What you are reading and watching?

I’m launching a new thread as a suggested first place where we can share exciting content we are coming across, rather than creating a new post for every individual piece. If a particular share starts gathering conversational momentum, we can then initiate a specific topic just around that, or on the theme and questions that it is pointing to. I see a number of benefits to this approach, though it remains to be seen if it will gain traction with the larger group of people engaging here!

Who are the New Co-op Weavers? is a nice piece that I spotted in the daily email from my friends at www.resilience.org that talks about a number of initiatives in our space, though (sadly!) not DigLife itself. It was originally published by Open Coop. An excerpt:

This is the realm in which the new generation of co-operative weavers are ‘shuttling’ the threads of disparate groups back and forth, curating and collating concepts and ‘memes’ into more coherent tapestries. The Collaborative Technology Alliance highlights the objective: “There are many groups around the world working to deliver a more open, more collaborative and inclusive society. These groups are intention-aligned but remain disparate initiatives, which means they fail to benefit from the network effect”.

Imagine how much more effective we could be if the members of the Transition Network, NEON, Occupy, The Solidarity Economy, The Internet of Ownership, The WWOOFers, The Eco village Network and all the other hundreds and thousands of like-minded networks were actively collaborating on creating the type of society to which they all aspire. The network effect would be unstoppable.

The good news is that there are people working on uniting these groups and they are the new co-op weavers: People like Nathan Schneider and Trebor Scholtz from the Platform Cooperativism movement, Michel Bauwens and all his excellent collaborators at the Peer to Peer Foundation, Fransesca Pick and her fellow connectors at OuiShare, Arthur Brock and the other boffins behind Holo (the new alternative to blockchain), and Pia Mancini and the other hackers and makers behind Democracy.earth. These are just some of the people that are using the warp and the weft of the world wide web to to weave a new fabric for our society; faabric woven from the cooperative spirit which has been missing from our world for too long. We are extremely proud to be hosting most of the above names, as well as a hundreds of other would-be-weavers to the second Platform Co-op conference, OPEN 2018, which will take place in London in July.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

People can be viewed as either an extravert, introvert or even an ambivert. The author argues the modern world is biased towards extroverts.

Do the incumbent social networks amplify this bias or do they give introverts and ambiverts a voice? My inkling is the latter and this has lead to the crisis concerning free speech.

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Serendipity. I just opened discuss.diglife to post just this link :grinning:

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Based on my eight years of experience as a convener of virtual dialogue, I have no doubt that introverts are often more comfortable connecting with others–especially groups-- virtually versus in person. Though I imagine some of the same challenges apply even when text is the medium. But I’m unclear, @johngrant on how this would lead to “the crisis concerning free speech” (or even what you are specifically referring to with that remark). Care to say a bit more?

Yes, I would like to say more but not in a public forum <- there’s a clue for you.

True, true, true.
(… and, while I don’t want to play the eternal Cassandra here, hope to G** we/they take a lesson from the currently [barely]cooperative movement )

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Hi John,

I recently read that book as well and would highly recommend it. Personally, I found it very great help in understanding myself on the combination of personal emotions I experience when working in open office spaces, with a high degree of noise and activity and my craving for a quiet space once the day is done.

On your question on are social networks biased towards extroverts and ambiverts, I think that depends. Not too long ago, there was a distinction between FB and LinkedIn, the first for personal networks the later for professional networks, in that structure even an introvert is more likely to participate/share, since it is to a close circle of personal contacts.

Over the last 3 years I have found that FB now is as much professional networks as personal, and in that environment the comfort level for an introvert is likely diminished significantly. Is it a conscious design to marginalize introverts, my guess is no, because they did not even consider the impact. Particularly if the designers were extroverts in themselves. As Susan Cain indicates, extroverts usually are not aware of the bias or discomfort introverts experience.

I don’t see the connection though to the crisis concerning free speech. This I feel comes more from the cheap/easy tactic of showing disdain for contrary opinion, and the ‘disembodied voice’ that social/electronic media provides and allows/encourages behavior that would be highly less likely if you were sitting at a table having a beer.

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I agree to an extent but it doesn’t explain the actions of universities ‘no-platforming’ speakers or the indiscriminate censorship (or shadow banning) of these speakers on social media. My argument is social media has provided the medium for a broad range of people, introverts included, to rise to prominence. The ‘disembodied voices’ you mention appear quite effective in using social media to rally popular protest, close down the debate and deny these people a voice. Hence the crisis in free speech.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
–Evelyn Beatrice Hall. 1906.

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From The Guardian:Are you ready? Here is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

We know this, and yet seeing it laid out in detail is pretty scary.

This is one of the craziest things about the modern age. We would never let the government or a corporation put cameras/microphones in our homes or location trackers on us. But we just went ahead and did it ourselves because – to hell with it! – I want to watch cute dog videos.

Contributing a new book.

I just finished reading The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer. Amanda Palmer is a former street artist as well as part of The Dresden Dolls. The book is a part biography, part informational. It contains some very interesting insights around building a community of interest, the challenges of asking for help (psychological as well as societal) but how critical being willing to ask and receive help is to building true and solid connections.

One of the quotes I have pulled from the book:

Being painted white and standing on a box, the crowdsurfing, the Kickstarter, ringing a stranger’s doorbell in the middle of the night: I no longer see these things as risk. I see them as acts of trust.
_ I think the real risk is the choice to disconnect. To be afraid of one another._
_ We make countless choices every day whether to ask or to turn away from one another._
_ Asking for help requires authenticity, and vulnerability._
_ Those who ask without fear learn to say two things, with or without words, to those they are facing:_
_ I deserve to ask._
_ and_
_ You are welcome to say no._
_ Because the ask that is conditional cannot be a gift._

Thinking out loud:

  • data and information (input)
  • curation (moderate)
  • conversation (catalyze)
  • dashboard (moderate)
  • intangibles leverage (catalyze)
  • knowledge (output)

LOVED LOVED LOVED Palmer’s TED talk, which names those themes. The notion that we might actually be able shift our economic paradigm from impersonal transactional exchanges to reciprocal systems of giving based on being in relationship is a key inspiration for me. https://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking

I’m intrigued, @johnkellden. Are any of the groups named in that piece on “weaving” operating on a framework such as you are naming, do you think?

You mean these Ben?

“The good news is that there are people working on uniting these groups and they are the new co-op weavers: People like Nathan Schneider and Trebor Scholtz from the Platform Cooperativism movement, Michel Bauwens and all his excellent collaborators at the Peer to Peer Foundation, Fransesca Pick and her fellow connectors at OuiShare, Arthur Brock and the other boffins behind Holo (the new alternative to blockchain), and Pia Mancini and the other hackers and makers behind Democracy.earth. These are just some of the people that are using the warp and the weft of the world wide web to to weave a new fabric for our society”

Perhaps not operating just yet. There’s been ten years of proprietary (digital) platform fragmentation and polarization.

The people around Scuttlebutt, Beaker browser are doing good things. The Enspiral crew and extended network.

Your group in FB.

My Conversation Community (Nov 2012 - current although dormant in Google+), (Feb 2015 - current in FB) around 4800 people, around 500 which are active on a daily basis.

What I would like to suggest and explore together with others here in DigiLife, is a set of tools with which to help everyone (not just us) operationalise better digital platforms, better digital commons, better digital workplaces for groups and team, better digital discourse as well as open inquiry and participatory inquiry.

Apologies for adding this to the “What are you reading and watching” I’m a newbie here, feel free to move this to where it would be better placed.

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