Essay of the Day: From Product-centered to People-centered economic development (Michel Bauwens: The following is a crucial distinction to make, we strongly recommend you read this) By Sam Rose, Paul Hartzog and informed in part by collaborations with Steve Bosserman. Production centered supply chain business development depends on: unlimited growthexclusive access to resourcesartificial scarcity around actually abundant resourcespeople filling roles in a linear systemhoarding of surplus This way of operating focuses on what is being produced, and requires people to be largely fixed into roles to serve the linear supply chain model. People and natural systems are generally considered to be “resources” that are raw materials and labor for production and distribution, end-points consumption. Markets for product-centered supply chain business development tend to look at statistics and averages of different factors of people and resources, in order to identify the largest markets. People centered business network ecosystem development Steve Bosserman comments:
Newsletter - Vol 9 Issue 6 - International news from the Cultural Contact Point The Arts Council hosts the EU Cultural Contact Point Ireland: your resource for European funding for culture The Culture Programme 2007–2013 was established to enhance the cultural area shared by all Europeans, which is based on a common cultural heritage through the development of cooperation activities among cultural operators from 37 eligible countries. The Programme offers funding opportunities to all cultural sections and all categories of cultural operators contributing to the development of cultural cooperation at European level, with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship.With a total budget of 400 million EUR for 2007 – 2013 the Programme co-finances around 300 different cultural actions per year. CCP Ireland to host EU funding info day in Cork When: Tuesday 6 March, 11amWhere: Triskel Arts Centre The aim of the event is two-fold. Communicating Europe Initiative: funding available The promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural
Save the Greeks from their Saviours! says Alain Badiou | European Conference Against Austerity & Privatisation At this moment, that one out of two Greeks is unemployed, 25.000 homeless wander in the streets of Athens, 30% of the population is living below the poverty line, thousands of families have to put their children in institutions so they won’t die of hunger and cold, and refugees and newly poor citizens struggle for garbage bins in public places, the “saviors” of Greece, under the pretext of the Greeks “not putting lots of effort” impose a new plan of help that doubles the given lethal dose. A plan that eliminates the labor law, and condemns the already poor people to extreme poverty, while vanishing the middle classes. There is no chance this idea is the “salvation” of Greece: all the -worthy of the name- economists agree on that. But in order that the counterattack of neoliberalism to achieve its goal, needs a system to established, that abolishes the most basic democratic rights. We are at a no turning back point. If not us, who will? If not now, when will it be? Translations:
Funding - The European Cultural Contact Point Ireland In this section of the website you will find information on every aspect of funding under the Creative Europe Culture Sub-Programme 2014-2020 including: making an application; funding deadlines;guidelines for each funding scheme and how to find project partners. Don't forget to visit our frequently asked questions (FAQ) section, where we list commons issues related to funding and the Culture Sub-programme. Funding deadlines The Creative Europe Culture Sub-Programme has a fixed calendar of deadlines for the funding period 2014–2020. More information and links to where you can download guidelines for each funding scheme can be found in the available funding section. *There will be one more call for proposals for the duration of the Creative Europe programme under the European Networks strand in July 2016 for 4 year framework agreements. Back to top
The Penguin and the Leviathan: The Triumph of Cooperation Over Self-Interest Here’s a quit extensive synthesis of “The Penguin and the Leviathan,” in my opinion a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in improving and transforming our economic and political institutions. Human motivation is a subject that ‘makes me tick’. I really enjoyed reading “The Penguin and the Leviathan”, not only because it paints a much nicer picture of “human nature” than the one used by the free marketeers, but also because it gives a glimpse of a future, higher form of society that will be much more based on human cooperation. Benkler gives a lot of examples, going from Southwest Airlines and Toyota’s shop floor processes to Chicago’s community policing program, Wikipedia and Linux. The Penguin and the Leviathan – How Cooperation Triumphs Over Self-Interest Statements on human nature are always a bit tricky because of the complexity of the subject matter. The first part of the title of the book needs a little bit explaining. A Vicious Circle A New Vision on Human Nature
Available funding - The European Cultural Contact Point Ireland The Creative Europe Culture Sub-programme has four main funding schemes each for a particular type of action. The objectives of the programme are pursued through the implementation of the following measures. Support for European Cooperation Projects The main objectives of the support for transnational cultural cooperation projects are to support: - transnational circulation and promotion of cultural and creative works and transnational mobility of cultural and creative players, in particular artists; - audience development; - innovation and creativity. Category 1 - Smaller scale cooperation projects • Involves a minimum of three partners (a project leader and two other partners) from three eligible countries Category 2 - Larger scale cooperation projects • Involves a minimum of six partners (a project leader and at least five other partners) from six different countries taking part in the Creative Europe programme Download guidelines for Support for European Cooperation Projects here.
