Home » News aggregator » Sources

P2P Foundation Blog

Syndicate content
Researching, documenting and promoting peer to peer practices
URL: http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
Updated: 25 weeks 6 days ago

P2P Hierarchy Theory: Riane Eisler’s partnership way

Thu, 01/28/2010 - 09:22

A republication from February 2006: Riane Eisler’s Hierarchy of Actualisation

The excerpt is from Russ Volckman’s excellent Integral Leadership newsletter. See below an insert about the importance of Eisler’s previous book about the origins of hierarchy.

“Q: Would you characterize the partnership model?

A: Well, let’s look at the Nordic Nations. First of all, rather than having hierarchies of domination–these rigid rankings–they do have hierarchies. They have more of what I call hierarchies of actualization. I’ll get back to that because it’s key to my model for business and economics. But the first thing that you see is that they have much greater political and economic democracy. They don’t have these huge gaps betweens haves and have-nots. They have a generally high standard of living for everyone. Second, rather than ranking of the male half of humanity over the female half, they have much more equal partnership between women and men. With this–and this is critical–you find that as the status of women rises, so does the status of those traits and activities stereotypically considered feminine: caring, care-giving, non-violence. So what do you see? You see that the Nordic nations were pioneers in what my friend from Finland, Hilkka Pietila, calls a caring society. We call it a welfare state, but it’s very different from the U.S. welfare system. They have universal health care, childcare allowances, elder care and paid parental leave. In other words, in cultures that orient to the partnership model, the care giving that is stereotypically associated with women can become a fiscal priority of the nation. This is very, very good for the economic health of the nation. Finland, for example, in both 2003 and 2004 ranked ahead of the much wealthier, much more powerful United States in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness ratings. And of course, these nations are always on the top in the U.N. Human Development Reports. These nations also pioneered the first peace studies courses. They pioneered laws against physical punishment of children in families. They pioneered a strong men’s movement to disentangle male identity from violence. They also pioneered what we today call industrial democracy, teamwork in factories, rather than turning human beings into mere cogs in the industrial machine. Ecologically sound manufacturing, such as the Natural Step, was also pioneered by them. Now, none of this is random or coincidental. It’s part of the cultural configuration characteristic of the partnership rather than domination model. It is a configuration that factors both what happens to the female half of humanity and also what happens in people’s day-to-day lives…

2. The Caring Economy model

Q: Ultimately, I want to get to the question of leadership, but I think there is still more foundation to be laid. For example, you brought up the subject of economics. In a new book that’s coming out called Enlightened Power yours is the first chapter: The Economics of the Enlightened Use of Power. Can you lay out for us a little bit of the economic argument in support of a partnership approach?

A: It is something I’m very deeply involved in. I am actually working on a new book on partnership economics: a caring economy. We’ve been told for a long time, for example in terms of organizational structure, that hierarchies of domination are needed for success. In these hierarchies of rigid top down rankings, accountability, respect, and benefit flow mostly from the bottom up. Enron, for example, certainly didn’t have much accountability or respect from the top down. Most of the benefits accrued to the people on top. That’s the classic domination model. And Enron shows that in the long term it’s hardly successful. I don’t mean to pick on Enron. But these hierarchies of domination, where there is so little accountability or respect by those on top, are rife with horrible corruption and cause great suffering and loss. These companies eventually went bankrupt or changed their names. These were disasters for many people: stockholders, employees and their pension plans. What we’re discovering today–and it’s all over the management literature–is that hierarchies of actualization are much more efficient, much more effective. Now what is a hierarchy of actualization? Well, if we look at the way power is conceptualized, it isn’t conceptualized so much as power over, power to dominate or to destroy, but power to empower oneself and others to be the best we can be. It is also power with. So a term like teamwork is really part of the shift to partnership where there’s a different way of looking at power. In a hierarchy of actualization, you have respect, benefit and accountability flowing both ways. But you also have something else that is very important: you have much better information flow. This is very important for companies to make effective business decisions. In partnership structures, not only do you have teamwork where people can really have input and use their brains and their creativity, but you also have the possibility for much more creativity. When people are in a hierarchy of domination, they know very well that they better conform. It’s very dangerous to disobey orders or to question. Particularly in a post-industrial economy where we are told we need a flexible workforce, a creative workforce, a workforce that can solve problems, the hierarchy of domination just does not work. The structure inhibits creativity and flexibility. There is something else really basic that takes us back to what I was talking about when I spoke of the Nordic Nations. There are many studies now showing that when people feel cared for–which is part of the hierarchy of actualization–people perform much better. There are empirical studies showing this. So all in all, what we’re finding out is that the partnership model is not only more conducive to higher stages of human development, but it actually is much move conducive to economic well-being.”

