nettime interview with bernard lietaer
via danny o'brien's 'oblomovka' http://www.oblomovka.com/ , an in- terview with 'the guy who co-designed and implemented the convergence mechanism for the Euro, and co-founded one of the largest and most successful currency funds, bernard lietaer. cheers, t - http://uazu.net/money/lietaer.html Interview with Bernard Lietaer -- Money, Community Social Change This is the text of an interview with Bernard Lietaer as sent to the Pho mailing list -- it seems that permission was given at some point in the chain of forwarding, at least. I thought that the content was too important to risk being lost, so I've put it up here. (This way the guy's work also gains more Google-points, which seems a useful contribution to me.) To see the original article, please visit this web-page. Also see Lietaer's site (mentioned in the article) -- however at the present time (Aug-2003) his site is just a skeleton with no useful content. Transaction.net, however, does have some useful material. Here's the interview: Money, Community Social Change An Interview with Bernard Lietaer By Ravi Dykema What is money? And how well does it work to solve society's ills? Bernard Lietaer, author of the upcoming book Access to Human Wealth: Money beyond Greed and Scarcity (Access Books, 2003), has made a life's work of exploring these questions. Lietaer has been involved in the world of money systems for more than 25 years, and his experience in monetary matters ranges from multinational corporations to developing countries. He co-designed and implemented the convergence mechanism to the single European currency system (the Euro), and served as president of the Electronic Payment System in his native Belgium. He also co-founded one of the largest and most successful currency funds. Lietaer is the author of nine books on money and finances, including The Future of Money (Random House, 2001), The Mystery of Money (Riemann Verlag, 2000) and a book for kids, called 'The World of Money' (Arena Verlag, 2001). Formerly professor of international finance at the University of Louvain, Lietaer is currently a fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. Beginning this fall, he will be a professor at Naropa University. Here, Lietaer shares his views on the shortcomings of our conventional currency system, the benefits of creating a complementary currency, and ways to effect lasting social change. RD: You're very experienced on the world stage with currencies and money. It's the world you've moved in much of your life, right? BL: Yes, both in the area of conventional money such as the Euro and more recently with less conventional money systems. Below the radar beams of official thought, there has been a resurgence all over the world for the last 15 to 20 years of what I call complementary currencies, currencies that are operating on a smaller scale than the national level, and that can solve social, environmental and education problems. RD: People think of someone who works with currencies as being a materialist. Yet it sounds as if your interests are towards social change through complementary currencies. How did you come to be interested in this other dimension? BL: The reason I went to the Central Bank in the first place was to check whether it was possible to improve the conventional money system from within. I had been working for a number of years in South America, and I had seen the damage that the existing money system has created on a huge scale in Latin America. RD: You thought it was the money system and not just the governments? BL: It's a chicken and egg story: unstable currency equals unstable government. There is practically no way today for a developing country to have a reasonable monetary policy within the current rules of the game. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics and formerly head economist at the World Bank, makes the same claims in his book Globalization and Its Discontents (Penguin, 2002). Whether you fix your currency to the dollar or let it float, you end up with an unmanageable monetary problem, like Brazil, Russia or Argentina have experienced. Eighty-seven countries have gone through a major currency crisis in the last 25 years. Their fiscal policies are imposed by an International Monetary Fund (IMF). I am afraid that if the United States had to live by the rules that are imposed on, say, Brazil, the United States of America would become a developing country in one generation. It's the system that is currently unstable, unfair and not working. The majority of humanity has gone through a recent monetary crisis at least once already. We're living here, in America, in an island of perceived stability. And even that is an illusion. We could have a run on the dollar under the current rules. We are dealing with an unstable system, an ailing system. Back in 1975, I had come to the
