From the New Economy, to New Ways to Work A two and a half hour discussion and workshop with Michel Bauwens, invited panelists and the public, to explore and discuss the emerging commons movement and peer to peer / solidarity economy, and its implications for new ways to work. Fri, October 14, 2016 from 1:00… Continue reading
This is part 3 of a 4-part series of conversations with activists from around the world. Rich: I have been tracking these movements for five years now. They turn up, they learn something, they do something, people have an experience and then the moment expires. The progress goes underground where it can’t be seen. So… Continue reading
“The OpenBionics project is focused on developing an open-source, light-weight, modular prosthetic device. They have come up with a unique hand that is inexpensive, light-weight, and can be reproduced with fairly inexpensive tools like a consumer-grade 3D printer. This innovative project will have a major impact on people in need a of prosthetics, and is… Continue reading
A contribution from Chris Cook So a traveller is passing through the sleepy US Midwest town. Looking for somewhere to stay in the area he rings the bell at the Hotel A reception and asks to see the rooms. The owner (A) scowls and tells him to have a look around the rooms if he… Continue reading
By David Bollier and Silke Helfrich In Valais in the Swiss Alps, an elaborate system of irrigation canals has existed for half a millennium. In the high-altitude Sacred Valley of the Incas, in Peru, the Quechua people have cultivated the richest diversity of potatoes anywhere on the planet since time immemorial. Since the time of… Continue reading
After years of mediocre negotiations on an international agreement to limit future climate change, it is easy to be cynical about the viability of a global strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What do these large conferences really mean for the future of the planet? Our correspondent reports back from the December 2015 COP21 meeting… Continue reading
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place in the family of things.” The poet Mary Oliver reminds us the choice to come home into the community of life is ours, every day… Continue reading
Announcing a new film and groundbreaking collaboration This new film by Furtherfield in collaboration with Digital Catapult broadens the current debate about the impact of emerging blockchain technologies. The underpinning technology of Bitcoin digital currency, the Blockchain is reshaping concepts of value, trust, law and governance. This film sets out to diversify the people involved… Continue reading
What does the Deliveroo drivers’ strike mean for the future of the sharing economy – and the future of work? A Podcast conversation on last August’s Deliveroo strike, from the New Economics Foundation’s always excellent Weekly Economics Podcast. Last week, Deliveroo drivers in London went on strike for six days in opposition to new contracts… Continue reading
Yesterday evening, Thom Hartmann, the progressive talk show host, interviewed me on his “Conversations with Great Minds” national TV show. The two 12-minute video segments are embedded below. I don’t think the commons has ever had this much airtime on American (cable) television. A big salute to Thom for hosting this kind of material on his… Continue reading
If you ask Wall Street, Twitter is in trouble. The user-base is growing, but not quickly enough. Ad revenue is growing too, but not as quickly as it once did. The only answer to this leveling-out, it seems, is the platform’s acquisition by a bigger corporate bird, which can regurgitate an influx of capital and… Continue reading
Our colleague José Luís Vivero Pol recently gave us the heads-up on this Master of Research. José Luís also highlights that there are several scholarships available which will halve the fees and provide additional support, but these have to be requested. Here’s the description from the International University College of Turin’s website: Pollenzo, June 20,… Continue reading
The Upstream Podcast is at it again, with a documentary produced in Athens and focused on the Greek debt crisis. Greece was all over the news in 2014 and 2015. You might remember hearing about the new radical left party Syriza, the referendum, the demonstrations and violence in the streets, the German banks, or the flamboyant Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis…. Continue reading
Let’s engage in a way to produce goods and create value that is free, fair, and sustainable! What is peer production and commons economics? More importantly, how can they help bring about a thriving economy that work for people and planet? The following 10 ideas for action are the result of 10 years of research… Continue reading
There are many questions still to be answered in the growing literature on the commons, central to which is the role of the state in respecting and fulfilling our basic socioeconomic rights. The ‘commons’ can become a very strong discourse and practice to re-order today’s progressive political forces, but does it mean we have to… Continue reading
Matthieu Lietaert: Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Trebor Scholz, Associate Professor for Culture & Media at the New School and author of the book Uber-Worked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy (Polity, 2016). He is currently touring European cities to talk about platform cooperativism. Platform cooperativism, as he puts it,… Continue reading