Yochai Benkler

Eben Moglen sieht mit der Freien Software das Ende des »geistigen Eigentums« heraufdämmern. Digital repräsentierbare Informationen widersetzen sich der Eigentumsform, weil sie frei kopierbar sind. Deshalb sieht Moglen in diesem »anarchistischen« Ansatz, bei dem jeder die Werke anderer nicht nur nutzen, sondern auch verbessern darf, die einzig angemessene Produktionsweise – allerdings nur für Informationsgüter. Yochai Benkler verallgemeinert den Ansatz zur »commons-based peer production« und identifiziert das zugrunde liegende, sehr alte gesellschaftliche Organisationsprinzip: die Commons. Jeremy Rifkin will nichts von einer Begrenzung auf die Informationssphäre wissen, sondern sagt den »kollaborativen Commons« eine große Zukunft voraus, in der sie den Kapitalismus Schritt für Schritt zurückdrängen, bis er in einer »hybriden Wirtschaft« nur noch eine untergeordnete Rolle spielt. Doch Benkler wie Rifkin gehen von einer problematischen Konzeption von »Grenzkosten« aus, die ihre Ergebnisse verzerrt. Warum die Commons trotzdem als Hoffnungsträger gelten können, wird in diesem Text gezeigt.

In this paper, I explore the concept of multitude according to the writings of Toni Negri, Michael Hardt and Paolo Virno and in opposition to the concept of mass, developed by the French thinker Gustave Le Bon.
Multitude appears as a kind of political subject, which is based on plurality, difference and cooperation. In addition, I claim that, though multitude effectively contributed to modify the current politics in
many countries, it has been more significant in the field of economics. The multitude has become a productive agent in the context of the cognitive capitalism (and what we have called the capitalism of the commons) that is more convenient for the economical goals than the mass. In this space we can see the emergence of a depoliticised face of the multitude.

Un mayor desarrollo de esta cuestión puede ser leído aquí:

https://www.academia.edu/22660452/Senderos_nuevos_del_capital_trabajo_consumo_y_producci%C3%B3n_de_subjetividad_2016_

O trabalho objetiva o estudo de processos colaborativos online, especificamente a prática de
crowdfunding ou financiamento coletivo, entendida como um sistema cooperativocomunicativo
de produção-consumo capaz de propor uma experiência singular aos que dela
participam. A partir de uma topologia do ciberespaço o estudo aponta os lugares e territórios
pelos quais transitam os cibereseres, vivenciando experiências como multidão e como
públicos, cuja convocação à participação é fundamental ao sucesso desta prática permeada
pelos valores conferidos à cibercultura. O financiamento coletivo é marcado por uma forte
interação entre a tríade relacional, formada pelo proponente, o colaborador e a plataforma.
São nas formas de interação entre estes três vértices que se situa o estudo, calcado numa
perspectiva praxiológica, para entender como a prática obtém sucesso num contexto
cibercultural em que a disputa pela atenção da multidão e dos públicos é intensa. Dois estudos
de caso fazem parte do corpus da pesquisa, os projetos de quadrinhos Gnut e Shogum dos
Mortos, ambos locados na plataforma brasileira Catarse. Através de uma cibertopologia do
ciberespaço, a análise dos projetos revela que a prática busca estabelecer seu lugar a partir da
proposição de uma experiência singular de consumo na web passível de ser percebida também
em outros processos colaborativos online.

Drawing on major leaks from Assange, Manning, and especially Snowden, this piece focuses on two major issues in the ethics of information: (1) the tension between the ends of national security and the principles of transparent, open governance in a democracy, and (2) the emergence of a networked public sphere as a fourth estate check on abuses of power, highlighting: (a) just what the competing ends and meanings in discussions of freedom, democracy, and power, are, especially as seen in the Information Wants To Be Free trope, clarifying the often very different normative ends at work in the rhetoric; and, in conclusion, (b) the ironies throughout the discourse of information ethics, democratic futures, and human freedoms.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo apontar os avanços construídos quanto a caracterização da prática de crowdfunding, ou financiamento coletivo. A partir do debate realizado no Comunicon 2012, em artigo apresentado neste mesmo GT (LIMA,2012), muitas questões foram suscitadas quanto a configuração da prática apenas na sua esfera de consumo. Acatadas as sugestões dadas nesta prolífica discussão, avançamos na pesquisa de modo a posicionar a prática não apenas como um modo de consumo colaborativo e participativo, mas como um sistema cooperativo, conforme Yochai Benkler (2011), permeado também por um forte viés relacional, fundamental ao sucesso da prática.

