"There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now. "– James A. Baldwin
There is the beginning of a conversation on the iDC listserv about peer production and the relationship to the market betwee Pat Krane (who reviewed a piece by Don Tapscott) and Michael Bauwens. They reference Benkler and some other political economic theorists. Could be useful.
https://lists.thing.net/pipermail/idc/2007-August/002729.html
The purpose of LaborTech is to bring together labor video, computer and media activists in the US and from around the world to build and develop labor communication technology and media. The first conference was held in 1990 and they have been held throughout the United States as well as Canada and Russia. Labor Media conferences are also held in Seoul. We believe that a critical task for labor is building a labor communication media movement that can tell our stories and break the corporate information blockade in every corner of the world.
Dissertation by Leo Burd, MIT Media Lab
http://web.media.mit.edu/~leob/thesis/
Despite the recent advances in science and technology, never in history has
the world seen so much discrepancy in wealth, power and living conditions.
Believing that information and communication technologies can help address
this issue, governments and funding organizations have been investing in
bringing computers and internet connectivity to underserved communities.
Unfortunately, many of those initiatives end up privileging the community
residents who were the most visible, literate or active, leaving behind the
ones who would need additional support and reinforcing even more the status
quo.
In order to foster a more democratic and participatory society, it is
important to create initiatives that are more inclusive and empower
individuals to control their own development. In this thesis, I propose a
framework for the design and analysis of technological initiatives for
social empowerment and I apply the framework in the implementation of two
initiatives that focus primarily on youth participation and local civic
engagement.
In the Young Activists Network initiative, I worked with youth technology
centers from different parts of the world organizing young people to become
agents of change in the places where they live. After two years trying
different ideas, it became clear that, in spite of the localized successes,
the Young Activists Network approach required so much effort from our
partner community organizations and volunteers that it would be virtually
impossible to sustain it over time and scale it to other sites.
Based on the lessons learned, I started the What’s Up Lawrence project, an
initiative that aimed at building a self-reinforcing, city-wide network to
help young people in the organization of personally meaningful community
events. In order to support such a network, I built What’s Up, a
neighborhood news system that combines the power of the telephone and of the
web to make it easier for young people to share information, promote
community events, and find out what is happening in their region.
This thesis provides a detailed description of the process that led to What’s
Up. It also highlights the main technical, educational and organizational
elements that have to be considered in the implementation of technological
initiatives for social empowerment and suggests the creation of a special
organization to help in the adoption and further refinement of the proposed
initiatives.
My colleague Hans Klien at Georgia Tech recommended this book and I find that Benkler’s research interests are closely aligned with my own.
Yochai Benkler -Â Yale Law School – yochai.benkler@yale.edu
http://www.benkler.org/
Research interests
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So these are the concepts that have been forming over the last couple of weeks. Part of my to do list is to begin aggregating the core of what will be my dissertation and research bibilography. I’ll need figure out how these ideas intersect. Physical layer, content layer, and guiding political philosophies that will shape how we come to understand the possibilities for civic sector use of communications tools and infrastructure.
It’s been sometime since I’ve posted content to the MediaMix blog. But since I’ll be beginning my doctoral program in the fall thought this would be a good time to start re-orienting my thinking towards media, community, technology, sustainability, and the ways in which civic, government, and business sectors intersect.
I’m going to use this as the place for my thinking and shaping of my research and eventually dissertation.
119 Gallery is a cool contemporary art space in Lowell, MA They engage young, old, new and established artists in a range of video, sound, and interactive art forms. The organization will be kicking off a fundraiser for its educational program with a jazz brunch on April 1st. We are trying to raise $5,000 in order to purchase 5 laptops for a variety of workshops both onsite at the 119 Gallery and with our educational partners.
Take a moment to check them out at http://www.119gallery.org and if you like what you see, either join us at our brunch on April 1st and / or contribute to our goals via Chipin – http://119gallery.chipin.com .
So I’ve been sitting here watching the Oscars over the last almostthree hours – so some thoughts. The host, Ellen Degeneris, is setting atone that is casual and low-key. Environmentalism is highlighted. -the live event seems infused with diversity. There have been manylanguages, countries, races, and lifestyles portrayed by the livepeople and the films themselves. There are lots of behind the scenesactiom and the underpinnings of filmmaking. I have this feeling thatwe are being pulled in as important elements of the event. Thebroadcast makes me think that maybe as a culture Americans are on theverge of finally expanding and growing into the global communities weare part of it. It’s been a hopeful and comforting night. Something Iwouldn’t have expected at all.
Jeff Jarvis relfects on the importance of the Internet in shaping the outcome of this election. Here are his thoughts
I think the internet brought more change to the biorhythms of American politics inthis election than the last, but in more subtle ways that we can only now begin to measure.Start with this: Wouldn’t it be ironic if the netroots’ excommunication of Joe Lieberman led the Democrats to lose a seat and not quite get control of the Senate? It won’t matter much in reality, of course. Lieberman’s still a Democrat, whether some Democrats want him or not.But there’s a lesson here for newly empowered popular movements and for political parties. It’s just not clear yet what that lesson is. Does the law of unintended consequences rule: A movement rose up to purge Lieberman from the party but ended up losing one for the party? Or does this demonstrate to party leaders that they can’t lose control of their parties? Can they still? The people and the power brokers have to figure out who’s on top.And:YouTube allowed anyone with a camera to report on any candidate and so now any misstatement gains toxicity and speed; this is the true viral politics.The speed of politics has changed, just as the speed of media did before it. Dan Rather couldn’t wait 11 days to correct his mistake. Allen and Kerry couldn’t wait hours to back off their media malaprops.The voice of politics has changed, not just because the people can now be heard in our blogs but also because we can cut through the nonsense of media coverage with the no-nonsense attitude of comedy news. On YouTube, you can remix and mock any politician. Anyone can be Jon Stewart. Everyone can call bullshit. I hope we are starting to see the death of the dutiful voice of politics in America.Yes, this was an incredibly ugly, TV-run election in many races (including our Senate race in New Jersey) but I believe that we will see an ever-declining influence of television and political advertising on TV in future elections. They will find new ways to get ugly in new media.
BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » The net’s voice in the election
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Last weekend (beginnig of October) I spend my entire Saturday, pulling my out of shape body up the moderate Imp Trail in the White Mountains. An old friend Bill was visiting an old friend of his, Scott, and they invited me to join them.
Here’s a pic (taken by Bill) of me and Scott on the trail. Have to say I almost gave up not even 1/2 way up the trail. But I stuck with it and both Bill and Scott were patience with me. They are in far better shape than myself. I was psyched to have completed the trail.
And here we are up at the top. I really need to get myself more fit. Overall it was a really great day. The weather was fantastic and the trail not too crowded. I guess I need to find myself a club to hike with.