phenomenon of lurkers and lurking has been well studied and noticed over the past decade. Other than the observation they exist almost as a norm in certain online communities, the fact that they actually make up the majority of members in online communities is staggering. Katz (1998) and Mason (1999) reported that lurkers make… Continue reading
What does the Skype outage mean for P2P computing?
We asked our resident p2p technology expert, Gwendal Simon, to comment on what the recent Skype outage means for the future of peer to peer computing, as it may be interpreted as a sign of weakness. For added context, check our updated entry on P2P Computing. Please also note this technical detail which suggests the… Continue reading
Bandwidth as P2P currency
Peer-to-peer is frequently associated with illegal downloading, especially music and video. For this purpose, downloading video, peer-to-peer can also be considered as positive for once. What is the case? Research workers of the Technical University of Delft, the Free University of Amsterdam and Harvard’s School of Engineering are working on the development of a video… Continue reading
Bifo: Does connectivity kill sensibility?
The following is a disturbing but very interesting and stimulating essay by Bifo, which however requires you to navigate quite some bit of post-modern jargon. The main thesis is that the current stage of connected capitalism is destroying inter-human sensibility, both in the current generation of western youth, but ominously, the economically-driven mass child abandonment… Continue reading
Some Facebook developments: reactions to advertising and privacy issues
Two items here. A reaction against the introduction of blatant advertising in the social network, in the form of an open letter, by Janine Carmona; the second concerns the privacy practices at Facebook. Open Letter to Facebook on the Walmart ads “I was alarmed today when I came across a group on Facebook sponsored by… Continue reading
Building wireless meshworks with recycled computers
Interesting technical solution that could be used in both developed and developing countries: From World Changing: “CUWiN — the Champaign-Urbana community WIreless Network — brings together a bunch of worldchanging ideas into one useful package: Free/Open Source software to create ad-hoc municipal wireless networks using recycled old PCs. The software — which can be downloaded… Continue reading
Rob Myers critique of Open Source
Very interesting take by Rob Myers on Open Source as a movement that intends to obscure the principles of Free Software. This piece has an interesting critique of Wikipedia, but is generally addressed to the relationship of FS/OS with the art world, and what artists should do. A critique of Open Source Yochai Benkler describes… Continue reading
Cultural pessimism vs. pragmatic optimism
Here is one of the most interesting essays I have read this year. This piece by Martin Larsen is a reaction to an earlier essay by activist Geert Lovink, who identified Blogging as a nihilist impulse. As much as I generally admire Lovink’s work, I had felt very uneasy with the culturally pessimist and politically… Continue reading
Why money?
This is a really excellent presentation by Robert Upton of Altruists.org, on why it makes sense for people to produce their own money, rather than rely on institutional middlemen. (slideshare presentation in this post)
Book of the Week: From EQ to CQ (Collaborative Intelligence)
“An anthill can survive and feed itself in some of the most hostile environments. No single ant knows how it all works – nor does it need to. Individually ants are pretty dumb creatures, collectively they are very smart. Human beings, on the other hand, are individually very smart” but can be collectively smart as… Continue reading
Anthony judges the dark side of peer to peer (Reactions to P2P Video 1)
Anthony Judge, a keen observer of organizational dynamics, has written this reaction to our latest new video on P2P. I will respond later to these subtantial points. Tony Judge: You make a good case. My comments are briefly as follows: — in explaining the magic of Linux and Wiki, and generalizing from that, you use… Continue reading
Computer networks: simulation or liberation?
In Reality Sandwich, John Lamb Lash poses an interesting question about the spiritual nature of our interconnected computer networks. Let me first say that I feel the article errs by attempting to create a univocal understanding of Gnosticism, as a movement which did not reject the material cosmos (anti-cosmism), while I have encountered Gnostics (and… Continue reading
Who’s been censoring the Wikipedia?
The Independent mentions how Wikiscanner has identified the various institutions that have been doctoring and censoring negative reviews of their actions in the Wikipedia. This deserves to be known, so please go to the article to read the facts that they wanted to see removed.
Nurturing as the root of non-reciprocity
In my recent meditation on abundance and scarcity, I made a distinction between non-reciprocal peer production, and reciprocity or exchange based formats, with the two latter applicable in conditions of scarcity. If we are to believe this interesting contribution by Genevieve Vaughan, at the root of non-reciprocity lies the nurturing role of the mother, who… Continue reading
The rebirth of mutual aid societies in the U.S.
Anya Kamenetz has an important article in Daniel Pinchbeck’s Reality Sandwich site. After noticing the revival of volunteerism in New Orleans, by Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals, she reviews the history of mutual aid societies, from 800 BC in India until today in the U.S.. Of particular interest is the mention of the organization she is… Continue reading
Peter Fleissner: pioneer of the Partner State model
Two months ago, during a lecture tour which brought me to Vienna, Austria, I had the occasion to meet a remarkable man, Peter Fleissner, a retired researcher of the TU Wien. Though our exchanges had were fascinating, it is only now that I found the time to go through the set of links that Peter… Continue reading