Category: Liberation Technology

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Advance Order (15 Jan 15): Digital Humanitarians: How Big Data is Changing the Face of Humanitarian Response

Advanced Cyber/IO, Crowd-Sourcing, Drones & UAVs, Geospatial, Governance, Innovation, Liberation Technology, Resilience, United Nations & NGOs, Worth A Look
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

This book shows us once again why Patrick Meier is a thought leader in leveraging emerging technologies for social impact. His book captures the enormous possibilities and avoidable pitfalls of big data, social media and artificial intelligence in crisis contexts. Digital humanitarians can be powerful agents for social change but ground-truthing what we see and hear digitally is more important than ever.
—Aleem Walji, Chief Innovation Advisor, Leadership, Learning, and Innovation, World Bank Group

Phi Beta Iota: The book title and description from the publisher are misleading.  This is not a book about Big Data. It is a book about distributed human networks using open source information technologies to achieve situational awareness with a speed and precision that the entire US secret intelligence community (which costs $100 billion a year) cannot match.

See Also:

Patrick Meier @ Phi Beta Iota

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Stephen E. Arnold: Ushahidi Internet Solution for Remote Areas — the Autonomous Internet Begins!

Advanced Cyber/IO, Liberation Technology
Stephen E. Arnold
Stephen E. Arnold

Noted with great regard.

From the Ushahidi team, an internet solution for remote areas

BRCK is built in Africa for Africa but just like Ushahidi, can be scaled across continents. The wireless modem allows up to 20 users connect to the internet by optimizing on available networks. “BRCK has mobility in mind, insert a 3G data enabled SIM card in over 140 countries and broadcast a WiFi signal that you can share. If you don’t have a SIM card, BRCK still has you covered, as we have BRCK vMNO for global connectivity with SIM cards,” explains Hersman.

Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Ushahidi Internet Solution for Remote Areas — the Autonomous Internet Begins!”

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SchwartzReport: Amish Farmers Study Plant Immunology, Avoid Using Pesticides Completely

01 Agriculture, Advanced Cyber/IO, Liberation Technology
Stephan A. Schwartz
Stephan A. Schwartz

The failure of the industrial chemical agriculture and husbandry model is becoming increasingly evident. But just as alternatives to carbon energy are gaining momentum, so I hope an agriculture and husbandry alternative, such as that described in this report, takes hold and similarly replaces the chemicals and poisons.

Amish Farmers Study Plant Immunology, Avoid Using Pesticides Completely

EXTRACT

Samuel Zook, an Amish farmer recently explained to a reporter: “If you really stop and think about it, though, when we go out spraying our crops with pesticides, that’s really what we’re doing. It’s chemical warfare, bottom line.” His frustration led him to the writings of an 18-year old Amish farmer from Ohio, named John Kempf. This young upstart is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture, a consulting firm the farmer established in 2006 to promote science-intensive organic agriculture.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Amish Farmers Study Plant Immunology, Avoid Using Pesticides Completely”

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Berto Jongman: Naomi Klein on Capitalism versus Climate Change — a “People’s Shock” Coming? Robert Steele Disagrees — Precipitants of Revolution Missing

11 Society, Civil Society, Crowd-Sourcing, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Governance, Liberation Technology, Officers Call
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

“Worth a look.”

Naomi Klein to Degrowth Conference: Climate Change Can Deliver ‘People's Shock'

Status quo is not an option if we are to rein in runaway emissions, This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate author says in address to conference

“You're having the core conversation of our time.”

That was the message delivered on Tuesday by author Naomi Klein to participants of a conference whose focus is on “concrete steps towards a society beyond the imperative of growth.”

Klein's opening address to the Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, which kicked off Tuesday in the German city of Leipzig, made perfect sense, as the themes of her new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. The Climate, overlap those of the conference — that addressing the climate crisis is incompatible with the current growth-focused economy.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Naomi Klein on Capitalism versus Climate Change — a “People's Shock” Coming? Robert Steele Disagrees — Precipitants of Revolution Missing”

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Jean Lievens: P2P on Cooperativa Integral Catalana

03 Economy, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Liberation Technology
Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

Enric Duran of the Catalan Integrated Cooperative has taken the time to comment on Michel Bauwens’ recent article on Open Coops, contrasting Bauwens’ proposals with the practical realities already under way in the CIC’s own forward thinking cooperativist environment.

Bauwens’ summary of these proposals include four key proposals which Duran addresses below. To give some context, the four proposals are:

  1. That coops need to be statutorily (internally) oriented towards the common good 
  2. That coops need to have governance models including all stakeholders
  3. That coops need to actively co-produce the creation of immaterial and material commons
  4. That coops need to be organized socially and politically on a global basis, even as they produce locally.

Here are Duran’s comments to each proposal.

Read full post.

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Berto Jongman: Post-Snowden NSA-Proof Phone?

Advanced Cyber/IO, Commerce, Ethics, IO Secrets, IO Tools, Liberation Technology
Berto Jongman
Berto Jongman

In the post-Snowden world is it time to switch to NSA-proof phone?

Millions of us share our most personal feelings and most potentially damaging data through our smartphones. But isn’t it time to lock them down after last June’s revelations that the NSA collects data from phone calls, texts and emails of people all over the world? The developers of Blackphone, a new privacy-focused smartphone, say ‘yes.’

Toby Weir-Jones, the general manager of Blackphone, says the NSA’s digital surveillance has created a new demand for privacy, Newsweek reports. However, he says, “the wider market was not equipped to look for a solution.” Apple and Android phones, says Weir-Jones, are caught up in a battle over larger screen sizes, higher resolution and faster operating systems, while Blackphone is offering privacy.

Theoretically, experts say, the new device could provide considerable security for users trying to protect themselves from corporate spying and the countries with lesser surveillance programs than the US. Blackphone, which goes on presale February 24,can do texting, video, calling, searching, browsing, file storage and sharing — all shielded from the prying eyes of governments and hackers.

Read full article.