nettime unstable digest vol 60
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 00:53:59 -0400 From: Ryan Whyte [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: the fires (for E. Pauline Johnson) From out the west, where tomorrow floats, The broken song swallows its broken notes. From out the west, thing return to thing, Wind feeds with wind in eternal ring. The moaning, roaring, sightless fire Stacks word on word the voiceless pyre. Over the drumlin and over the wold It begins and translates the edge of the fold, A dry swift breath of ancient air With spectre's speech and pollens rare; And now a papering of bleaching seas The dry pale pages of sands and trees. Then over sky and centre, grass and grain, The stirring of clocks, waves on the plain. From: ÆÄ¿ö¶óÀÎ [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:02:40 +0900 Subject: =?iso-8859-1?q?=28=B1=A4=B0=ED=29=B3=AA=B4=C2_=C0=FC?= [http://www.powerline.or.kr/e-mail/image.jpg] _ |???___|[name__]__| |???___|[email_]__| |??|[tel___]__| |?_|[hp1]_-_[hp2_]_-_[hp3_]___| |??|[One_of:_??/???/???]__| |??|o_?_#?_o?_| | |[One of: 2002/2003] ? [One of: 1?/2?/3?/4?/5?/6?/7?/8?/9?/10?/11?/ | | |12?] ? [One of: ?/1?/2?/3?/4?/5?/6?/7?/8?/9?/10?/11?/12?/13?/14?/15?/| |? |16?/17?/18?/19?/20?/21?/22?/23?/24?/25?/26?/27?/28?/29?/30?/31?] ?| | |[One of: 5?/6?/7?/8?/9?/10?/11?/12?/13?/14?/15?/16?/17?/18?/20?/21?/ | |__|22?/23?/24?]_?__[One_of:_?/00_?/10_?/20_?/30_?/40_?/50_?]_?_?_| |??|__| [??] [http://www.powerline.or.kr/e-mail/1.jpg] From: Alan Sondheim [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: THE RECALL ALPHABET (fwd) Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 17:40:43 -0400 (EDT) THE RECALL ALPHABET R, W, Q, O, J, M, V, A, H, B, S, G, Z, X, N, T, C, I, E, K, U, P, D, Y, F, L. THE RECALL ALPHABET R, W, Q, O, J, M, V, A, H, B, S, G, Z, X, N, T, C, I, E, K, U, P, D,Y, F, L.THE ALPHABET RECALL THE ALPHABET RECALL D, R, W, R, Q, W, O, Q, J, O, M, J, V, M, A, V, H, A, B, H, S, B, G, S, Z, G, X, Z, N, X, T, N, C, T, I, C, E, I, K, E, U, K, P, U, D,P, Y, F, Y, L.F, THE RECALL ALPHABET T, R, C, W, I, Q, E, O, K, J, U, M, P, V, D, A, H, R, B, W, S, Q, G, O, Z, J, X, M, N, V, T, A, C, H, I, B, E, S, K, G, U, Z, P, X, D,N, Y, F, L. ___ From: www.noemata.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Anders Moe [EMAIL PROTECTED], 7-11 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 02:41:59 +0200 Subject: =?iso-8859-1?q?=FD?= ý 00_weblog }H#NN }HHN NN}} } } } } } } H## N}N HHNNNHH#}} } } } } } } H#H###NNNHHH HNMM}MMNN NNNHH}} } } } } } } H#H#HN NNNHHHNNNM} } } } } } } } } MHH H } } } } } } } } } NNHHHNNN}NN MNNNHHH}NNMM} } } } } } } HH#QUUQQUA U##H}HHNHHHNNN}NNNM} } } } } } } D02%+%2D0A}U QQQ#HNNN}NNNM} } } } } } } .++%}20DAUQ# HHHNNH}HHNM} } } } } } } .+%20AQH}HHNM} } http://www.o-o.lt/asco-o/ http://www.o-o.lt/asco-o - ascii art spam list http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Silly 4 entries found for Silly (Dictionary.com w/popups) http://www.memecentral.com/ http://www.memecentral.com/ http://laetusinpraesens.org/ Anthony Judge - http://www.uia.org/ Union of International Associations http://wearcam.org/seatsale/index.htm SeatSale: License to Sit (Steve Mann/wearcam, via http://www.efn.no/ EFN) http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/innenriks/2499052.html Blitz og 'mangfold' (NRK) http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2003/01/31/360298.html Søtt mediadrama: Debuthopp i Holmenkollen (Dagbladet) http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft3d5nb1n1/ Asceticism and Society in Crisis (via http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ The Online Books Page) http://deprogramming.us/ deprogramming.us goofy artware http://noemata.net/mailart/ Noemata mail art archive http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-7-557225,00.html Dawkins: Genes work just like computer software (TimesOnline) http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/poems/tennyson1.html The Kraken Poem by Tennyson http://king.dom.de/fluxus/ king.dom.de/fluxus - hosting fluxlist, parole, Aporee, Øtherlands, fmwalks http://www.fna.se/ Flashback News Agency http://graffiti.no/ Grafitti.no http://www.nb.no/gallerinor/ Søkbar norsk fotodatabase (Galleri Nor/Nasjonalbiblioteket) http://netartconnexion.net/ Net.Art Connexion - net.art database http://mind.sourceforge.net/dreams.html Dreams in Artificial Intelligencea (http://mind.sourceforge.net/ Mind-1.1)
nettime Events [10x]
