In case you were puzzled by uncharacteristic lack of FW discourse between Dec. 28 and Jan 6...so were we! The server at U. of Waterloo was down for upgrading, and no one had passed that news along to Sally. But we're up and running again as of yesterday - Jan 7th. Perhaps a little breathing time over the holiday wasn't totally unwelcome. Sally and Arthur *FUTUREWORK MONTHLY REMINDER* PLEASE NOTE: A new list dealing only with Basic Income (BI) was is up and operating. To subscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] saying subscribe basicincome YourEmailAddress. This is a list for BI advocates and others interested in the idea to discuss ways to get BI onto the political agenda in North America, as well as how to work with others--the Basic Income European Network BIEN, for instance--who have the same objective. *FUTUREWORK: Redesigning Work, Income Distribution, Education* FUTUREWORK is an international e-mail forum for discussion of how to deal with the new realities created by economic globalization and technological change. Basic changes are occurring in the nature of work in all industrialized countries. Information technology has hastened the advent of the global economic village. Jobs that workers at all skill levels in developed countries once held are now filled by smart machines and/or in low-wage countries. Contemporary rhetoric proclaims the need for ever-escalating competition, leaner and meaner ways of doing business, a totally *flexible* workforce, jobless growth. What would a large permanent reduction in the number of secure, adequately-waged jobs mean for communities, families and individuals? This is not being adequately discussed, nor are the implications for income distribution and education. Even less adequately addressed are questions of how to take back control of these events, how to turn technological change into the opportunity for a richer life rather thanthe recipe for a bladerunner society. Our objective in creating this list is to involve as many people as possible in redesigning for the new realities. We hope that this list will help to move these issues to a prominent place on public and political agendas worldwide. FUTUREWORK is well-known for discussion and debate that is both spirited and civil, intelligent and provocative. It also serves as a bulletin-board to post notices about recommended books, articles, other documents, other lists and websites, conferences, even job openings relevant to the future of work and to the roles of education, community and other factors in that future. The FUTUREWORK list is hosted by the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. To subscribe to FUTUREWORK, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] saying subscribe futurework YourE-MailAddress NOTE: To get the digest (batch) form of the list, subscribe to futurework-digest To post directly to the list (once you are subscribed), send your message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please begin the subject line of your message with FW, so that subscribers know the mail is from someone on the list. Subscribers almost always add a topic/thread identifier on the subject line (for example, 'FW downward mobility') to focus discussion--a very good idea. Searchable archives for the Futurework list are available at http://www.mail-archive.com/futurework%40dijkstra.uwaterloo.ca/ If you ever want to remove yourself from the Futurework list, you can send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following command in the body of your email message: unsubscribe futurework YourE-mailAddress If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list (if you have trouble unsubscribing or have questions about the list itself) send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] We look foward to your participation in the ongoing FUTUREWORK discussions. Sally Lerner Arthur Cordell [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]