User involvement through people-centered design and social software
Today, my friend Nadja Pass and I are launching the first part of our project “Borgerlyst”.
The word Borgerlyst is a Danish portmanteau of Nadja’s invention. It consists of the two words Borger (meaning citizen) and Lyst (roughly meaning lust, urge, delight, inclination). In short, a sort of civic urge. It is meant as a [...]
Today, I came across a presentation called “How to Build a Post-Scarcity Village Using Existing Technology“, which introduces a project called Open Source Ecology.
The people behind the project argue that we already have the technological foundations needed to ensure a sustainable and pleasant standard of living, and that with some effort, these technology can [...]
One of the bloggers I read regularly is the American journalist Jeff Jarvis. Jarvis provides insight into the changing media landscape, and has written a book called “What Would Google Do”, which uses Google as a case in point of these changes.
One of the most interesting aspects of this is what Jarvis calls the “the [...]
Some time ago, I read Networking Futures by Jeff Juris. A trained anthropologist, Juris spent 18 months conducting ethnographic fieldwork among anti-corporate globalization activists in Barcelona at the height of the protests against the neo-liberal economic institutions in 2000-2002.
Juris’ main argument is simple enough: That the practices of the anti-corporate globalization movements involve a growing [...]
Some time ago, I happened upon a short essay by Alain de Botton in an issue of Monocle (the article isn’t online, it seems). The essay is a new year’s prediction for 2009. Based on the continuing economic crisis, de Botton argues that we will turn to new paths:
I believe 2009 will be the year [...]
Mako Hill, one of the founding members of Ubuntu whom I interviewed as part of my thesis fieldwork, posted a brilliant explanation of the importance of free software:
Suppose I see a beautiful sunset and I want to describe it to a loved one on the other side of the world. Today’s communication technology makes this [...]
Found a very interesting piece on Hannah Arendt through the Savage Minds blog. It focuses on a central dilemma in Arendt’s writing: That between the public and the personal, and how it is expressed in her view on politics. A few excerpts:
Arendt’s experience at the Eichmann trial bolstered the belief that defines her political philosophy: [...]
Today, I found an interesting presentation delving into a matter, which I touched upon before: the basic differences between the political right and left.
The presentation, given by one Jonathan Haidt, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. Based on his research into moral psychology, he claims to have found evidence of 5 moral [...]
With the recent news of banks and credit institutions like Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and now Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch going spectacularly bankrupt or being rescued at the last gasp by the Bank of America, I came to think of a discussion I had not too long ago with some friends on [...]
My flat-mate Hannibal is an avid ’skralder’. That’s Danish for dumpster diver. So much so that a group of media students made a short film about Hannibal and his friends who go dumpster diving late at night. Though I didn’t partake in the hunting and gathering depicting in the film, I did help cooking the [...]
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