Blog Archives

One white middle-class man

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By Mayo Fuster, researcher, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3-UOC).

Head of the P2PValue project and faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Mayo Fuster relies on recent data to support her reflections on the main question of this blog. According to her, peer production has still issues to address — for instance, it is not coping very well with gender equity —, but above all the success of the model, which now encompasses more than 30 areas of activity, relies on its increased efficiency. Get Fuster’s complete reflections on the topic in the short video below. Her contribution was recorded at the Ouishare Fest Barcelona event.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014

The citizen producer at the epicenter of the P2P revolution

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By Albert Cañigueral, founder of ConsumoColaborativo and OuiShare Connector in Barcelona (Spain).

Platforms are eating the world

Never before in human history has been as simple as today to coordinate peers at a massive scale. Jeremy Heimans calls it the “new power” and we see new power all around us. Wikipedia is a prime example of this.

The same basic capabilities are applied to the co-creation and exchange of, not only information, but goods, services, money, value, etc. Sharing economy, collaborative consumption, collaborative economy, p2p economy, etc. you can pick your favorite term to describe this scenario where people are empowered to get directly what they need from each other. Traditional businesses are being disrupted by coordinated collaboration among the people formerly known as “customers”. The genie is clearly out of the bottle and won’t be put back anytime soon.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014

Towards a peer society based on the commons

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By George Dafermos, research coordinator, FLOK Society; and research associate, P2P Foundation.

If the previous decade brought the business embrace of Linux, free software and the knowledge commons of science and technology to the fore, the present one marks their entry into the field of politics as discourses with broad social acceptance. From the FLOK Society project in remote Ecuador to Cooperativa Integral Catalana (CIC) in Spain and SYRIZA in Greece, the epicentre of discussion is a model for the organization of social, political, economic and cultural life, based on the principles of peer production and governance, of social and solidarity economy, and of the social-collective goods which we refer to as “the Commons”.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014

My view on peer production

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By Jakob Rigi, associate professor, Central European University.

I would like to formulate briefly my view on peer production, first introducing in what consists and secondly its implications.

Peer production constitutes the germs of a new mode of production which has the two following major characteristics. 1) The production is an open, collective and collaborative process in which technological know-how is shared. The cooperation is coordinated almost horizontally with a minimum authority for the coordinator. 2) In the realm of distribution the digitally peer produced commons is available for humanity at large regardless of contribution.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014

Use the Open Source, Luke!

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By Maxigas, researcher, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3-UOC).

Peer to peer superpowers
In this blog entry I summon the Light Side and also the Dark Side, then ask what binds them together. So my answer to the Open Thoughts 2014 Question ― How many peers does it take to change a light bulb? ― is “3”. Namely, Rebel General Dodonna, the Emperor Palpatine himself and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Open Thoughts for Open Force!

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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