3. The historical origins of hierarchy

In the book that launched Riane Eisler’s fame, The Chalice and the Blade, where she outlines the difference in dominator and partnership societies, she formulates the following hypothesis, based largely on the research of M. Gimbutas. The story goes more or less like this: for more than 100,000 hears of human history, humans lived in egalitarian bands. But it is a mistake to think that the rise of agriculture and domestication is itself responsible for hierarchical warrior societies. That agriculture gave rise to warfaring empires is the result of an ‘exogenous’ import: that of the masculine-dominated, warrior societies of pastoral nomads, born in the Eurasian steppes, who in fact took over the agricultural kingdoms, and developed a hybrid civilization. Before these invasions the evidence points to feminine-dominated societies, not geared to war. She dates these developments to about 4400 BC.

Riane’s website is at www.partnershipway.org.

Categories: Feeds

iPad DRM is a dangerous step backward. Sign the petition!

Thu, 01/28/2010 - 08:16

From http://defectivebydesign.org

Dear supporter,

Today, Apple launched a computer that will never belong to its owner. Apple will use Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to gain total veto power over the applications you use and the media you can view.

We’ve launched a petition calling out Apple’s new product for what it is: a frightening step backward for computing and for media distribution. Can you read it, sign it, and share with friends?

http://defectivebydesign.org/ipad

Also, when you’ve signed, please take the time to share the petition on sites like Identi.ca and Reddit:

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/shareipad

Defective by Design’s John Sullivan is on the ground at the Apple event with a group of protesters, letting the public and journalists know about the “Restriction Zone” Apple is constructing around their products. We’ll be posting images from the event throughout the day, so sign the petition and please check back frequently and help us circulate these images.

http://defectivebydesign.org/ipad

This summer we saw the dangers of DRM on ebook readers, when Amazon deleted hundreds of copies of George Orwell’s 1984 from readers’ computers while they slept. Applying this control to a general purpose computer marketed especially for media distribution is a huge step backward for computing, and a blow to the media revolution that happened when the web let bloggers reach millions without asking for permission.

DRM and forced updates will give Apple and their corporate partners the power to disable features, restrict competition, censor news, and even delete books, videos, or news stories from users’ computers while they sleep– using the device’s “always on” network connection.

Apple can say they will not abuse this power, but their record of App Store rejections gives us no reason to trust them. The Apple Tablet’s unprecedented use of DRM to control all capabilities of a general purpose computer is a dangerous step backward for computing and for media distribution; we demand that Apple remove DRM from the device.

http://defectivebydesign.org/ipad

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely, Holmes Wilson, Matt Lee, Deborah Nicholson, Peter Brown and John Sullivan — the DRM Elimination Team

Categories: Feeds

James Purnell’s new direction for UK Labour Party

Thu, 01/28/2010 - 01:04

Interesting report on the tack taken by James Purnell, uk Labour MP:

“James Purnell’s article in today’s Guardian is interesting on a number of counts.

First, he takes a distinctive step forward in endorsing the proposal, developed by London Citizens, to use 1 per cent of the payback of the bank bailout to finance to a new system of locally based banks. The funds would be managed, as I understand it, by bodies on which major groups from civil society — trade unions, community groups — would sit. Funds would have to be invested in the local economy. This is a measure that, at once, addresses inequality of wealth (rather than just income) and offers a way of increasing democratic control over investment — without centralising investment in the hands of the state. Although New Labour has taken positive steps to introduce “asset-based welfare” (such as in the form of the Child Trust Fund), this proposal takes the struggle against wealth and power inequality into new and, for neoliberals, more disquieting territory.

Second, related to this proposal, Purnell resituates Labour politics in the context of a wider, pluralistic social movement. Rather than just bemoaning the decline of Labour Party activism, he acknowledges the enormous contribution to progressive politics of new, citizen-organising initiatives such as London Citizens. Certainly, London Citizens is quite separate from Labour, as its distinctively radical policy agenda indicates. But Purnell grasps that the spirit of dissenting civic radicalism that built Labour is very much alive and well in groups of this kind. “I imagine,” he writes, “that being at a London Citizens meeting would feel quite familiar to Keir Hardie and the trade unionists and churchgoers who founded the Labour movement.”

