June 2016 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: [members] FW: Blockchains for Social Good on June 21st - and other CAPS events
by Michel Bauwens 06 Jun '16

06 Jun '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <n.gilbert(a)surrey.ac.uk> Date: Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 4:08 AM Subject: [members] FW: Blockchains for Social Good on June 21st - and other CAPS events To: members(a)lists.p2pvalue.eu FYI *From: *"Fabrizio.Sestini(a)ec.europa.eu" <Fabrizio.Sestini(a)ec.europa.eu> *Date: *Monday, 6 June 2016 at 15:00 *Subject: *Blockchains for Social Good on June 21st - and other CAPS events Dear colleague, Together with Robert Madelin, Senior Innovation Adviser to President Juncker, I would like to invite you to a policy event which will take place in Brussels this June 21st, focussing on the *social applications enabled by distributed ledger technologies*. It aims at tacking stock of existing activities in this emerging field, considering their regulatory and standardisation implications, as well as defining a roadmap of how the European Commission can contribute to these developments, in particular through Horizon 2020 research actions. The line-up of speakers includes experts and practitioners, as well as policy makers and civil society. Agenda and registration can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/blockchains-social-good. Participation is free but early registration is recommended. Please feel free to forward this invitation to any other potentially interested participant! Here also some quick reminders about other related events: 17 June, Barcelona: Workshop on community networks: efficient collaboration between government, citizens and enterprises http://netcommons.eu/?q=content/workshop-community-networking-infrastructur… 29 June, Brussels: policy workshop on *shaping the future of digital innovation in Europe*, leveraging on the experience of current CAPS (Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation) projects and related activities, to provide strategic recommendations to the EC for further research and innovation actions in this field https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/dsi4eu-shaping-the-future-of-digital-social-inn… 29-30 June, MIT Media Lab: W3C workshop on open standards for blockchains, involving all interested CAPS projects https://www.w3.org/2016/04/blockchain-workshop/ Finally, please note that all presentations from the recent CAPS community meeting held in Berlin are publicly available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/caps-community-meeting-a… Kind regards, Fabrizio Sestini *European Commission *DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology Senior Expert, Digital Social Innovation Unit E3 " *Net Innovation" *http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/collectiveawareness Follow me on Twitter @100fabrizio *Blockchains for Social Good, June 21**st**:* 9:30 Introduction by the hosts (Committee of the Regions, DG Connect) 9:40 "*DLT* *Beyond financial applications*", by Primavera De Filippi, CNRS, Research Fellow at Berkman Center For Internet & Society *An overview of existing as well as potential applications of DLTs * 10:45 Coffee break 11:00 Roundtable: *Strengths and limitations of distributed ledgers technologies* *for social applications – concrete examples* *Sharing experiences and recommendations for impactful research on distributed ledgers. What has worked and what has not? What are the main roablocks?* · Aaron van Wirdum, Bitcoin Magazine · Brett Scott, Alternative Finance Explorer, University of the Arts London · Vinay Gupta, Hexayurt Shelter Project · Jessi Baker, blockchains for tracing provenance · John Palfreyman, Director Blockchain, IBM Cloud Division · James Hazard, Common Accord · Robert Garskamp, blockchains for refugees (tbc) 12:30 Lunch Break 14:00 Roundtable: *Decentralising governance* (Chair: Robert Madelin) *What could the EU / EC bring? What is necessary to promote practical use cases and governance? Do we need any standardisation/regulation?* · Jakob von Weizsäcker, Member of European Parliament · Philippe Dewost, Caisse Des Dépôts, France · Philip Boucher, Policy analyst, European Parliamentary Research Service · Pindar Wong, Cyberport, HK, Scaling Bitcoin · Catherine Mulligan, Imperial College, UK report on DLT beyond blockchains · Markku Markkula, President of European Committee of Regions (tbc) · Francesca Bria, NESTA, Digital Social Innovation project (tbc) 15:30 Coffee Break 16:00 All: *Defining a roadmap for EU research on Blockchains for the Social Good* *What has the EC done insofar? Brief summary of ICT call on "distributed architectures for decentralised data governance" (DG CNECT), DG FISMA and DG GROW activities * Open discussion and conclusions 17:30 Closing -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [CommonGood] Social Commons - Commoning the Commons
by Michel Bauwens 05 Jun '16

