December

The Secret Random Acts of Kindness Society 

Purpose: Increase kindness and wellbeing in the planet, doing little (or bigger) things, according to member´s availabilities, that can positively impact other Terrestrial lives. 

Rules: Each act of kindness should be as natural as possible. No photos. No names. Just do it and go back to whatever it was you were doing with your life. As natural as your skin. Kindness acts can be planned and include resources belonging to different members as long as they remain anonymous. 

Members & Membership: All religions, cultures, and ages in any part of the Planet. Membership starts when members start doing random acts of kindness. 

Meeting places: Members can convene anywhere in the Planet with other members, face to face only, in order to share experiences between them, and address future acts of kindness needs. No photos and no digital minutes of the gathering are allowed. 

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

fair/fear

Milan, after immersing myself in the second Resonances exhibition about Fair/Fear. "How can we build a fair world? Science and art (SciArt) meet to provoke conversation and inspire answers to this question". Exhibition by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), EU. Explanations by Curator Paul Heard very enriching, adding depth, and new layers of meaning. Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

technologies as cultural artefacts

Cornford, Tony (2003) Information systems and new technologies: Taking shape in use. In: Avgerou, Chrisanthi and La Rovere, Renata Lèbre, (eds.) Information systems and the economics of innovation, pp. 162-177.

Woolgar, Steve (1996). Technologies as Cultural Artefacts. In Dutton, William and Peltu, H. Malcolm, (eds.) Information and communication technologies, pp. 87-102.

Sociedade em Rede

Castells, Manuel (2005). A Sociedade em Rede: do Conhecimento à Política. Gustavo Cardoso & Manuel Castells (Org.) A Sociedade em Rede: Do Conhecimento à Acção Política. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, pp. 17-30:

"Frequentemente, a sociedade emergente tem sido caracterizada como sociedade de informação ou sociedade do conhecimento. Eu não concordo com esta terminologia. Não porque conhecimento e informação não sejam centrais na nossa sociedade. Mas porque eles sempre o foram, em todas as sociedades historicamente conhecidas. O que é novo é o facto de serem de base microelectrónica, através de redes tecnológicas que fornecem novas capacidades a uma velha forma de organização social: as redes."(p.19)

"[As redes] podem, ao mesmo tempo, ser flexíveis e adaptáveis graças à sua capacidade de descentralizar a sua performance ao longo de uma rede de componentes autónomos, enquanto se mantêm capazes de coordenar toda esta actividade descentralizada com a possibilidade de partilhar a tomada de decisões. As redes de comunicação digital são a coluna vertebral da sociedade em rede, tal como as redes de potência (ou redes energéticas) eram as infra-estruturas sobre as quais a sociedade industrial foi construída, como demonstrou o historiador Thomas Hughes." (p.18)

Wishlist: Hughes, T. (2005). Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture. University Of Chicago Press.

PS [18/May/2007] - I already have Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture :-)