The point is not, of course, to absorb London Citizens into Labour politics — a forlorn hope, were Purnell foolish enough to entertain it (which he isn’t). Rather, the point is to think of Labour politics as one force on a wider terrain of progressive forces, including such organisations.

This way of looking at progressive politics marks a clear break from the elitism of New Labour. The New Labour model of progressive politics, which has some affinity with that of the earlier revisionist, Croslandite wing of the Labour Party, consists in getting well-intentioned social democratic politicians elected to high office. They then pull the levers of a centralised state machine to deliver better (more socially just) outcomes. Popular activism — except within limits clearly and narrowly defined from the centre (aka “new localism”?) — is viewed as unnecessary, if not positively dangerous.

The problem is that, without the support — and constraints — provided by wider citizen engagement and campaigning, even the most well-intentioned social-democratic elites will lack the capacity and willpower to face down powerful social interests that stand in the way of necessary reform. Purnell realises that an empowered social democracy must be rooted in a politics of movement, and not just a politics of good intentions.

Purnell’s endorsement of London Citizens also marks a welcome acceptance of pluralism. All too often, Labour has aspired to monopolise the field of progressive politics. The article suggests a picture of progressive politics in which multiple agencies push and pull, and in which the Labour Party has to earn whatever leadership role it has — and can never take it for granted.

This is all good, and necessary, stuff. But how might we take this call for renewed “vitality and vision” further?

One possibility is to broaden out our conception of just where the new citizen activism lies and the forms it can take. Purnell is absolutely right to endorse, and to celebrate, the achievements of London Citizens. But what about, say, Climate Camp? London Citizens is one important model of progressive activism, but arguably there are others, some related to vitally important issues such as climate change, that have thus far not featured much in the London Citizens agenda. (This is not a criticism of London Citizens; there is a place for division of labour.)

Moreover, if Labour is to reorient its politics to link with new forms of citizen activism, this will require a thorough reassessment of policy in certain areas, not least in relation to civil liberties.”

Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-27 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 01/28/2010 - 01:00
Categories: Feeds

Four arguments against the illusion of philanthrocapitalism

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 20:50

Excerpt from Michael Edwards in Open Democracy:

“There are four key points in my argument:

First, neither philanthrocapitalism nor transformative approaches to social change are monolithic. Both contain many different strands, and they engage and overlap in the middle, sometimes with positive effects and sometimes not. These various strands and hybrids have different costs and bene?ts, so rather than tilting at windmills by writing off one approach or the other, it is more useful to identify where business thinking can advance social change and where it can’t, separating out the use of business tools from the underlying ideology of the market.

Second, the hype that surrounds philanthrocapitalism runs far ahead of its ability to deliver real results. There is little hard evidence that these new approaches are any better at reducing poverty and injustice than the governments, foundations, and civil society groups that have been working away more quietly in the background for a generation and more. Yes, they get much-needed drugs, microcredit loans, solar-rechargeable light bulbs, and the like to people who really need these things, but they don’t change the social and political dynamics that deny most of the world’s population the hope of a decent life.

Third, among the reasons for these disappointing results, one seems especially important: the con?icts and trade-offs that exist between business thinking and market mechanisms on the one hand, and civil society thinking and social transformation on the other. There have always been areas of life that we deliberately protect from the narrow calculations of competition, price, pro?t, and cost — such as our families and community associations — but in the rush to privatize and commercialize social action and activity, there is a danger that these ?rewalls will be forgotten. Lasting damage can be done to society if these distinctions are eroded.

Fourth, the increasing concentration of wealth and power among philanthrocapitalists is unhealthy for democracy. When the production of public goods like health and education becomes the province of private interests, fundamental questions of accountability apply. Why should the rich and famous decide how schools are going to be reformed, or what kinds of drugs will be supplied at prices affordable to the poor, or which civil society groups get funded for their work? “I remember a day,” lamented Robert Reich in American Prospect Online, “when government collected billions of dollars from tycoons like these, and when our democratic process decided what the billions would be devoted to . . . I don’t want to sound like an ingrate or overly sentimental, but I preferred it the old way.” He has a very important point. Weak accountability is the Achilles’ heel of all systems for ?nancing social change — new or old, public or private — and philanthropy of all sorts needs to be reconfigured so that it can be more useful and supportive to long-term structural change.

