Peer2Politics

This essay narrates, from a creator-observation perspective, the production of two works of fiction, a book of short stories and a play, based on the principles and technologies of Commons-based peer production (CBPP). This is potentially interesting from both the CBPP and the literary perspective. Even though both seem well-matched by their prima facie lack of profit orientation, CBPP case studies rarely deal with fiction, and regarding plays, artistic creativity is still mostly associated with one, maybe two. After tracing and analysing the CBPP phenomenon, the case studies show concretely the fate of the specific projects as well as how, nowadays, people can involve in collaborative artistic projects inspired and catalysed by Commons-oriented principles and technologies.

Douglas Rushkoff is in fine form in this video interview, recorded by Alex Pasternack for Motherboard in early 2012. The interview is still highly relevant today.

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.

“Anyone reasonably informed today understands that we are going through a major cultural shift. Capitalism and logics of egoist accumulation have led to the destruction of the environment, and as the number of humans on earth does not cease to grow, worst case scenari beckons. The scale of environmental man-made damages suggests that we need to envision new scalable collective solutions. Everything humans do is a form of technology, so it is technology itself that needs to radically changed to revert the adverse effects on our environment. I propose this axiom to get closer to that “ideal paradigm” : “If a technology is good for the environment, it should be made available for everyone to use, modify, distribute.” That is simple enough to call for a volunteer action and establish a consensus among a group of individuals to work together towards a common objective.”

 

American culture has been dominated for so long by Hollywood, Broadway and the nonprofit industrial complex that it is hard to imagine theatrical performance without the stars, the spectacle, the corporate investments and marketing hype.  What would it be like if theater were taken off its big-money pedestal and allowed to speak to serious social concerns, politics, ethnicity and the human condition as it is actually experienced? 

In addition to our efforts in the P2P Lab and to our collaborators and partners (for example the DLN network or the Athens-basedhackerspace), the  TEPSIE report (see the full citation and more info about it at the end) contains some more initiatives with the aim to build alternatives for the Greek society:

This essay narrates, from a creator-observation perspective, the production of two works of fiction, a book of short stories and a play, based on the principles and technologies of Commons-based peer production (CBPP). This is potentially interesting from both the CBPP and the literary perspective. Even though both seem well-matched by their prima facie lack of profit orientation, CBPP case studies rarely deal with fiction, and regarding plays, artistic creativity is still mostly associated with one, maybe two. After tracing and analysing the CBPP phenomenon, the case studies show concretely the fate of the specific projects as well as how, nowadays, people can involve in collaborative artistic projects inspired and catalysed by Commons-oriented principles and technologies.

Shareable and the Sustainable Economies Law Center have released a fantastic new report surveying the ways in which cities can adopt policies to promote “sharing” in a range of areas -- food, housing, transportation and jobs.  The landmark report, “Policies for Shareable Cities:  A Sharing Economy Policy Primer for Urban Leaders,” pulls together “scores of innovative, high impact policies that US city governments have put in place to help citizens share resources, co-produce, and create their own jobs.” 

In this age of marauding markets, it almost seems quaint to ask, “Who owns culture?”  We know the answer.  When push comes to shove, the owners of copyright, trademarks and patents own everything.  We may think that the music, images and stories of our culture belong to us, but as a matter of law, in the 165+ countries that have signed the Berne Convention, our designated role is....to buy (and not use someone else's "property.")   

As the son of a geography teacher, who spent endless hours of my youth poring over maps, I’ve always been fascinated with border lines.

“Water Governance for 21st Century, by Shiney Varghese at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, makes a compelling case urging advcates and policy makers to advance an approach combining the commons framework and the Public Trust Doctrine principles. Shiney notes that the tendency of recent trends to rely on market and rights–based policies has exaccerbated the failures in water governance. These approaches do not “solve problems such as poor management, existing over-allocation or failing water governance.”

The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project dedicated to showcasing the most interesting and unusual out-of-copyright works available online. 

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. Of course, there are several 3D printers as well as CNC machines on the market; however, through our case study, it became obvious how the synergy of CBPP practices and tools with modular hardware components can offer innovative, novel products, such as a hybrid 3D printing-milling machine. When hardware becomes modular, we saw and discussed how individuals – no matter their age, level of expertise and initial skills – could engage in stigmergically collaborative productive processes of designing, programming and manufacturing. The parts and components of modular objects could be re-used for their own improvement or for the design of other products, enabling collaborative (and thus incremental) innovation within hardware construction. Taking into consideration the trends and trajectories of the current information-based societies, the fact that a non-expert can take advantage of a peer produced knowledge Commons and of very elementary digital fabrication capabilities and become capable of developing such a sophisticated machine, in collaboration with others, can be considered a positive message indeed.

As thousands of water specialists gather in Stockholm for World Water Week, there will be a lot of discussions around technical and efficient delivery of water but too few conversations on the nature of water as a public and democratic good.

How far we’ve come in ten years!  In 2004 a number of us at the Tomales Bay Institute – the predecessor to On the Commons – tried to get a number of small communities to conduct what we called “local commons surveys.”  The idea was to encourage people to make their own inventory of the many overlooked commons that touch their everyday lives, and especially those that are threatened by enclosure.  By making commons more visible, we reasoned, people might begin to organize to defend them.  It was a great idea, but only one or two communities actually got it together to survey their local commons.  A valiant experiment with modest results. 

"One of the most significant impediments to positive social change is the entrenched power of market-fundamentalism as an economic and political paradigm. The prevailing dogma is that only a scheme of individual self-interest, expansive individual property rights, market exchange and globalized free trade can advance human well-being. This view has increasingly been called into question as the predatory dynamics of the market economy became clear and as its threats to the biosphere have become more acute.

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.

Through the case of the RepRap-based, Lego-built three-dimensional (3D) printing-milling machine, this paper sets out to discuss and illustrate two points: First, on a theoretical level, that modularity, not only in terms of development process but also of hardware components, can catalyze Commons-based peer production’s (CBPP) replication for tangible products enabling social experimentation and learning. Second, the hybrid 3D printing-milling machine demonstrates the digitization of material and the potential of digital fabrication. We show how 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.

“Exchange and virtual currencies networks refer to activities organised by groups of citizens in specific regions or across the whole of Greece, where transactions are taking place without the use of money. They are based either on the exchange of products and services or on virtual currencies such as the unit of time or coupons issued by the networks’ members. Some of them are online networks where the members can notify when they want to give something away for free or when they need something.