Table of Contents: AYA KARPINSKA and TIM PETERSON at the FLYING SAUCER 8/12 Alan Sondheim [EMAIL PROTECTED] criticalartware_Version.002.1x532 jonCates [EMAIL PROTECTED] Expect Magazine #2 August 2003 J. Lehmus [EMAIL PROTECTED] August SenTinel ST Media [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fwd: ORB // remote is now launched ][mez][ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Perspectives'03 - Call for entries JavaMuseum [EMAIL PROTECTED] CfP: Information, Communication and Society- Special Issue on e-Health geert lovink [EMAIL PROTECTED] fAf August 03: Digital Arts and Culture Conference Papers linda carroli [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hochschulwettbewerb digital sparks 2003 ist entschieden Monika Fleischmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wegway Juried Show at SPIN Gallery Steve Armstrong [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 21:22:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Alan Sondheim [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: AYA KARPINSKA and TIM PETERSON at the FLYING SAUCER 8/12 The FLYING SAUCER CAFE reading/media series is starting again! TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 7:00, At the FLYING SAUCER CAFE in BROOKLYN - AYA KARPINSKA and TIM PETERSON (See below for details) *** AYA KARPINSKA Aya Karpinska's research and creative work focus on the impact of technology on artistic practice, in particular computer-mediated music and literature. Her diverse output includes computer music, fiction, poetry, web and graphic design, and game design. She recently performed at Tonic in New York City with her electronic music instrument, container for sound. Ms. Karpinska received her Master's degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. http://www.technekai.com/aya/ notes for container for sound A box containing sounds waiting to be released. The performer unleashes the composition by opening doors, flapping them like wings to manipulate sound samples. This electronic instrument was built to explore new interfaces for musical expression. Although it was designed to be simple to play, the performer's physical gestures translate into a wide musical palette. More information on the development of this instrument can be found at: http://www.technekai.com/aya/nime/ TIM PETERSON Tim Peterson currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. He attended Wesleyan University where he majored in art history and then went on to get his MFA at The University of Arizona. He currently works at M.I.T. Press. This is Tim's first poetry reading in New York, and to mark this event Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs published his debut chapbook titled CUMULUS. The Flying Saucer Cafe series pares up new media artists with poets who instead of giving a reading present a talk relating to their poetry and ideas. Tim's talk is titled Spontaneous Generation. It focuses on writing a gender by writing a world, and it also deals with issues of private language, the dialogic, and spatial metonymy: issues concerning Peterson's identity and his writing process. He says of this, the two poles of understanding are on the one hand the urge to be some body, an ideal self enforced by society, and on the other hand the limiting specificity of the question: whose body? in what situation? *** THE FLYING SAUCER READING/MEDIA SERIES We will be having readings the first Tuesday of each month (August an exception). Please come and support us! Contact Brenda Iijima or Alan Sondheim for further information. Brenda Iijima [EMAIL PROTECTED] Alan Sondheim ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) The Flying Saucer is located at 494 Atlantic Ave. between Nevins and 3rd Avenues, in Brooklyn. You can subways to the Pacific or Atlantic stops, including the 2, 3, 4, 5, W, N, R, Q, and anything else that runs there. Telephone at the Flying Saucer Cafe is 718-522-1383. ___ -- Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 16:37:10 -0500 From: jonCates [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: criticalartware_Version.002.1x532 http://www.criticalartware.net /* === * UPGRADE_PATH * */ criticalartware version.002.1x532 /* === * v.002.1x532 *
Re: nettime Six Limitations to the Current Open Source Development Methodology