One clear message emerges from these four points: Social transformation is not a job to be left to the whims of billionaires. Perhaps if we supported the energy and creativity of millions of ordinary people, we could create a foundation for lasting progress that will never come through top-down planning by a new global elite, however well intentioned. When this principle is accepted and philanthropy is recon?gured to be less technocratic and more supportive of people’s own self-development efforts, then change will come — larger than we can control, quicker than we can imagine, and deeper than we could ever hope for by reducing everything to market forces.”

Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-26 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 01:00
  • Stop Software Patents - Constant
  • The LETSystem Design Manual
  • Pope to Priests - get a blog: Message for the 44th World Communications Day, Benedict XVI
    "Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis."
  • The 2009 Dialogue and Deliberation Practitioners Survey: What is the State of the Field? » About this Site
    an online survey of dialogue and deliberation practitioners conducted by sociologists Caroline Lee and Francesca Polletta during September and October 2009. This survey was conducted for the purpose of academic research on the deliberation field by the researchers. Please explore the site to find out more about the survey, to browse or download our findings, or to ask questions or comment on the survey.
  • Guide to Creating Your Own Apps for Democracy | Apps for Democracy
    following guide has been provided in order to help governments and organizations around the world understand the ins and outs of how we’ve run Apps for Democracy contests over the past year+ and is structured in such a way that you’ll be able to start your own when the time comes.
  • Grasshopr: The Grassroots Advocacy Platform.
    Grasshopr is a communications and grassroots advocacy platform for the 21st century. We’ve combined aspects of social networking with grassroots advocacy technology to empower individuals and groups – from official national organizations to informal local communities – to collaborate and get engaged in public policy at the federal, state and local level. And because advocacy on Grasshopr is authentic, elected officials can build sustainable connections with real constituents. Organizations of all types and sizes can use Grasshopr to know which districts their members reside and target messages, advocacy alerts, polls, and event advisories accordingly. In addition, they can use Grasshopr as a communication and collaboration tool to interact with their members and move beyond one-to-many blast emails.
  • “Natural Savings”: A New Microsavings Product for Inflationary Environments. How to Save Forests with Savings for and by the Poor?
    Decentralized sustainable resource management in developing countries is important both from a poverty-reduction and an ecological viewpoint. At the same time, no financial instrument is available that enables small savings to be protected against the vagaries of monetary instabilities and inflation. This paper proposes a solution that would address all three issues simultaneously: an inflation-proof savings instrument, fully backed by the organic growth process of a local resource, which at the same time gives a market-based financial incentive to protect that natural resource. A specific example involving sustainable forestry plantations in the Third World is provided.
  • The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now
    "Those of you who edited your privacy settings prior to December's change have nothing to worry about - that is, assuming you elected to keep your personalized settings when prompted by Facebook's "transition tool." The tool, a dialog box explaining the changes, appeared at the top of Facebook homepages this past month with its own selection of recommended settings. Unfortunately, most Facebook users likely opted for the recommended settings without really understanding what they were agreeing to. If you did so, you may now be surprised to find that you inadvertently gave Facebook the right to publicize your private information including status updates, photos, and shared links. Want to change things back? Read on to find out how."
  • The Great Transformation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Polanyi makes the distinction between markets as an auxiliary tool for ease of exchange of goods and Market Societies. Market Societies are those where markets are the paramount institution for the exchange of goods through price mechanisms. Polanyi argues that there are three general types of economic systems that existed before the rise of a society based on a free market economy: Redistributive, Reciprocity and Householding. Redistributive: Trade and production is focused to a central entity such as a tribal leader or feudal lord and then redistributed to members of their society. Reciprocity: The exchange of goods is based on reciprocal exchanges between social entities. On a macro level this would include the production of goods to gift to other groups. Householding: Economies where production is centered around individual household production. Family units produce food, textile goods, and tools for their own consumption.
  • open money: techne
    a wealth-acknowledgment information system
  • From Research Monographs to Story-Telling: New Forms of Communication in the Big Shift
