Blog Archives

Benevolent Dictators, Killer Apps and Peer-to-Peer: A True Match?

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By Peter Troxler, research professor at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and owner of Square One.

In my lectures on the Third Industrial Revolution I usually depict the capitalist as the iconic agent of the first industrial revolution, the management consultant as the one of the second and the maker as the one of the third. In my thinking the maker is not Make: magazine‘s Randian hero but rather the collective peer-producer. But sometimes I wonder if this is just wishful thinking.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014

New urban spaces and the power of the crowd

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By Ignasi Clos, partner and open innovation consultant at Induct Software AS.

Technology allows us to actively participate in deciding how we want our street, our neighbourhood or even our cities to look like, but are we ready to take advantage of this opportunity? Ignasi Clos is an open innovation specialist who thinks that there are some challenges we need to overcome in order to fully advance in this direction. Check out his reflections in the short video below.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014
About the Question
How many peers does it take to change a light bulb?

Systems like Linux and websites like Wikipedia are paradigmatic of a particular way of open collaboration known as peer production. Peer producers choose their tasks freely and coordinate their work using open digital platforms. They share the fruits of their labour as part of a global commons, and everyone works according to their abilities and benefits according to their needs.

Is this an emerging form of communism? Or the future of liberal capitalism? Or is it simply a new mode of production? In this blog we want to explore both the benefits and the downsides of such way of working.

UOC/IN3 degrees