On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 15:31:11 +0100, Chris Croome [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: I think that it is a new mode of production and I also think it is a post-capitalist mode of production and it is the crystalisation of this mode of production and the resulting clearer picture of the form that a new society could take that is one of the key reasons (perhaps _the_ key reason) behind the qualitive change in the nature of the period we are now in - -- it appears to me that this is now late capitalism, for this reason. As you say in your blog, applying open source to non-digial things could crystalize a new society. Perhaps a good example of this could be the Opencola soft drink http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Cola. This model could be used to copyleft medicines, maybe under the Design Science License http://www.dsl.org/copyleft/. · Example of open-source design by Adbusters http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/first/re-design/opensource.html -- Atreyu 42 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Informational Identity http://informationalidentity.blogspot.com/ # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
nettime RIP: Walter Ong
Rev. Walter J. Ong; traced the history of communication By Mary Rourke, Los Angeles Times, 8/16/2003 ttp://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2003/08/16/rev_walter_j_ong_traced_the_history_of_communication LOS ANGELES -- The Rev. Walter J. Ong, a Jesuit priest and a leading scholar in the field of language and culture who traced the transition from oral to written communication in his more than 20 books, died Tuesday at St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. He was 90. In his writings and lectures, Father Ong explored the development of communication from its preliterate beginnings to its current reliance on radio, television, and the Internet. He was fascinated by the transition from one form of communication to another. He used ancient stories such as Homer's Odyssey to demonstrate that preliterate cultures relied on oral thought, in which the storyteller might contradict himself and the story itself might change over time until it was written down. He contrasted oral tradition with the written, using the works of Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle to illustrate the change. A written text relies on a set of ground rules for logical reasoning, as well as a consistent use of terms, to communicate information. The two traditions influenced cultural values, Father Ong pointed out. Although an oral society places a high value on communal memory and the elders who are the main link to history, a literate one focuses on individual reasoning and introspection. The rise of technology introduced other changes. In a high-tech culture, a person reads a novel and imagines a movie in his mind. The Internet blurs people's exterior and interior worlds. Virtual reality is no longer a private matter. Father Ong's meticulous research on those developments helped lay the foundation for an understanding of modern media culture. Some of his research corresponded with the work of his famous teacher, Marshall McLuhan, whose interest in the history of the verbal arts in Western culture inspired Father Ong to pursue his own studies. He was McLuhan's student in graduate school when he completed a master's degree in English at St. Louis University. McLuhan was a faculty member from 1937 to 1944. (Father Ong went on from there to earn a doctorate at Harvard University.) Although McLuhan became a pop-culture guru in the 1960s -- global village, his term for the interconnectedness of the world by mass media, is now included in Webster's Dictionary -- Father Ong remained a scholar's scholar. His writing style was dense and complex, not easy to grasp. His ideas were subtle and cumulative, not catchy. His most highly regarded book, for example, is titled Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the World (1982). Ong is the sort of guy the experts read, said Thomas J. Farrell, whose book Walter Ong's Contributions to Cultural Studies (Hampton Press, 2000) has helped make the priest's work more accessible. Born in Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 30, 1912, Father Ong said he knew he wanted to be a priest from the time he was in high school. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1935 and was ordained in 1946. He spent most of his teaching career in the English department at St. Louis University. He taught courses in Renaissance literature, his specialty, along with a range of others. He also lectured at Oxford University, Yale Divinity School, and a number of other top schools around the world until he retired in 1991. Despite Father Ong's academic achievements, he was first and foremost a priest, Farrell said. He said daily Mass at 5:30 a.m., regularly heard confessions, and wore cleric's garb wherever he went. Father Ong's academic work only strengthened his belief in God. God created the evolving world, and it's still evolving, he told the St. Louis Post Dispatch in March 2002. +---+-+--- http://felix.openflows.org # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
