[aha] Free Software and Beyond - The World of Peer Production - Manchester

[T_Bazz]

Free Software and Beyond - The World of Peer Production
4th Oekonux Conference - March 27th-29th, 2009
in cooperation with
P2P Foundation
http://www.oekonux-conference.org/

Invitation

Project Oekonux researches the economical, political and social forms of 
Free Software and similar forms of production we collectively call peer 
production. In Project Oekonux, different people with different reasons 
and different approaches get together to build something new. A lot of 
participants want to know, whether and if so, how, the peer production 
can serve as a basis for a new society.

For the 4th Oekonux Conference Project Oekonux cooperates with the P2P 
Foundation. The Foundation for Peer to Peer Alternatives researches, 
documents and promotes P2P practices in every domain of social life. 
It's a global cyber-collective and aims to be a knowledge and internet 
working platform for open/free, participatory, and commons-oriented 
initiatives on a global scale.

During the past decade the phenomenon of Free Software has become 
successful and well-known. It is still amazing how in the realm of 
software the creativity of so many volunteers leads to products which 
are useful for the whole mankind. Ten years after Project Oekonux was 
founded the world has changed. As expected by us the principles of the 
development of Free Software are spreading out to other fields. 
Wikipedia and Open Access are two of the most interesting examples among 
many. It is time to look at peer production from a broader perspective.

"The 4th Oekonux conference. Free Software and Beyond. The World of Peer 
Production"
takes up this development and widens the perspective from Free Software 
to other fields of peer production. Project Oekonux and P2P Foundation 
are proud to welcome nearly 30 invited contributors which will share 
their experience, studies and insights with us on the following topics

    * Peer production beyond Free Software
          o Free Design of material goods for less industrialized countries
          o Open Source Car
          o Free Science with Open Access
          o Open Street Map project
          o Peer production in art
          o Free Farming
          o Free Knitting
    * Aspects of Free Software
          o Free Software in Latin America
          o Innovation in Free Software
          o "Others" in the community
          o Communities and single developers
          o Women in Free Software
    * Peer production and social movements
          o The Hipatia project
          o Social movements and peer production
          o Indigenous movements and cyberspace
    * Theories on peer production
          o Patterns in peer production
          o Market and peer production based economies
          o Peer production and the concept of truth
          o Organization in peer production
    * Future of peer production
          o Current limitations of peer production
          o Money and peer production
          o Ideas for expanding peer production
          o Political scenarios for expanding peer production

Please see the program page for detailed information and some more 
contributions.

After the inspiration of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Oekonux Conference we hope 
and expect that in an open atmosphere critical voices as much as the 
enthusiasm of the hackers of all kinds once more will merge into a 
creative process. We hope and expect, that again the wide range of 
presentations contributed by international participants from science and 
practice will lead to new insights and broader understanding for all. We 
hope and expect, that as before we will have a lot of fun :-) .

4th Oekonux Conference
March 27th-29th, 2009
University of Manchester
Please register for free

http://www.oekonux-conference.org/registration.html