05 Jun '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Birgit Daiber <bir.dai(a)hotmail.com> Date: Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 9:17 PM Subject: [CommonGood] Social Commons - Commoning the Commons To: "commongood(a)listi.jpberlin.de" <commongood(a)listi.jpberlin.de> Dear friends, pleas find attached my conclusions concerning the Transform-Seminar "Socialisation and Commons" in March in Rome and my reflection on social commons for the AEPF-conference from 4-6 July in UlanBator in Mongolia. Yours, Birgit *bir.dai(a)hotmail.com <bir.dai(a)hotmail.com>* *www.birgitdaiber.eu <http://www.birgitdaiber.eu>* *Mobile: 0039-366-4207762 <0039-366-4207762>* *Casella Postale No. 28, I-98055 Lipari* _______________________________________________ CommonGood Mailingliste JPBerlin - Politischer Provider CommonGood(a)listi.jpberlin.de https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/commongood -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: another installment
by Michel Bauwens 03 Jun '16

03 Jun '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Kyuman Kim <dkkim(a)conncoll.edu> Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 12:32 PM Subject: another installment To: Love-Drive Politics Collective <lovedriven(a)googlegroups.com> Dear friends, A new installment of the Love-Driven Politics dialogue series is up online, this time a conversation with the public theologian Brian D. McLaren. Feel free to share it. http://meaningoflife.tv/videos/35109 Take good care, dkk ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ ☸ ☼ david kyuman kim Professor & Chair, Department of Religious Studies Core Faculty, Program in American Studies Connecticut College 860-439-5075; dkkim(a)conncoll.edu Twitter: @qmanpvd Co-editor, *RaceReligion, *a Stanford University Press book series http://www.sup.org/books/series/?series=RaceReligion -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lovedriven" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to lovedriven+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to lovedriven(a)googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/lovedriven. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/lovedriven/5F3CA665-185B-4780-B658-867025… <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/lovedriven/5F3CA665-185B-4780-B658-867025…> . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: A Higher Calling for Higher Education (GTN Discussion)
by Michel Bauwens 01 Jun '16

01 Jun '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Great Transition Network <gtnetwork(a)greattransition.org> Date: Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 1:43 AM Subject: A Higher Calling for Higher Education (GTN Discussion) To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com >From Halina Brown <hbrown(a)clarku.edu> ------------------------------------------------------- [Moderator's Note: The comment period is now closed. The final comments will go out over today and tomorrow.] I greatly appreciate the comments from Allen White and Bill Rees, who in clear and direct terms laid out the fundamental problem with private higher education in the US. Higher education in the US mirrors the social-economic system in which it is embedded. Here are but three obvious examples: 1. Universities seem to equate growth with success, as evidenced by endless expansion of campus infrastructure administrative overhead, and revenues. In thirty years I have taught at Clark University (a 130 year old institution) the number of buildings has probably more than doubled; and I see that trend on every campus I visit. The urgency to raise larger and larger revenues from tuition, donations from (hopefully rich) alumni and from research grants is relentless; 2. The baseline of what constitutes necessary amenities, such as athletic facilities, health clubs, and so on, has been moving relentlessly upward, reflecting the lifestyles and expectations of the top socio-economic tier in the society on which the universities depend for revenues; 3. Income inequality has been dramatically increasing among the faculty and staff. University presidents earn million dollar salaries and enjoy tremendous benefits, such as free elegant housing, first class air travel, and others. Top administrators (whose numbers have visibly increased over the years) follow at a steady distance. The next tier are faculty members in high paying professions and those with access to large research grants. The distance between the salaries of these "haves" and those of the faculty in the humanities, and office and custodial staff is getting larger every year. 4. Just like all other private market-driven organizations, universities compete with each other for "customers" (students) and feel pressured to offer to these students the type of education they seek in exchange for very high price they pay: practical, leading to future economic security. Is it surprising? At Clark University we have some wonderful interdisciplinary programs, have relatively permeable walls between departments and disciplines, and are justifiably proud of the deep and genuine social engagement of many of our students and faculty members. But the features I outline above are very