nettime universal energy trickster
the universe may have a wicked joke in store for the G.W. Bush Administration, in that to get 'down to business' after the electricity blackout will require getting the Cheney Energy Task Force records out of the way first, which promoted nuclear power (all 7 plants shut down, still as far as i know) and long-distance rights of way for centralized power, with the help of Enron's Ken Lay who is still in his Houston Penthouse. Someone then will get to explain how it is that James Baker's plans for a war in Iraq ended up in Commerce Sec. Don Evans' hands in relation to the secretive Energy Task Force documents related to economic development of energy, mapping the Iraqi and Saudi oilfields in early 2000-2001. That would be a very good reason to use 'executive privilege' wouldn't it? For if anyone knew a war was being planned two years in advance, under the guise of energy policy planning, then there would be a lot of unanswered questions about .US Energy Policy yesterday, today, and tomorrow and how it is a private parlor game, much like the wargaming. So, how do James Baker, VP Cheney, G.W. Bush, Ken Lay relate to Energy Task Force planning and development--? Iraqi Oil War. Power should serve people. Maps available at: http://www.electronetwork.org/works/pen/ This is the issue to get to the core of things, it is proposed that going through VP Cheney so as to find a future in .US energy planning will allow many revelations about the past, present, and future workings of government by and for the privatized electrical estate of power, media, and technology. Banging the drum of public inquiry over Energy Task Force secrecy and making public the records and even minutes of these meetings will enable truth-tellilng to a large degree not only for the blackout of the northeastern US and parts of Canada, but also how to prevent this repeat of events from happening again, just like the blackouts of the 60s and 70s never to be repeated, nor the Nixon Whitehouse, both are back and have infested all the works. Moderate positioning in a radical right-wing establishment may be a radical moderation of strength through reason, not intimidation and innuendo. What is best for businesses, in this case, is also good for citizens. And it is not until this 'correction' can be performed that the 'public' marketplace for applications of various endeavors can gain momentum to challenge the distorted, corrupted state of affairs. It requires public debate, and it is not going to happen with weak-kneed new-age publications who worry about their image more than their substance or reporting. It is the #1 way to the center of things, all nodes lead back to VP Cheney, and well beyond. To change the direction of energy policy will require this ultimate US Patriot actor to come public with all documents related to the Energy Task Force, no secrets and on the fast track, and its relation to war in Iraq and any planning for Iraq's and other oil futures based on this war action. There was nothing evolutionary or revolutionary about .US energy policy under VP Cheney as President Bush is saying has been held back somehow by their own corrupt tactics. Instead, it is an inside deal that is holding back a optimal future that goes beyond the control of the industries alone, and into the dreams of people to live in a better world. If VP Cheney insists on standing in the way, it is the publics job, around the world no less, to make sure he understands he is not bigger, badder, or better than the rest of humanity. The False-Logic he referenced so often in the build-up to Iraq is a mental screen for more dubious affairs of manipulating minds. And, he was never a grandmaster. Only a player who lost big, and everyone is losing as a result. Please focus your energies here, on getting the Energy Task Force documents released. Then, secrecy will not stand in the way of the truth of these matters, and if all is as innocent as stated, as altruistic, there will be great evidence of this grand innovation, or, possibly, a foolhardy plan of deceptions. This is the biggest structural flaw to appear. Good deconstructionists everywhere know what to do next: go after information flows... bc microsite http://www.electronetwork.org/bc/ ~e-list http://www.electronetwork.org/list/ # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: nettime Six Limitations to the Current Open Source Development Methodology
