| Felix Stalder on Tue, 25 Sep 2001 22:21:20 +0200 (CEST) |
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| [Nettime-bold] Openflows Newsletter #1 |
Newsletter #1 - End of Summer 2001 http://openflows.org [email protected] + Intro + What is Openflows + What is Open Source Intelligence + Current Projects + Jobs at Openflows + Contact & Un/Subscription to this Newsletter Intro: --++--------------------------------- Welcome to the Openflows' Newsletter. This is the first in what we plan to be a regular series of newsletters providing updates on what happens at Openflows.org We would like to invite you to participate in the projects that we are setting up and encourage you to give us any kind of feedback you might have. We also ask you pass this on to friends and colleagues, so that they may hear about Openflows. What is Openflows --++--------------------------------- Openflows is a cluster of initiatives to develop tools and social practices of Open Source Intelligence on the culture, politics and organization of networks. Openflows Networks Ltd., a privately held company founded late last year by Jesse Hirsh and Felix Stalder and based in Toronto Canada, provides the organizational core for the development of the technical platforms and social projects for Open Source Intelligence, focusing on the culture, politics and organization of networks. For this, we use a wide range of open source software packages. What is Open Source Intelligence --++--------------------------------- Open Source Intelligence is the practice of applying the principles of Open Source Software development to the field of information gathering, filtering and analysis. Open Source Intelligence emerges from a "Do-It-Yourself" ethic that combines the publishing culture of grassroots media with the transparency of the free software movement. The GNU/Linux operating system is the most famous example of the way Open Source Intelligence has influenced software development. The Internet's social movement, free and open source software, opens up the development process to the entire group and erodes distinctions between "author" and "user" by allowing everyone to contribute their specific knowledge to processes. The Open Source movement is quite heterogeneous, but a few principles characterize virtually all Open Source projects: - the distinction between user and producer is eliminated; - hierarchies within the project teams are flat; - learning is collaborative; - the highest possible degree of transparency is obtained; - many-to-many is the basic communication pattern; - there is a fluid organization of a large number of participants around a stable core of maintainers. As an example see http://slash.openflows.org Current Openflows Projects --++--------------------------------- Understanding the Network Society http://news.openflows.org The focus of this project is on social practices enabled through new technologies. News.openflows tracks and dissects events at the intersection of technology, politics, and new social and cultural practices. No Logo http://www.nologo.org Naomi Klein's book, No Logo, an international bestseller, articulates the currents and enthusiasm of the anti-globalization movement around the world. Nologo.org offers a platform to extend the research and analysis of the book by inviting readers to contribute with their knowledge to the ongoing monitoring corporate expansion and search for counter strategies. Openflows has created the site for Ms. Klein, and our staff continues to facilitate and organize its development with a team of volunteers from around the world. The Architecture of Intelligence http://architecture.openflows.org Derrick de Kerckhove, Director of the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto, argues in his forthcoming book that new organizational principles are needed to integrate the three main spatial environments in which we live, in and with, today: mind, world and networks. This site "opensources" the central ideas and chapters of the book for discussion and further development. Counterspin http://www.counterspin.tv Counterspin, the political debate show on CBC Newsworld, was looking for a way to extend their discussion beyond the format of television broadcast, with its limitations in time and number of participants. We built them a platform, based on the slashcode, to do this. Other projects Openflows contributes expertise to: AWID http://www.awid.org The Association for Women's Rights in Development rabble.ca http://www.rabble.ca A new on-line Magazine Play Records http://www.playrecords.net An Independent Music Label Privacy Lecture Series http://privacy.openflows.org Public lecture series on privacy and new technology, held in Toronto. Jobs @ Openflows: --++--------------------------------- Programmer for Open source software needed. Are you interested in open source software? Or even yet, do you think software should be free? We're currently looking for database (MySQL and Postgresql) and web (Perl, PHP, Python) programmers to help us help our clients and associates. If your heart is with free software, and yet you're still interested in getting paid for your work, send your resume to [email protected]. Contact information --++--------------------------------- Openflows Networks Ltd. P.O. Box 108 Station P Toronto Ont. M5S 2S8 Canada phone: 416-531-4616 Email: [email protected] http://www.openflows,org Felix Stalder, <[email protected]> Jesse Hirsh, <[email protected]> To subsribe or unsubscribe from an openflows.org email list please visit the website http://lists.openflows.org _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list [email protected] http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold