Critical Point of View: Second international conference of the CPOV Wikipedia Research Initiative :: March 26-27, 2010 :: OBA (Public Library Amsterdam, next to Amsterdam central station), Oosterdokskade 143, Amsterdam.

Wikipedia is at the brink of becoming the de facto global reference of dynamic knowledge. The heated debates over its accuracy, anonymity, trust, vandalism and expertise only seem to fuel further growth of Wikipedia and its user base. Apart from leaving its modern counterparts Britannica and Encarta in the dust, such scale and breadth places Wikipedia on par with such historical milestones as Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, the Ming Dynasty’s Wen-hsien ta- ch’ eng, and the key work of French Enlightenment, the Encyclopedie. Continue reading

Manhattan Bridge Piers by kvertrees

From Uploading the Avant-Garde: “… YouTube has solidified its slot as a home for the vernacular avant-garde… (It is) still incubating novel forms of creative expression and cultivating new audiences…”

Michel Bauwens, founder of the Peer to Peer Foundation, is one of those who believe in open spaces and creation without incentive. In this interview he talks about the Free Software and Wikipedia movements as pointers to a genuine change in the way we think, create and distribute goods. He believes that we have never before had such real-time possibilities for human cooperation and collective intelligence on a global scale.

The economic collapse of 2008 is leading many people to question the suitability of the capitalist economic system. At the same time, many people are unsure about the system that can replace capitalism. The most common solution is, of course, socialism. But there are those who wonder whether there could be alternatives, though no serious discussion seems to have taken place on this subject. Continue reading

[Image: Garden of Forking Paths by wasabicube] Nate Tkacz wrote: Hi all,

I would like to add to the discussion about recursive publics*, consensus and forking. Anna briefly mentioned Christoph Spehr’s discussion of “withdrawal” in Free Cooperation. Her point, as I understand it, was to emphasise dissensus rather than consensus as the aspect of recursive publics that makes it significant as a political structure. Chris Kelty (from now on CK to avoid confusion) pointed to the practice of forking as an instance of productive dissensus. Through the practice of forking people can leave a project, taking the (non-exclusive) source code or whatever other materials that constitute the public with them and continue in a different direction. The fact that forking is a possibility, writes CK, keeps contributors responsive to each other and this presumably also works to legitimize the recursive public: Continue reading

Put your online friends in your pocket and … in your jacket! Based on our online communication style with social networks such as facebook and the research on remote physical communication, you can now be anonymously/friends-only massaged. Brainchild of Keywon Chung, Carnaven Chiu, Xiao Xiao, Peggy Pei-Yu Chi and Hiroshi Ishii, Stress OutSourced (SOS) is a peer-to-peer network that allows anonymous users to send each other therapeutic massages to relieve stress. By applying the emerging concept of crowdsourcing to haptic therapy, SOS brings physical and affective dimensions to our already networked lifestyle while preserving the privacy of its members. SOS is an exploration and illustration of a new field of haptic social networking. [Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure] Read more about the project here [PDF]

[Image: Visualizations of Remix Culture by Participatory Media Lab. Also see Remix Culture: Creative Reuse and the Licensing of Digital Media in Online Communities]

Mapping the Global Commons: A Quantitative Perspective on Free Cultural Practice — a talk by Giorgos Cheliotis :: July 14, 2009; 12:30 pm :: Berkman Center, Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge, MA + webcast live :: RSVP required.

Where in the world are people using Creative Commons licenses? How much content is licensed under Creative Commons and what are the individual, social and cultural factors that influence adoption? Also, what happens after content is made available for remixing under an open license? What kind of ‘cultural flows’ emerge from ad-hoc, large-scale remixing activity and how do these vary under different incentives for production? These are the questions I will attempt to sketch an answer for, combining data analysis, visualizations, and individual, qualitative perspectives. Continue reading

“‘Pirate Philosophy’ explores how the development of various forms of so-called internet piracy is affecting ideas of the author, the book, the scholarly journal, peer review, intellectual property, copyright law, content creation and cultural production that were established pre-internet. To this end it contains a number of contributions that engage with the philosophy of internet piracy, as well as the emergence out of peer-to-peer file sharing networks of actual social movements - even a number of political ‘Pirate Parties’.1

So much so usual for a publication on the topic perhaps. What makes this issue of Culture Machine a little different is, firstly, its refusal to ascribe an intrinsic or essential value to piracy… ” Introduction to Pirate Philosophy by Gary Hall, Culture Machine, Vol. 10 (2009). Continue reading

1. Literature is language-based and national; contemporary society is globalizing and polyglot.

2. Vernacular means of everyday communication — cellphones, social networks, streaming video — are moving into areas where printed text cannot follow.

3. Intellectual property systems failing.

4. Means of book promotion, distribution and retail destabilized. Continue reading

Open Translation Tools 2009 (OTT09) :: June 22-24, 2009 :: Amsterdam, The Netherlands :: Call for Participants!

OTT09 will be followed by an Open Translation “Book Sprint” which will produce a first-of-its-kind volume on tools and best practices in the field of Open Translation. Both events are being co-organized in partnership with FLOSSManuals.net and Translate.org.za, and generously supported by the Open Society Institute. Continue reading

Upgrade! Berlin and Transmediale present eXgae (Barcelona): Multiply and Share Forth. For the Free Sharing of Knowledge and Culture :: June 4, 2009; 6:00 – 12:00 pm :: Klubraum Podewil, Podewils’sches Palais, im Klubraum Klosterstr. 68, 10179 Berlin.

The Internet allows the horizontal exchange of information and culture between everyone. Over the course of the last decades we have reached a level of equality between original and reproduction. Because of this, mediums of production need to adapt themselves to this new type of democracy and not the other way around. Nowadays, new ways of protecting and promoting creative outcomes emerge and need to be investigated. The goal of this workshop is to familiarize a public (not expert but interested) with the new possibilities of cultural diffusion that is offered by the digital era and its collaborative culture. Continue reading