::fc-announce:: Lunchtime Seminar with Michel Bauwens on Peer to Peer: A New Economy and Civilisation

[Darren Sharp]

Swinburne University's Faculty of Life and Social Sciences and 
Smart Internet Technology CRC has pleasure in inviting you to 
attend a lunchtime seminar with Belgian Web entrepreneur and
philosopher Michel Bauwens.

Title: PEER TO PEER: A NEW ECONOMY AND CIVILISATION

Presenter: MICHEL BAUWENS (Belgium/Thailand)

Date: Tuesday 7th August

Time: 12.30pm - 2.00pm

Venue: BA 912

A light lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP for catering purposes to: dasharp at swin.edu.au 

Abstract:
Peer to peer is much more than just the sharing of music and film by
contemporary teenagers - it is in fact a new relational dynamic,
enabled by P2P-based infrastructures and organisational techniques, 
which fundamentally changes the dynamic between institutions and the
peer-enabled individuals. No longer are institutions (companies,
governments, NGOs, mass media) communicating with isolated
individuals,but it is now the individuals who, assisted by their peers,

approach the institutional world from a totally different perspective.

Far from limited to the co-creation of value with corporations and
media (crowd sourcing and citizen journalism), it is creating a whole
new set of social processes such as peer production (Linux and
Wikipedia), peer governance (projects managed without pre-established
hierarchy), and peer property (a new set of licenses that protects the
common production).

Some of the following general questions will be addressed:

    * What is the logic of this peer to peer dynamic, and what can we
       say so far about how companies and institutions are adapting to
its
       challenge?

    * How can we interpret Web 2.0 developments and the future of
       computing in the light of these developments?

    * What are the political and social consequences of a peer-enabled
       civil society?

About the presenter:
Michel Bauwens was one of the internet pioneers in his home country of
Belgium, where he created two startups respectively involved in
intranet/extranet and interactive marketing (e-Com and KyberCo). 
He was also the eBusiness Strategy Director for the country's leading
telecommunications company Belgacom as well as European Director of
Thought Leadership for the worldwide web consultancy
USWeb/CKS-MarchFIRST. 
Prior to his involvement in the internet he was information analyst,
and knowledge 
manager for BP. Along the way, he has taught post-graduate MBA courses,
been 
editor in chief of a magazine, co-produced a 3-hour TV documentary
(TechnoCalyps), 
and co-edited two French-language volumes on the anthropology of
digital society.

In 2003, he moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is surrounded by 60%
of the world population in a 1,500 miles radius, and started the
Foundation for P2P Alternatives to research, document and promote such
practices as peer production and peer governance. He is part of the
handful of experts worldwide to study P2P processes, but uniquely
combines it with a wide-ranging experience in the business world.

P2P Foundation Links:

The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
alternatives.
Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net 
http://p2pfoundation.net/; Blog, at http://blog.p2pfoundation.net 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/ ; Newsletter, at
http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p 
Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; 
video interview, at
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/09/29/network_collaboration_peer_to_peer.htm



All welcome to attend.

Darren Sharp - Senior Researcher
Smart Internet Technology CRC
Swinburne University of Technology
John St, Hawthorn 3122 Australia
Phone: +61 3 9214 4406
Fax: +61 3 9819 6443
Email: dasharp at swin.edu.au 
www.smartinternet.com.au




Swinburne University of Technology
CRICOS Provider Code: 00111D

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