[27906] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYI France: summer reading, Thinking Different about The Digital
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Mon May 16 20:16:23 2011
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Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 13:10:23 -0700
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From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
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FYI France: summer reading, Thinking Different about The Digital
Summer reading from the Hexagone: do some thinking=20
outside-the-box --
=09"Libres Savoirs : Les biens communs de la connaissance --
=09produire collectivement, partager et diffuser les
=09connaissances au XXIe si=E8cle"
-- loose translation,
=09"Free Thinking : common cause for knowledge --
=09collectively producing, sharing, distributing, knowledge
=09in the 21st century"
-- a book of readings assembled by l'association VECAM (Veille=20
Europ=E9enne et Citoyenne sur les Autoroutes de l'information et le=20
Multim=E9dia, "A European's and citizen's vigil over the=20
information superhighway and multimedia", founded 1995,=20
http://vecam.org/) --
[tr. JK: description of the book --]
"A global look at the common cause for knowledge. Toward=20
networking which foresees no progress without the sharing of=20
information...
"Knowledge is a motor for the economy and for society. Nowadays=20
it is digitized, and it is circulated and distributed and shared=20
easily, enabling cooperation among different communities and the=20
creation of new knowledge. The dynamic and collective emergence=20
of these new common goods is overturning and updating our=20
economic and political thinking.
"The common cause of knowledge thus constitutes a pragmatic=20
utopia which offers new approaches to meeting the challenges of=20
the 21st century.
"For this book, 'Libres Savoirs', l'association VECAM has asked=20
30 writers, from all the continents, to provide a global look at=20
the common cause of knowledge.
"The diversity of the subjects, here -- from health to free=20
educational resources, from software to scientific publishing,=20
from plant seeds to legal questions -- is a reflection of the=20
vitality in global production of the common cause of knowledge,=20
and of the energy of communities which are producing it*."
"Contents
"The common cause, a pragmatic utopia", by Val=E9rie Peugeot
"A manifesto for the recovery of the common cause", by Fr=E9d=E9ric=20
Sultan
1) "Research, Life, Networks: three pillars of the common cause=20
of knowledge
"The Commons of scientific research :
"6 articles by : Charlotte Hess, Prabir Purkayastha & Amit=20
Sengupta, Jean-Claude Gu=E9don, Philippe Aigrain, Leslie Chan,=20
Subbiah Arunachalam & Barbara Kirsop, Ga=EBlle Krikorian
"To Nourish Humanity : seeds and native knowledge
"2 articles by : Guy Kastler, Adelita San Vicente Tello & Areli=20
Carre=F3n
"Cultural and Educational Content :
"2 articles by : Ahrash Bissell & James Boyle, Hala Essalmawi
"Sharing on an Open Network : the Digital Commons
"3 articles by : Herv=E9 Le Crosnier, Val=E9rie Peugeot, Michel=20
Bauwens
2) "The Knowledge Commons : getting things going in a globalized=20
world
"The public domain and common cause
"3 articles by : Communia, Madhavi Sunder & Anupam Chander, Xuan Li
"Liberty, Democracy, common cause
"3 articles by : Peter Linebaugh, Claire Brossaud, Herv=E9 Br=E9dif &=20
Didier Christin
"Social Movements
"2 articles by : David Bollier, Silke Helfrich
"Postface
"The Battle for the Commons", by Alain Rey
"For the full Table of Contents and a description of the book,=20
download the .pdf --
http://cfeditions.com/libresSavoirs/ressources/specimen_libres_savoirs.pdf
"VECAM is an association founded upon the following principles:
* information, cultural property, and knowledge all increasingly=20
are digital;
* the information networks increasingly blend their territories;
* all the forces which compose human societies are or will be=20
affected by the combination of these elements.
"The role of VECAM is to give citizens the means of researching,=20
understanding, debating, and mastering these transformations.