Felix Stalder wrote: I totally agree that, from organizational point of view, the points you list such as open participation are very important. Your list is fully consistent with my elaborations. Yes. The Open Organizations project (http://www.open-organizations.org) is an attempt to synthesize these principles, and some others, into a workable, general-purpose model. I'm skeptical about the possibility of a workable, general-purpose model. My post was about the fact that the type of problem affects the social organization through which the solution is being developed. Agreed. OpenOrg, though relatively general-purpose, isn't meant to be a universal model. It's meant to suggest processes that from which you can pick and choose for the situation you find yourself in, discarding what doesn't fit. Since it's a theory based on practices used in real groups, we don't know what its limitations are (though some may well be determined by the criteria you listed), how far it will scale, etc. But it's at least an attempt at articulating a set of organizational practices at a more general level than software development. So far, we've seen some parts of it used successfully in the Indymedia network (see http://docs.indymedia.org/), and in some small activist groups. One thing we've observed is that, once people have the tools to make openness easy, it quickly becomes second nature to them. We've found that giving mailing lists and Wikis to activists is a much more effective way to promote openness than talking to them about organizational processes. With the right tools, groups of people become open without having to have the theory explained to them, because it's so much easier to work that way. Ben # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: nettime possible nettime model
One solution would be a seperate announcement list. Fibreculture, the Australian network of new media researchers and artists, has its own announcement list. It works quite well. On the main list, which is still open, there are around 750 subscribers. The announcement list is closed (in order to really focus that channel) and moderated once a day and has around 520 subscribers. It's interesting to see how many people actually appreciate such announcements. I agree here with what Andreas Broeckmann wrote earlier. Announcements concerning festivals, publications and projects give a network the substance it needs. They are a necessary nuisance. Otherwise things might drift into completely Platonic spheres. Online dialogues need to be framed. If not, sooner or later people will ask themselves: why all this debate? And why debate only? Is there perhaps something special about having an argument? Why is hitting the reply button and writing something back seen as the epiphany of online communication? Ciao, Geert # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: nettime Six Limitations to the Current Open Source Development Methodology
A further note. Some proponents of Free Software think it is synonymous with Free Solutions. To which, (assuming that functionally either will do) there is one very simple question that they need to consider:- Is the likely IT overhead, in term of time, expertise or money involved in implementing and keeping upgraded a Free Software solution greater or lesser than that involved with a commercial one? Only if the TOTAL COST is lower (including looking to the future, you might donate your time for free, but what happens when you move on, what is the market price of an appropriate expert to fix/extend, taking into account the learning curve for the deconstruction of your incompletely documented code) is Free Software actually a cost effective deal from the clients POV. However Free Software does serve to keep commercial prices realistic by providing an alternative. Eg if an OS option has a total internal cost of say $50 per seat (implementation, training, upkeep) then this caps commercial alternatives (which work out of the box, are intuitive to use and auto-upgrade) at around $50 per seat, instead of the $200 that they might have aimed for prior By way of concrete example, we find that some IT people think they can use PHP and MySQL to deliver their clients our solution. They could, but it would require months of work, probably go up several blind alleys etc, and since we charge less than $1 per person per year it would be cheaper to buy our solution than build their own with current OS tools, at least for communities of up to 100,000 + members. (For the only serious OS project in this field google Augmented Social Network. They need all the help they can get). Cheers -- ian dickson www.commkit.com phone +44 (0) 1452 862637fax +44 (0) 1452 862670 PO Box 240, Gloucester, GL3 4YE, England for building communities that work # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
nettime The 300-million question -- how to spread literacy in India... andfast
