[Nettime-bold] Openflows Newsletter #1

[Felix Stalder <felix@openflows.org>]

Newsletter #1 - End of Summer 2001
http://openflows.org
info@openflows.org


+ 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
info@openflows.org.





Contact information
--++---------------------------------

Openflows Networks Ltd.
P.O. Box 108 Station P
Toronto Ont. M5S 2S8
Canada

phone: 416-531-4616
Email: info@openflows.org
http://www.openflows,org

Felix Stalder, <felix@openflows.org>
Jesse Hirsh, <jesse@openflows.org>




To subsribe or unsubscribe from an openflows.org email list please visit
the website http://lists.openflows.org



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