Peer2Politics

Michel Bauwens is opening a discursive path which, in my judgement, prepares new consensuses and tools broad social and ideological sectors fit into. It would be a mistake to see it as something “passing” or as a mere ideological expression. It’s still in an early state, but it’s quite possible that, in the near future, it may bring together or constitute broad opinion trends.

This is a draft version of an essay which appeared in Framework,the Finnish Art Review on contemporary art and culture, which dedicated Issue 10 on the 'Rescue Plan" for the current financial meltdown.

This entry is about the theory of the four future scenarios for a collaborative economy, firstly developed by Michel Bauwens. It is important to mention that Vasilis Kostakis and Michel Bauwens are working on a research monograph that explores the relation of capitalism and the Commons. The book Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy is contracted by Palgrave Macmillan.

“Both brokering and boundary-spanning roles greatly increase the likelihood of leadership points to the importance of social positions that can unite open innovation communities. We argued that trust does not come easily to community members who fear cooptation by commercial interests or forking over technical disagreements. Because brokers by definition contrive less cohesive and less trusting contexts, the probability that they will assume leadership roles remains highly contingent on building trust with community members. We argue that aspiring leaders can build trust through physical attendance and, consistent with this argument, find a positive interaction with physical attendance. Also consistent with our emphasis on trust in open innovation communities, brokerage and boundary spanning demonstrated a negative interaction, indicating that brokers who span boundaries remain at a disadvantage. While brokerage alone demonstrates positive influence on becoming a leader, boundary spanning demonstrates a much stronger effect. Finally, we did not observe a contingent relationship between boundary spanning and attendance. Our results emphasize the importance of intermediary and integrating roles—for brokers within technological boundaries, and for boundary spanners across cohesive technological boundaries."

People have very different ideas about what’s exciting. I think companies don’t give enough credit to their own people, both in terms of their ability to decide what knowledge they have and what is interesting and not interesting to them and in terms of self-regulation. A big surprise for me is that in the open-source software world, this notion of self-selection takes center stage. You find that all the work, even the dullest work, gets done in the interest of finishing the project.

Commons-based peer production (CBPP) is a new and increasingly significant model of social innovation based on collaborative production by citizens through the Internet.

This essay set out to show, through the case of the RepRap-based, Lego-built 3D printing-milling machine, two points: First, on a theoretical level, that modularity, not only in terms of development process but also of hardware components, can catalyze CBPP’s replication for tangible products enabling social experimentation, learning and innovation. Second, that the synergy of a globally accessible knowledge Commons as well as of the CBPP practices with digital fabrication technologies, which are advancing and becoming more and more accessible, can arguably offer the ability to think globally and produce locally. 

This entry is about the theory of the four future scenarios for a collaborative economy, firstly developed by Michel Bauwens. It is important to mention that Vasilis Kostakis and Michel Bauwens are working on a research monograph that explores the relation of capitalism and the Commons. The book Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy is contracted by Palgrave Macmillan.

"We are a Chilean group called “Red de Evolución Colaborativa” (Collaborative Evolution Network), RedEC. We work in the study, analysis, implementation and promotion of alternative production models.

The purpose of this talk is to trace the relationship between collectivization and the concept of the commons, and discuss the P2P mode of production, analyzing the impact and the consequences for economic and social forms of relationships and organization.

“The favelas are emerging as “symbolic capital”, as “wealth”, and as “commodities” in cities like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are no longer the place of “excluded” non-subjects, as in some imaginaries and discourses, but rather a cyber-periphery, a place of “wealth in poverty” fought over by Nike, Globo Network Television, and the State, as well as laboratories for subjective production. The black bodies of the favelas, the possibilities for co-operation without hierarchy, the invention of other times and spaces (on the streets, in dancehalls, LAN centers, and rooftops) are all subjected to forms of appropriation, just like anything else in capitalism. However, the favelas are no longer seen simply as “poverty factories”, but rather a form of capital in the market of symbolic national and local values, having been able to convert the most hostile forces (poverty, violence, states of emergency) into a process of creation and cultural invention.”

These changes are highly visible in a city like Rio de Janeiro, a territory in dispute. The city, which has always been a meta-narrative for Brazil, is currently undergoing profound transformations that place it at the centre of cognitive, affective and communicationalCapitalism 2.0.

The favelas are emerging as “symbolic capital”, as “wealth”, and as “commodities” in cities like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are no longer the place of “excluded” non-subjects, as in some imaginaries and discourses, but rather a cyber-periphery, a place of “wealth in poverty” fought over by Nike, Globo Network Television, and the State, as well as laboratories for subjective production. The black bodies of the favelas, the possibilities for co-operation without hierarchy, the invention of other times and spaces (on the streets, in dancehalls, LAN centers, and rooftops) are all subjected to forms of appropriation, just like anything else in capitalism. However, the favelas are no longer seen simply as “poverty factories”, but rather a form of capital in the market of symbolic national and local values, having been able to convert the most hostile forces (poverty, violence, states of emergency) into a process of creation and cultural invention.