THE 300-MILLION QUESTION: HOW TO SPREAD LITERACY IN INDIA... AND FAST From Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall.org WHAT DO you do with a population of close to 300 million iliterates, who can speak their native languages, but cannot read or write in them? Do we see them merely as empty stomachs, and a burden on the nation? Or, is this an untapped potential, which can be converted into 600 million useful hands? If a project by premier Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) can find the right partners, and hit critical mass, then this large section could be converted into productive individuals who can read signboards. Maybe even the simple text of a newspaper in under 40 hours of learning-time. Retired Major General B G Shively's recent mission to the Goa port town of Vasco da Gama saw him take on an unusual enemy -- illiteracy. It also took to India's smallest state an innovative campaign that brings enticingly near the dream of making India literate. Says Pune-based Shively: Every adult has inborn qualities (and intelligence). You only have to activate it. This military-man now consulting advisor to the Tata Consultancy Services' literacy plan suggests that the computer can turn into a magic wand of sorts, to spread reading skills without the need for a huge army of teachers. Quite some work has already been done by TCS in Andhra Pradesh, with Telugu. Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Bengali are the other languages worked on. Gujarati is shaping up. What's more, there's an added bonus: India could become functionally literate in just three to four years time, if -- and this is a big if -- this method is vigorously implemented. How does it work? Simple. The software giant TCS is using low-end computers to take out the monotony from teaching, piggy-backing on the initiatives already undertaken by the National Literacy Mission, and treating adults very differently from children when it comes to teaching them. Some rules: don't make an adult sit for tests. Don't get caught up with writing, as the difficulties involved acts as a major disincentive. Reading skills are most important. Adults can't be made to study alphabets the same way children unquestioningly take to it. One-third of our population -- old, young and adults -- are illiterate. Some 150-200 million are adult illiterates between 15-50 years. Illiteracy is a major social concern, says Shively. Growing at 1.3% per annum roughly, literacy is creeping in just too slowly to make a difference for India's efficiency. That's where, says TCS, computers come in. Software generated by TCS, which is given to volunteer groups free-of-cost, tries to teach adults to learn to read a language by words, rather than the traditional method of learning by alphabets. In the Goa Shipyard Limited, one of India's military-run building centres, the concept recently drew interest. Sixty workers signed-up to learn the most important of the 3 Rs. Andhra is however the state where this project has made the most progress. There's almost nothing the teacher has to speak. Everything is in the software. So teachers can run 5-6 classes (one-hour) classes in a day, without getting tired. You don't need a trained teacher (because of the software), says Shively. In 40-hours flat, an illiterate could be turned into a 'functional literate', claims the major-general. This would enable one to read simple newspaper headlines, check out bus directions, read signboards and the like. Hopefully, such skills could be deepened over time. Their ideas are put out on the site www.tataliteracy.com, and the TCS is claiming a good response even from a few industrial groups wanting to gift their workers with literacy. To avoid reinventing the wheel, the TCS -- which sees this venture as part of its philanthropic endeavours -- is working in tandem with the government-run National Literacy Mission primers. So what happens if literacy comes in 40 hours, instead of 200? Drop-out rates are low. It wouldn't take India another 20-25 years to touch 90% literacy (three to four years are enough, says TCS), and the 'demotivating factors' are knocked off. Trained teachers are no longer the bottleneck. EFFECTIVE LINKAGES This project has been talked about for some time now. This writer recalls first reading about it sometime in mid-2000. Perhaps it has not been able to spread far and wide, because of a lack of effective linkages with other individuals who could take it ahead. Particularly non-profit organisations, and corporates who share this vision. Also, having the software under the GPL (General Public License) could perhaps make it easily sharable, improvable, and yet make clear the major contribution put in by the TCS. It perhaps makes good sense to take on computers as an ally in fighting iliiteracy. We have a huge problem: Nearly 350 million Indians cannot read or write. Of these, about 200 million are adult illiterates... Even five-and-half decades after Independence we have not been
