Category: Uncategorized
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Students talk IP @ New School
I just came from an interesting if perplexing session led by 4 New School students as part of Mobility Shifts. I didn’t see the whole presentation but I did catch a discussion focused on Intellectual property and these students’ desire to promote more ‘open source’ approaches at The New School. It was perplexing because while…
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The Army of Love and Software – NY update 1
So I’ve been in New York for a few hours now and plan to head down to do my Public Gifting action at Occupy Wall Street this evening (Friday) after I attend a talk by Geert Lovink at the New School. Yesterday, Geert, a Dutch new media activist, and his collaborator Franco Berardi released an…
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I’m Going Gifting @ Occupy Wall Street. Want To Join Me?
Tomorrow I’ll be arriving in New York where I’ll be staying for a few days. I’ll be speaking at (and attending) a cool conference on the future of digital culture and education called Mobility Shifts at The New School. (My talk is Saturday at 2:30 pm, Wollman Hall, Eugene Lang Building 65 West 11th St.,…
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The Foundering Fathers
It fascinates me how often political arguments in the United States revolve around the words of America’s ‘founding fathers’. Of course it is not all their words that matter, just the ones that were written down. And specifically, Americans are obsessed with the words these fathers wrote in the founding documents of American nationhood, namely…
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Public Gifting in Wellington West
Two weeks ago I played a role in a terrific local festival called Taste of Wellington West whose centrepiece is a massive public gifting event. This year 36 different independent local restaurants, bakeries and food shops gave out tens of thousands of free food samples to thousands of visitors throughout the afternoon. It is partly…
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Wall Street Occupied by Interactivists
Wall Street is Fort Monologue. It is an epicentre of literate capitalism, an ivory tower without ears to hear. It is a paper palace divorced from all experience, from suffering and compassion, from love and joy. It is rule of ledgers. Rule of policies and laws. Rule of dividends and debt, all defined on and…
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Killer Cows and You
Not many people know that cows are killers. Or rather, cow milk. But yes, according to the Canadian Government, the milk that comes out of a healthy cow is toxic and we must at all costs be protected from it. Welcome to the OS2 world. Farmer Michael Schmidt of Durham Ontario is just one of…
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Earth Heroes on Parliament Hill
Just got back from cheering on 100 or so people getting arrested for protesting the Harper government’s pro-oil anti-earth policies, preceded by powerful speeches by elders and youngsters demanding justice and respect for the earth. I salute their courage and wisdom. They are trying to save all our asses. Among the many memorable speakers was…
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Post-Literate Capitalism and The Stock Markets of Doom
In a previous post and in my recent book, You Are Your Media, I describe the brutal impact of strapping an OS2 (literate) application like debt to the hyper-efficient rocketship that is OS3 (networked) technology and letting greedy self-interested financiers light the fuse. In post-literate capitalism – as in all networked culture – history ceases…
SOBOLTALK 