Michel Bauwens is visiting Melbourne to lecture to students in Networked Media
as well as give a public presentation and discussion. An event organised as a
collaboration between the Media department and MCD: studio to be held in the new
research studio.

Venue: bldg 4.level 5. room 1
Date: Wednesday August 1
Time: 6pm

A summary of the public presentation provided by Michel Bauwens:

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 (pull and intention economy).

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

In this specific talk we want to focus more specifically on the
political implications of peer governance, and how it relates to
democratic models of governance.

Bio

Michel Bauwens was one of the internet pioneers in his home country
of Belgium, where he created two startups (e- Com and KyberCo)
respectively involved in the fields of intranet/extranet and
interactive marketing. 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
webconsultancy USWeb/CKS- MarchFIRST. Prior to his involment 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 (Wave), 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.

Testimonials

There is an extensive list of Testimonials.

– The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
alternatives.

Wiki and Encyclopedia ; Blog; Newsletter

Basic essay; interview video interview

The P2P Foundation is support