    "We are moving from a world of deep analysis communicating explicit knowledge to a world of rich, personal narratives communicating tacit knowledge. " John Hagel on story telling.
  • 438 – The Great Firewall of China « Strange Maps
  • Opengazer: open-source gaze tracker for ordinary webcams
  • Bandwidth Is Political
  • The Distributist Review: Welcome to the Plutocracy
    With the Citizens United ruling, the court revealed the depth of its contempt for judicial restraint, original intent, and deference to the legislature. The ruling is nothing short of a coup, a fundamental change in the structure of the America polity. It will work not only to the defeat of democracy, but to the destruction of what's left of the small businessman. From this day forward, no one will hold office who does not have the approval of the corporations, no small business will exist save by their sufferance.
Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-25 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 01/26/2010 - 01:00
Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-24 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 01/25/2010 - 01:00
  • lg3d-wonderland: Project Wonderland
    Sun is pretty serious about wonderland for business and educational use.
  • Play as Being Wiki - Play As Being Wiki
    They are group that is exploring the use of Virtual Worlds as phenomenological laboratories. Turns out virtual worlds are a pretty great environment for exploring the nature of being and reality (especially w/ the right community). We meet near a Zen monastary, where many avatars continue to gather daily to meditate.
  • Friedrich Ochsenhorn - Play As Being Wiki
    Fred is intrigued by the idea of using virtual worlds as a richer set of metaphors for exploring the nature of Reality, Suchness, and Being. He is struggling to transcend the dualities that define our world, and hopes to occasionally experience the underlying unity of all-there-is. He is interested in helping to heal the the rifts between the sciences and religions, eastern and western traditions, and the Abrahamic faiths. He was also amazed to witness this seedling effort transform itself from a lab bench to a sacred space.
  • Karl Polanyi's Concept of Embeddedness - Fred Block | Twine
    Polanyi's intent is to show how sharply this conceptualization differs from the reality of human societies throughout recorded human his tory. Prior to the nineteenth century, he insists, the human economy was always embedded in society.
  • The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes - Mark Granovetter | Twine
    Social structure, especially in the form of social networks, affects economic outcomes for three main reasons. First, social networks affect the flow and the quality of information. Second, social networks are an important source of reward and punishment. Third, trust emerges, if it does, in the context of a social network.
  • The Strength of Weak Ties - a Network Theory Revisited - Mark Granovetter | Twine
    In this chapter I review empirical studies directly testing the hypotheses of my paper "The Strength of Weak Ties" (hereafter "SWT") and work that elaborates those hypotheses theoretically or uses them to suggest new empirical research not discussed in my original formulation. Along the way, I will reconsider various aspects of the theoretical argument, attempt to plug some holes, and broaden its base.
  • Rethinking Education as the Practice of Freedom: Paulo Freire and the Promise of Critical Pedagogy - Henry Giroux | Twine
    As the market-driven logic of neoliberal capitalism continues to devalue all aspects of the public good, one consequence has been that the educational concern with excellence has been removed from matters of equity, while the notion of schooling as a public good has largely been reduced to a private good.
  • The Augmented Social Network - building identity and trust into the next-generation Internet | Twine
    Could the next generation of online communications strengthen civil society by better connecting people to others with whom they share affinities, so they can more effectively exchange information and self-organize? Could such a system help to revitalize democracy in the 21st century?
  • PayPal Freezes Wikileaks Assets – The Command Line
    the timing of this story could not be worse as Wikileaks is in the midst of fund raising. It is unclear why PayPal has frozen out Wikileaks other than an implication by the person who submitted the story to Slashdot that PayPal’s owners or operators take issue with the web site. This is at least the second time PayPal has done this specifically to Wikileaks.
  • Nina Paley v. Jaron Lanier – The Command Line
    Imagine my amazement to read Mike Masnick’s account of a radio debate between Nina and Jaron Lanier. I am disappointed, but not entirely surprised that Lanier was espousing much of the rhetoric of the recording industry in the face of the digital media/internet one-two punch. It sounds like Nina more than held her own.
  • Amazon Makes DRM-Free E-Books Easier – The Command Line
    Several sources, including ReadWriteWeb, pushed out the news that Amazon was allowing some publishers and authors to opt out of DRM on the Kindle. Most are also sharing an update where the retail giant is claiming this was always possible, they are simply making the option easier.
  • Cooperation and Experimental Evolution : Oscillator