much part and parcel of Clark. The institution of a private university in the US is deeply embedded in the society around us and it reflects the values and priorities of other dominant societal institutions. I have not studied public universities in the US but based my occasional readings I understand that in the age of decreasing public support their experience is similar to that of private universities. No, I do not expect such an institution to be an agent of social change. In that sense I read Cristina' essay as aspirational. Which is not to say that individuals who are part of that institution might not become agents of change. Over the years I have had the privilege to work with students and faculty who inspired me with their unwavering commitment to social change. I can only hope that these individuals will be agents of change in our society. Who knows, perhaps if that happens the universities will join the movement. Halina Brown ----- Original Message ----- Transition Network [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2016 9:30 AM Brown Higher Calling for Higher Education (GTN Discussion) >From Allen White ----- [Moderator's Note: The comment period ends tonight, after which Cristina will have the opportunity to respond.] The “marketization” of higher education that Cristina illuminates, and that Bill Rees and other commenters reinforce, is especially evident in post-graduate, professional programs, e.g., business, law and medicine. A number of mutually reinforcing conditions entrench the instrumental view of such programs, that is, securing superior lifetime economic rewards in contrast to building an enlightened citizenry and sense of solidarity in support of the common good. Why is this the case? First, professional programs are costly—a two-year MBA, a three-year law degree, or a six-year M.D. program may cost well over $100,000 in the U.S. and other countries where higher education (HE) is viewed primarily as a private good. The promise of high salaries post-graduation is not only attractive, but also essential to repaying such onerous educational debt. Second, in such environments, HEIs have a vested interest in high-income alumni whose donations contribute substantially to institutional endowments. Third, within advanced professional degree programs, those specialties associated with relatively high remuneration—corporate law, finance, surgical medicine—are often favored by both students and HEI administrators, reinforcing the primacy of market-driven education. Perhaps a starting point—admittedly incremental—for broadening the social consciousness of professional programs is mandatory public service as part of MBA, J.D., and M.D. programs. This may take the form of business advisory service to social enterprises, serving as public defenders in disadvantaged communities, and obligatory clinical work in underserved, low-income communities. The goal is to signal all young professionals—not just the minority that already is socially-minded—that all bear a responsibility to apply their skills for the betterment of communities well beyond the boundaries of those capable of paying for their services. In the longer term, however, we must ask who will be the agents of deeper, transformational change in HEIs either at the post-graduate or undergraduate levels. This dialogue tends toward deep skepticism that HEIs themselves can, or will, serve as catalysts for self-transformation given the powerful forces that favor the status quo. But in the realm of HE, we cannot afford to submit to the pessimism about the global future that pervades public discourse. Is it possible that one segment of the HEI community can ignite transformational change that Cristina and others advocate? The Great Transition speaks to the power of a global citizens movement as the ultimate change agent. In the same spirit, might a global students movement be a precursor to, and ally of, this grand vision? Allen White ----- Original Message ----- Transition Network [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 30, 2016 2:15 PM White Higher Calling for Higher Education (GTN Discussion) >From Bill Rees ----- [Moderator's Note: The last day for comments will be tomorrow—Tuesday, May 31—after which Cristina will have the opportunity to respond.] Hi all - "[the destruction of the ecosphere] "...is not the work of ignorant people. It is, rather, largely the result of work by people with BAs, BSs, LLBs, MBAs, and PhDs. (David Orr 1991; What is education for?) This has been a richly stimulating and generally optimistic discussion of the potential role of universities and higher learning in the 'great transition' for which so many of us yearn. Cristina started this cookie crumbling by seeing universities in the sway of such modern constructs as “marketization” and “internationalization,” but, in Paul's words, still "holding the potential to become a transformative agent – if it can transform itself". While most comments have variously explored the silver lining in the HEI saga, I'd like to drag us back to the darkening cloud Cristina so clearly