[sorry for x-posting] Dear commoners, you'll probably know the IASC: International Association for the Study on the Commons, in particular for their global conferences on this topic. Together with the IASC conference organisers we have defined a panel on Digital Commons. We invite you to submit a paper. *Digital commons in a ‚glocal’ world* Panel Convenors: Wouter Tebbens (Free Knowledge Institute) Massimo Canevacci (University of Rome "La Sapienza" University do Sao Paulo (IEA-USP) See in the Call for Papers, http://conferences.iasc-commons.org/index.php/iasc/IASC_Europe_Bern2016/sche... We think the digital commons perspective should not miss from the very interesting conference agenda. Therefore we urge you to submit a paper. Some topics that could relate to the IASC conference in general and to this panel in particular could for example be the following: - the effects of current intellectual property regulations (mostly in the interest of multinational companies and large capitals) on the digital commons - the alternative commons-based approaches for sharing digital forms of knowledge, as pioneeered by the Free Software Movement and nowadays known in a variety of fields, from Open Standards, to Open Educational Resources, from Open Design to Open Source Hardware and Free Culture. - the local resilience based on commons based networks of peers sharing knowledge, building telecom networks, food cooperatives, etc - the return of artesanal practices enriched with digital tools - the combination of global sharing of (industrial) knowledge and designs with a growing local production - sustainability by needing less and producing less: the motivations of peers producing and sharing knowledge as commons generating an abundance economy, much more satisfying than the consumption society; planned obsolescence and mass production in general manufacture more than humans need; bottum up, pull instead of push channeling of human needs with manufacturing of really needed products - sustainability by repairing and extending product's lifetime: what legal challenges do we need to overcome? These and other topcis would be very welcome for this panel. If in doubt don't hesitate to contact us. Below follow further details of the CfP. - All paper proposals (abstract of 500 words and 5 keywords) have to be uploaded with indication of the panel they want to participate in until February 5th via the IASC-conference website http://conferences.iasc-commons.org. - The panel should contain max. 5 paper contributions (All panels will last two hours and will include a maximum of 5 paper contributions. This implies 15 minutes for each paper contribution and 5 minutes discussion at the end of each contribution. This structure allows for a discussion of 20 minutes at the end of each panel). ********* Commons in a “Glocal” World: Global Connections and Local Responses Venue: University of Bern, Main Building Date: 10-13 May 2016 Contact: Tobias Haller Main theme: Global Connections and Local Responses. Research on the commons deals either with the development of institutions for the management of the commons, or with issues related to global change. While the latter mainly focusses on drivers and effects of global expansion of capitalist modes of production, consumption, and societal reproduction, research on institutions for the management of the commons deals with collective action and the effects and reactions within local action arenas. However, the entangled institutional processes through which global and local arenas – referred to as “glocal” – interlock are not yet addressed in a systematic way. Europe has been a major driver of “glocal” processes. Therefore, the 4th Regional European Meeting of the IASC is devoted to global connections and local responses. It provides a space to advance our understanding of ongoing “glocal” processes and to analyse historically how commons in Europe have evolved and adapted to “glocal” changes. By integrating political ecology with approaches of New Institutionalism and Critical Theory in Anthropology, Human Geography, Political Science and History, we propose to investigate the impacts of external changes on the perception and evaluation of resources by actors related to the commons. This raises the question of local bargaining power, ideologies and discourses, and of the selection and crafting of institutional designs, which in turn affect the access to common-pool resources, as well as the distribution of benefits related to the management of these resources. This conference therefore aims to look at the interfaces between local and global processes in order to bring together research arenas that have often been kept quite separate until now. We therefore call for contributions focussing on: how global players such as multinational companies and organizations affect local governance of the commons worldwide the role of international law and global trade in shaping the interface between global actors and institutional processes of local commons governance the impacts of external economic and political changes on the perception and evaluation of resources and areas by actors related to the commons local resistance and the development of political strategies countering the transformation of collective into private or state-based property rights as a consequence of economic and political changes the local crafting of institutional