"More than just technical mastery of digital tools, it is to=20
demystification -- political and social -- that the association=20
tries to contribute.
"VECAM also assists in training by and for associations, citizen=20
organizations, and individuals."
http://vecam.org
* The book is published by C&F Editions, Caen, 29 euros, ISBN=20
978-2-915825-06-0, mai 2011
http://cfeditions.com/public/
http://cfeditions.com/libresSavoirs/
--oOo--
A Note:
One does not have to agree or disagree with these VECAM folks, to=20
find their ideas interesting and useful -- particularly if the=20
ideas are unfamiliar, as they may be to many readers here.
The ideas -- of Open Systems, Open Content, the Information=20
Commons, of Shareware and Freeware and The Global Village and the=20
Creative Commons, and of Non-Commercial and even Non-Governmental=20
infotech applications -- are not new to the Internet.
Their appearance here, however, may serve as a useful reminder to=20
some that such ideas still are alive.
Others will be interested to find how alive these ideas are=20
"elsewhere" -- outside, that is, of the narrow commercial and=20
governmental and security-minded worlds we all, increasingly it=20
seems, inhabit.
Digital information has matured, perhaps too quickly and perhaps=20
too much: from the Homebrew Computer Club and the Whole Earth=20
'Lectronic Link we have progressed, perhaps, to some of the=20
world's largest corporations, wielding immense social and=20
economic and political importance, plus very large bags of money.=20
But a "global village" age of innocence maybe has been lost, too,=20
so that now, "getting and spending, we lay waste our powers..."
Still others may be interested in another "elsewhere": in how=20
people think, about these things, in France, and in Europe, and=20
in Armenia and Afghanistan and Laos and Chile and all the other=20
places and peoples to which and to whom they now have spread --=20
that people there might Think Different, about Things Digital,=20
ought to go without saying, although the opposite too often is=20
assumed, that the Others think Just Like Us.
I enjoyed stunning an audience at XeroxPARC, long ago, with my=20
tale of a digital information network which offered a) graphics,=20
b) commercial uses, and, gasp, c) general public users, all long=20
formally-illegal on the "NSF Acceptable Use Policies" US=20
Internet: that miscreant was the French Minitel -- foreigners,=20
doing this stuff and Thinking Different about it. At the end of=20
my talk the techies in the audience, bored, clapped politely and=20
left; but the marketers stayed -- and there were many new=20
marketers already, back in 1994 -- and they pummeled me with=20
questions and excited emails which came in for years afterward.
The current New Yorker offers a great article on this theme=20
written by Malcolm Gladwell, "Creation Myth" (May 16 issue),=20
about the birth of the computer mouse, an invention famously=20
stillborn at SRI, and then again at PARC itself, but which came=20
alive later in the hands of genius sales midwife Steve Jobs.
And there was Feynman, too, proving to the experts that O-rings=20
would in fact freeze...
So try some outside-the-box Thinking Different, then -- this=20
summer, again from the French.
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.com
=09=09=09--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071-5916
*
| FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic
| journal published since 1992 as a small-scale,
| personal experiment, in the creation of large-
| scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler.
/ \ Any material written by me which appears in
----- FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for
// \\ any good purpose, so long as, a) they give me
--------- credit and show my email address, and, b) it
// \\ isn't going to make them money: if it is going
=09=09 to make them money, they must get my permission
in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me.=20
Use of material written by others requires their permission. FYI=20
France archives may be found at http://listserv.uh.edu/archives/pacs-l.html
(PACS-L archive), or http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Collections/FYIFrance/
or http://www.fyifrance.com -- also now at http://www.facebook.com
("Jack Kessler" My Notes), and at http://fyifrance.blogspot.com/.
Suggestions, reactions, criticisms, praise, and poison-pen=20
letters all gratefully received at kessler@well.sf.ca.us .
=09Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler,
=09all rights reserved except as indicated above.
=09=09=09--hjlm--
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