identified early on: “HEIs have been too focused in recent decades on serving short-term goals of economic performance and national competitiveness in the context of a socioeconomic system that prioritizes the instrumental value of knowledge and technology in the pursuit of growth”. This thunderhead remains fully capable of drowning the reform parade even before it assembles and gets underway. Cristina also acknowledged the view of some analysts that “HEIs primarily impart information and knowledge that fit within existing paradigms”. Arguably, this perspective gains credence daily. Modern universities more reflect than shape contemporary society, a reality that has been reinforced in recent decades by the decline in public funding, by universities’ increasing dependence on private capital and by the creeping corporatization of even public institutions. Many universities are gradually becoming subsidized research arms of the corporate sector. Such trends inevitably influence university teaching, research and institutional form. To give one example, there is little financial support for research in organic agriculture or agro-ecology but millions flow from Monsanto and its clones to agriculture faculties that develop biocides, fertilizers and genetic modifications, i.e., patentable products with market value. For contemporary society, exquisitely sophisticated and inherently sharable knowledge of crop ecology, soil husbandry and climate wields no such economic leverage. Meanwhile, professors of computer science, medicine, microbiology, business/commerce, engineering and the like receive ever-higher salaries and the richest research grants (these disciplines produce the most economically valued research and the universities’ most marketable students) while their colleagues in the arts, history, philosophy, etc., see their programs wilt in financial drought or dry up completely. Not surprisingly, the public scarcely notices. Indeed, the notion that universities exist to produce better citizens – e.g., young people with the intellectual capital needed to navigate the ‘great transition’ to a more equitable and ecologically sustainable society – seems quaintly out of fashion. There is plenty of evidence that both the HEIs and most of their incoming students agree that the central purpose of ‘higher education’ is better employment possibilities and higher salaries. I underscore these negatives for a simple reason. The university cannot fully assume the role of transformative agent unless it throws off the yoke of dependence on private capital and its allegiance to corporate values. For HEIs to transform themselves they must be largely supported by their communities and align themselves with the broader public interest. But universities themselves are unlikely to spark so radical a transition. As matters stand, the needed revolution in higher education depends more on the prior transformation of wider society than the converse. Did I mention not to hold your breath? Bill Rees **************************************************** Transition Network [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: April 29, 2016 10:02 AM Higher Calling for Higher Education (GTN Discussion) >From Paul Raskin GTN Colleagues: If you toil in the groves of academe, the theme of our MAY DISCUSSION – whither the university? – is sure to pique your interest. Cristina Escrigas takes up this question in her new essay “A Higher Calling for Higher Education,” which you can read at www.greattransition.org/publication/a-higher-calling-for-higher-education. Peering through a wide-angle lens, Cristina, the former Executive Director of the Global University for Innovation (GUNi), sees an institution beset by forces of “marketization” and “internationalization,” but still holding the potential to become a transformative agent – if it can transform itself. Will the university remain a dependent variable in the calculus of market-driven globalization? Or can it instead become a “GT University”? I put the question this way in the title of my own modest contribution to a GUNi compendium: “Higher Education in an Unsettled Century: Handmaiden or Pathmaker?” Cristina’s hard-hitting answers deserve your attention – and response. Comments are welcome through MAY 31. Cristina’s essay will be published in June, along with selected comments drawn from the forthcoming discussion. Looking forward, Paul Raskin GTI Director GTI’S PUBLICATION CYCLE: ODD-NUMBERED months are for discussions of new essays for GTN eyes only. EVEN-NUMBERED months are for publication and distribution. You will receive discussion comments by email – or you can access them online at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-forum, where you will find, as well, an archive of previous discussions. IN PRAISE OF BREVITY: Concise comments, as well as expansive ones, are most welcome. Please do not hesitate to weigh in. ------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/174-a-higher-calling-f… Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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