designs in global and local arenas, and how these affect access to and distribution of natural resources and related benefits among local to global actors using the commons how the encounter of global and local processes affect bargaining power, ideologies and discourses of global and local actors in governing sustainability trade-offs. We especially welcome contributions that aim to address the above mentioned themes through novel forms of integrating theoretical approaches. In addition, the focus of the conference will be on a dialogue among representatives of different academic disciplines (e.g. geography, social anthropology, history, development studies, economics, political science, and law) and between academics and non-academic actors (e.g. practitioners, business representatives, policy makers, or NGOs). Accepted panels We are looking for papers, which refer to the following topics (for a more extensive description of each panel, click here or download the call for papers): A) Features and effects of global (e.g. European) investments on commons in the world #01 - Food system impacts on commons from a North–South Perspective #02 - Extractive and bio-political frontiers: (dense) tropical rain forests and the transformation of the commons #03 - Undermining the commons: Transnational Corporations, mining and impact on commons governance #04 - Energy and the commons #05 - The climate change dilemma: Global and local scales in climate science #06 - Transforming the commons: Business models of large-scale land Investments #07 - Land Grabbing – a phenomenon in Europe? #08 - The impacts of common enclosures on local power relations #09 - Are Large Scale Land Acquisitions leading to „commons“ and “resilience-grabbing“? New perspectives on land and water governance #10 - Large scale investments in land and Infrastructure in Africa, Asia and Latin America: what are the consequences for the commons - what is the maneuvering space for collective action? #11 - European Zoological Gardens, Conservation discourse and the Commons in the South #12 - African Farmer-led Irrigation: reframing agricultural investment B) Collective action, the commons, and sustainability: What is the role of bottom-up participatory resource governance (‘constitutionality’) in Switzerland and in other European political systems in common-resource governance #13 - All commoners are equal? The impact of different distributions of power and social inequalities within common pool institutions on sustainability and resilience within the premodern era #14 - Managing Commons: Premodern Perspecitves #15 - Switzerland as a laboratory for governance innovations in the management of common pool resources – historical approaches) #16 - Constitutionality and bottom-up institution building processes: lessons from Europe #17 - Common pool resource institutions in the shadow of the State #18 - Analysis of Collective action in Payment for Ecosystem Services Contexts #19 - Networking, Comparing, and Integrating Urban Commons Initiatives in Research and Action #20 - Emergence of Smart cities – a confluence of common and private resources towards a new definition of urban commons #21 - Urban commons in a ‚glocal’ world #22 - Collective action regimes, co-management and the commons #23 - Collective Action for the Survival of Forest Commons in Europe #24 - The influence of European and international forest policies, investments and discourses on local contexts and the counter-responses #25 - The spiritual dimensions of commons – missing link in scientific and policy debates? #26 - Geographical Indications as a tool for providing public goods C) Prospects of the commons ‐ Responses to triple crisis (financial, environmental, and socio-economic) #27 - Law, Commons and Sustainable Development Goals - Exploring Law’s Role in Promoting Sustainability of the Commons #28 - Trade and Commons: an Ambivalent Relationship? #29 - Environmental justice and the prospect of commons for sustainable development #30 - Music and the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Debate #31 - Commons, conservation, conflict and co-management in Europe #32 - Blue Communities, a collective action for self-declared principles of resource governance – potentials and limitations #33 - Coherence of international laws and trade treaties in respecting the rights to water and sanitation #34 - Multinational Corporations and the commons: The Role of Criminal Law #35 - "Local Knowledge" in Climate Politics: Negotiating Climate Responsibility #36 - Dissolving the Commons: Pastoral land rights, state intervention and international actors in Central Eurasia #37 - The Commons in (Post-) Conflict Zones #38 - Digital commons in a ‚glocal’ world #39 - Theoretical debates on Institutions for the management of the commons #40 - The world of finance and the commons #41 - Using evidence from the Land Matrix and other data repositories to investigate impacts of large-scale land investments on common pool resources For a more extensive description of each panel, click here or download the call for papers Deadline for submitting paper abstracts is February 5, 2016 Please submit your paper abstract (500 words) via the IASC Conference Registration Module: http://conferences.iasc-commons.org Please contact us if you have questions: [email protected] -- best regards, Wouter Tebbens -- http://freeknowledge.eu Unlocking the Knowledge Society