Michel Bauwens: Life of the Internet or Internet as Our Life? Michel Bauwens Below by Nick Mendoza is recommended! Up front extract: With the decline of state capitalism, capitalist governments and corporations now dream of the internet as the tool for corporate growth through ontological colonialism, free to expand within the mind and the planet, exploiting everyone alike. Metal, code, flesh: Why we need a ‘Rights of the Internet’ declaration The internet, as a living being which is part human, should have rights of its own. Nicolas Mendoza Nicolas Mendoza is a scholar, artist and researcher in global media from The University of Melbourne. Al Jazeera, 15 February 2012 Click on Image to Enlarge Chiang Mai, Thailand - “OH $%#@!” Larry Downes eloquently describes the January 18 events as “the dramatic introduction of bitroots politics”. For the first time ever, the internet had taken on Hollywood extremists and won. However, the “January 18 blackout” victory guarantees “the internet” nothing. The hard thing is this: get ready, because more is coming. Alive!
Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch Get on a Southwest flight to anywhere, buy shoes from Zappos.com, pants from Nordstrom, groceries from Whole Foods, anything from Costco, a Starbucks espresso, or a Double-Double from In N' Out, and you'll get a taste of these brands’ vibrant cultures. Culture is a balanced blend of human psychology, attitudes, actions, and beliefs that combined create either pleasure or pain, serious momentum or miserable stagnation. A strong culture flourishes with a clear set of values and norms that actively guide the way a company operates. Employees are actively and passionately engaged in the business, operating from a sense of confidence and empowerment rather than navigating their days through miserably extensive procedures and mind-numbing bureaucracy. Performance-oriented cultures possess statistically better financial growth, with high employee involvement, strong internal communication, and an acceptance of a healthy level of risk-taking in order to achieve new levels of innovation.
The Future Now: An Interview with David de Ugarte In this interview, Shareable publisher Neal Gorenflo, John Robb of Global Guerrillas, and P2P foundation's Michel Bauwens talk to David de Ugarte, one of the originators of the Spanish cyberpunk scene about his more recent work developing a multinational worker cooperative, Las Indias, that is a culmination of his community's thinking and work for the last decade. Las Indias is the manifestation of a unique socio-economic philosophy that synthesizes many strains of thinking and culture including cyberpunk, anarchism, network thinking, and cooperatives - all with a Spanish twist. It's important because it points to a possible future for those who think outside of national boundaries and desire or need to take control of their own economic destiny. Michel Bauwens: Explain to us what Las Indias is, and where it comes from, and what makes it distinctive? David de Ugarte: Las Indias is the result of the Spanish-speaking cyberpunk movement. Now, we define ourselves around five main values:
Mark Pagel: culture is central to human success | Technology | The Observer Mark Pagel is head of the Evolution Laboratory at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading. He has travelled the world studying evolution and the spread of cultures. He is also the author of Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation, in which he argues that human culture has surpassed genes in determining who we are and how we live. You argue that culture exercises a sort of mind control over us? Some people think culture is a virus that infects our minds and controls us in ways that don't serve us but serve it; I actually think we've tamed it so that it serves us quite exquisitely. How did culture become this important? Around 200,000 years ago, the defining event in modern human evolution occurred when humans acquired the capacity for culture. Both are streams of information that get passed down the generations; it is just that one has allowed us to adapt in hundreds or thousands of years, rather than hundreds of thousands of years. Well, I am.