(originally published here) A couple of weeks ago I attended the Swatantra’17 conference in Trivandrum, Kerala, and came back with a lot of food for thought. First of all, a great conference Many important topics, by a well balanced mix of national and foreign speakers, nice venue… Thanks and well done, ICFOSS! The only things… Continue reading Swatantra ’17: software freedom, and awareness of larger picture
Let’s Communify the Collaborative Economy!
Fifteen projects have been taking part in the La Comunificadora programme at Barcelona Activa, since mid-November. They are exploring the viability of a collaborative economy which considers the commons, looks at the social impact and seeks to establish fair relationships among agents. (Català – Español) All of these projects have already started training activities and… Continue reading Let’s Communify the Collaborative Economy!
Collaborative Economy, Principles and Case Studies
Last week the new collaborative economy support programme, La Comunificadora (the “Commons Makery”), was launched at an open session in the Convent de Sant Agustí (Barcelona). (Español – Català) Several projects with the potential to participate in the support programme were presented in the session. Among them was the idea of creating a special currency… Continue reading Collaborative Economy, Principles and Case Studies
FKI assembles Legal Advisory Board to support the DiDIY Project
One of the research tracks of the Digital DIY (DiDIY) Project is the one (Work Package 6) on DiDIY Legal Issues, Rights and Responsibilities. We are happy to announce that, in order to assist us in that activity, the DiDIY Project has specifically set up a DiDIY Legal Advisory Board (LAB). This is a honorary… Continue reading FKI assembles Legal Advisory Board to support the DiDIY Project
Digital Commons at the IASC Regional European Conference in Bern
Last week I had the pleasure to participate in the Regional European Conference in Bern, Switzerland, organised by the International Association of the Commons, the IASC. The main theme was “GLOBAL CONNECTIONS AND LOCAL RESPONSES”, an adequate theme for many of the social movements and commons initiatives around the world. The natural resource and social… Continue reading Digital Commons at the IASC Regional European Conference in Bern
Sustainable Fabrication
On March 7th I was invited to present my vision on sustainable fabrication in a course cycle organised by the cooperative Tarpuna and the Ateneus de Fabricació in Barcelona. The course cycle was focused on sustainable and social fabrication, citizen empowerment and circular economy. We had some very interesting speakers, like Adrian Smith, from University… Continue reading Sustainable Fabrication
Now is LoRa: Building the Smart City bottom up
On Monday 16 November a panel discussion about The Things Network (TTN) and LoRaWAN was organised in FabLab Barcelona (in Catalan and English). The aim was to look at TTN from a commons perspective, a standpoint often missed in the Internet of Things industry, but one that is particularly relevant since the Smart City Expo… Continue reading Now is LoRa: Building the Smart City bottom up
The Things Network: 4x Commons for the Internet of Things
The Things Network is an initiative to build a distributed wireless data network for connecting “things” to the net, fully owned and controlled by its users. The Internet of Things (IoT) typically consists of electronic devices with sensors and actuators that transmit small bits of data to the net. The Things Network (TTN) uses a… Continue reading The Things Network: 4x Commons for the Internet of Things
The Commons Law Perspective, Open Hardware and Digital DIY
On October 1st I had an interview with David Bollier. Given his decade long work on the commons, as researcher and activist, author of books like Viral Spiral and in particular his work on Laws and the Commons, I thought that his perspective would be meaningful for our research in the DiDIY project. In particular… Continue reading The Commons Law Perspective, Open Hardware and Digital DIY
The Right to Repair
I have always thought that repairing a broken product is better than throwing it away, even though quite a few products are designed in ways that don’t help or directly encourage not to repair. In general, repairing is good for your personal wallet and good for the environment, right? Now that digital fabrication tools are… Continue reading The Right to Repair