nettime how to be a net.artist: lesson one: the name game
how to be a net.artist: lesson one: the name game is your name mark? if so you are 10 times more likely to become a net.artist than someone named vuk or netochka. look at all these net.artists named mark: mark amerika, mark tribe, mark napier, mark voge, marc garrett, mark dagget, mark river and marc lafia, just to name a sampling.that's amazing! if your name isn't mark consider including mark in your alias or your domain name somehow, like rtmark does. speaking of domain names. next you will want to choose a domain name for your website (where you will put up your art later) since futurefarmers took the coolest name available, dont try too hard with this part try to focus more on length of your domain name; should you go short like www.jodi.org or long like http://www..com ? *tips for picking a domain name in the english language: since every word in the english dictionary is already a domain name youll want to either modify a single english word with funky spelling; like putting a 5 or a z where the s is like www.engli5h.com or www.englizh.com or get clever with something like www.englitch.com . or, the easiest way is to combine two words, like red and smoke or potato and land. dont worry if the two words you are combining sound funny or awkward at first, like any new band or brand name the more you say them together the more the two will sound natural next to one another. if you really cant decide on a alias you can always use your real first and last name (if your first name is mark, you should definitely use your name as your domain name). your next big decision will be to choose a .net, .com, .org. don't worry about what each means, but do worry about which one sounds better with the name you've chosen. for example; www.markmark.com sounds better than www.markmark.net which sounds better than www.markmark.org . (note that using mark twice in your domain name will double your chances of becoming a net.artist!) you can always piggyback onto another site like the radical software group does (www.rhizome.org/rsg). but try and use a new media site like rhizome, turbulence or thing.net, or even a university site. for cred purposes try and avoid a geocities, tripod, or an angelfire address. hopefully by now you have some name ideas for your new net.art site. as you lay awake in bed tonight visualize yourself walking around the ars electronica festival in linz wearing a nintendo powerglove. congratulations! Youve completed lesson one. stay tuned for lesson 2: turning stuff into net.art; have you ever written anything or taken a picture or something? see images for lesson one here: http://www.linkoln.net/lessononeimages brought to you by http://www.linkoln.net _ bGet MSN 8/b and help protect your children with advanced parental controls. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: nettime a proposal: nettime-ann
Dear Nettimers, As someone who both (semi-automatically) posts announcements on nettime and someone who reads most of the announcements - even if it is sometimes 2-4 weeks later - I'd like to see things stay as they are. Being on a list just means having to wade through all the text, discarding some things, reading some closely and also making discoveries. I'm afraid that if these announcements were put on a separate list, only the truly faithful would subscribe and the discovery part for announcements would be more or less over. Being able to automatically post on this list is just trying to reach an interested group of people with the highest efficiency. Having to put a personalized message on the announcements in order to get them through would make the already rather time-consuming process of sending invitations and press info even more difficult for all those organizing understaffed media events. And aren't they almost all understaffed? If the moderators can't do this anymore: I understand. They certainly put a large amount of work into this list. But if it is possible to keep it going, please do. Warm Regards Rosanne Altstatt Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst -- COMPUTERBILD 15/03: Premium-e-mail-Dienste im Test -- 1. GMX TopMail - Platz 1 und Testsieger! 2. GMX ProMail - Platz 2 und Preis-Qualitätssieger! 3. Arcor - 4. web.de - 5. T-Online - 6. freenet.de - 7. daybyday - 8. e-Post # distributed via nettime: no commercial use without permission # nettime is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and info nettime-l in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