Openness has become an important, all-encompassing term denoting activities facilitated by sharing, using, producing and redistributing information and communication resources within digital information systems. We compare theoretical advancements, which emphasize processes and characteristics of openness, with the limitations of extant approaches that have largely focused on improvements to productivity and efficiency. Based on Foucault and Bruner's ideas, this paper contributes a new critical narrative approach to understanding openness explicitly focused on structural transformation and power. The analysis focuses on the case of open development, examining 20 key studies based primarily in developing countries. The critical narrative approach unpacked the production of power/knowledge across actors, intentions and outcomes of openness research and practice. We find that discursive formations are reliant on techno-centric and normative ideals of researchers, leading to narratives of hypothetical outcomes that exclude marginalized perspectives. We propose hermeneutic composability and contesting normative narratives of openness as analytical techniques for an integrated, mutually-constitutive conception of interactions between individuals, open artefacts and open social praxis.

Openness has become an important, all-encompassing term denoting activities facilitated by sharing, using, producing and redistributing information and communication resources within digital information systems. We compare theoretical advancements, which emphasize processes and characteristics of openness, with the limitations of extant approaches that have largely focused on improvements to productivity and efficiency. Based on Foucault and Bruner's ideas, this paper contributes a new critical narrative approach to understanding openness explicitly focused on structural transformation and power. The analysis focuses on the case of open development, examining 20 key studies based primarily in developing countries. The critical narrative approach unpacked the production of power/knowledge across actors, intentions and outcomes of openness research and practice. We find that discursive formations are reliant on techno-centric and normative ideals of researchers, leading to narratives of hypothetical outcomes that exclude marginalized perspectives. We propose hermeneutic composability and contesting normative narratives of openness as analytical techniques for an integrated, mutually-constitutive conception of interactions between individuals, open artefacts and open social praxis.

This paper presented at ECPR Joint Sessions 2015 addresses the particularities of governance applied to smart city policies in comparing six urban contexts from China –Shanghai-, cities in Japan, Malaysia –Iskandar- the United States –New York- and Europe –Amsterdam. It starts from the hypothesis that governance matters (as factors to advance smart plans are key to differentiate cities smart models). This is confirmed as small similarities and large differences occur in smart city policies particularly with regard to overall objectives and also on the dimension of citizen participation (studied for designated cases). Moreover and from a wider perspective, whereas similar context forces occur in all the cases studied, the particular shapes in which they crystallize varies.Finally, conclusions allow to learn and disseminate learning from a wide variety of settings and experiences worldwide.

This invited essay discusses the intersection of two trends: the growth of social virtual worlds (explored earlier in The Laws of the Virtual Worlds) and the growth of Web-based amateur content (explored earlier in Amateur-to-Amateur). The essay considers first the difficulty inherent in the concept of “user-generated content.” It then explains that while most virtual world users see authorship tools as a key appeal of virtual world platforms, the deployment of these tools creates both legal and business risks for developers.

This paper argues for a sceptical approach to the political promise of Web 2.0. In particular it examines critically the claims made about participation and the ‘network public sphere’ in Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks. Moreover it argues that the work of Bernard Stiegler and that of others in the Ars Industrialis group cofounded by Stiegler can help inform a more nuanced account of the relationship between politics, participation and technics. It looks specifically at the arguments in Marc Crépon and Bernard Stiegler’s recent book De la démocratie participative, written during the recent French presidential campaign, and examines how the idea of participation articulates with key themes in Stiegler’s philosophy of technics. Finally it suggests some ways in which this debate on participation might be moved on.

One of the fundamental basic human rights in any civilized community is the freedom of expression and speech. The censorship and limitation of this fundamental right are non-negotiable and non-acceptable by any means whatsoever. However, one of the basic important questions that must be raised, is whether hate speech and terrorism propaganda should be considered as part of the freedom of expression, especially on social media websites as Twitter and Facebook? In this paper I tried to analyze this question and propose an answer.