    Cooperation and altruism are widespread in biology, from molecules and genes working together in a cell, to bacterial communities that require coordinated behavior to survive in a tough environment, to human relationships and societies. Our human cultural perspective (perhaps even more specifically our American cultural perspective, focused as it is on individuality, free markets, and the American Dream), however, treats cooperation as an outright anomaly that has to be explained away by science (or often, religion). If natural selection is about the "survival of the fittest" how can a selfless gene be rewarded evolutionarily, surviving to the next generation? If evolution is about individuals locked in a battle for resources, why would anyone share with a friend?
Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-23 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 01/24/2010 - 01:00
  • state of the art criticism: subjective musings :: net critique by Geert Lovink
    The debate illustrated a few trends. Art criticism has entered the informal networked media age. There is no way back. As a consequence, the personal style has taken over from the formal language of theory. People who still discuss how to relate art criticism and new media in some near future missed the boat. We’re already there. As Jennifer Ellen pointed out, art criticism, be it online or in print, is failing to convince society of the relevance of the arts. “We fail to communicate the excitement and passion we have for culture.” Young people know so much about running shoes and cell phones, she observed. “Why not look at art as we look at cell phones?”
  • BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yahoo 'helped jail China writer'
    Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo's Hong Kong arm helped China link Shi Tao's e-mail account and computer to a message containing the information. The media watchdog accused Yahoo of becoming a "police informant" in order to further its business ambitions.
  • Occupy the University: Reconsidering the Local
    As this article goes to publication, the University of California is erupting as a site of political conflict over the recent budget cuts, tuition increases and furloughs. A UC wide strike and walkout of faculty, staff and students has been called for on August 24th, 2009, the first day of instruction. It seems that the UC’s disregard for the health and wellbeing of their employees, as well as for the quality of education, has reached an intolerable point for many. Many academics have taken this opportunity to turn their research back to the university itself, which is exemplified by UC Berkeley’s colloquium event entitled “The University in Crisis: The Dismantling and Destruction of the University of California.”
  • New Labour’s ‘urban renaissance’.
    Two recently published books – Anna Minton’s Ground Control and This is Not a Gateway’s Critical Cities – take stock of the accumulated effects of New Labour’s ‘urban renaissance’. In his double review, Owen Hatherley sees the tired politics of micro-resistance go head-to-head with some much needed materialist geography
  • Dewey Music
    DeweyMusic is a new interface for Archive.org's wonderful public domain music library.You can listen to, download, remix, and share anything you see on this site legally and for free.
  • Open kitchen clipart
    After the release of our Puerto Livre de Cuisine Kookboek, all the drawings and illustrations now are available as clipart on Open Clip Art Library.
  • New Public Art: Redefining or Reconsidering Community-Based Art?
    Cruz and Lowe’s underlying debate – the redefinition of public art and artistic production. In their talk they proceed to discuss the ways in which artists can begin to reconfigure their practice, and thereby generate a new public art paradigm.
  • Commentary: Are China's demands for Internet 'self-discipline' spreading to the West? | McClatchy
    China's annual "self discipline" award is for private sector censorship.
  • art, science and tech.interactions: The Emergence of Open Design and Open Manufacturing from We-Magazine Volume 02
    Readers of this magazine will be familiar with the emergence and proliferation of a new form of value creation, peer production (as first defined by Yochai Benkler), in which communities of volunteers (but also in fact mostly paid creators and programmers once a project is successfull) create (open) content or (free) software, that is usable and accessible by everybody. Typical for peer production is that the producers create products (with both concepts being essentially misleading in this case!) in such a form that they form a commons which can be used and modified by others, who return it improved to the same common pool.
  • Open Patents - P2P Foundation
    See: Global Innovation Commons
  • P2P Foundation » Blog Archive » The tragedy of the distorted commons | Casa Robino
    "I call commons that are tied to capitalist growth distorted commons, where capital has successfully subordinated non-monetary values to its primary goal of accumulation. " // “Massimo De Angelis explains why capital’s commons will always be distorted – because they are based upon social injustice – and why we can only reclaim the commons from capital by constructing common interests.”
  • Teaching Heterodox Economics | The Economics Network
Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-22 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 01/23/2010 - 01:00
Categories: Feeds

Links for 2010-01-21 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 01/22/2010 - 01:00
Categories: Feeds