Home
- 26article
- 17communism
- 11free-software
- 10web2.0
- 9how-to
- 8economics
- 7copyright
- 7технологија
- 7zizek
- 7book
09 Nov 09
Op-Ed Contributor - 20 Years of Collapse - NYTimes.com
What these belated anti-Communists fail to realize is that the image they provide of their society comes uncannily close to the most abused traditional leftist image of capitalism: a society in which formal democracy merely conceals the reign of a wealthy minority. In other words, the newly born anti-Communists don’t get that what they are denouncing as perverted pseudo-capitalism simply is capitalism.
07 Nov 09
Fear of becoming minority as a motivator of conflict in the former Yugoslavia
A democratic Yugoslavia would make all ethnic groups (including the Serbs) what they really were - a minority. The fear of becoming a minority (which was created by nationalist members of the counter-elite) was the main reason why a large segment of the population supported separation.
At the same time, those segments of the former “constitutive nations” and “nationalities” which in new circumstances became minorities (especially Serbs, but also Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as Albanians in Serbia) refused to accept the new concept for the same reason : they feared they would become minorities at territories in which they once had been recognised as constitutive. The fears of being existentially endangered if a minority, led all these groups (Slovenes, Croats, Bosnian and Croatian Serbs, Serbian Albanians, Bosnian Croats) towards separatism, and in most cases to authoritarian and military styles of governing in their new political entities. I argue that the fear of becoming a minority was, and remains, a major motivator of conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Subsequently, that conflict is likely to continue for as long as the main Yugoslav ethnic groups fear for their survival.
- This new discourse, however, contained in itself notions of both “majority” and “minority”. Representative democracy is rule by a majority, which is identified in free and fair elections. Minorities are recognised and protected: but – they could hardly count on being in practice in everything equal with the majority. Regardless of various instruments of minority protection, it is ultimately the majority that takes decisions. Both the doctrine of “self-managing agreement and harmonisation” and the practise of self-management, were now to be replaced by majority voting in which every citizen (not republics or ethnic groups) was treated as equal to every other[15]. Instead of ideological constructions of anti-state “socio-political communities” (as “a new form of social organisation” which was to replace the state), a proper (Yugoslav) state was to be created. Almost inevitably, representative democracy would create a Yugoslav demos instead of six “constitutive nations” and “nationalities”. Equally likely, the existence of a Yugoslav “civic nation” would become the main substance of a democratic Yugoslavia’s new identity, which would undermine already weak linguistic, religious, cultural and political boundaries between the existing “constitutive nations”. Ultimately, a Yugoslav nation would emerge as a product of representative democracy. In normal circumstances, political parties and votes, as well as post-electoral coalitions would cut across ethnic lines. - novica on 2009-11-08
06 Nov 09
The Red Republic: J. Slavyanski's Guide to Anti-Communism
The following post is a satirical guide to anti-communism first compiled more than a year ago by J. Slavyanski on August 22, 2007. Each time I see this I cannot help but put a smile on my face on its utter "truthiness".
28 Oct 09
Choosing the Right Grad School
Choosing where to get your PhD is not the same as choosing where to get your undergrad. The reputation of the school matters and the awesome-ness of your peers matters, but the MOST significant factor in your sanity and success is your relationship with your advisor. I cannot say this loudly enough.
23 Oct 09
What's the Right Economics for Cyberspace? by Michael H. Goldhaber
Suppose archaeologists were to unearth the remains of a previously unknown civilization; should they assume from the outset that neo-classical economics correctly explained what went on there? Obviously not. Much the same applies to cyberspace, including the Net. In effect it is a newly discovered civilization, despite the fact that we ourselves and our descendants will inhabit it. Without examination, nothing justifies concluding in advance that neo-classical economics will apply. Indeed, because life in cyberspace is so different from what we are used to outside it, as a first guess, it makes sense to tilt against that supposition.
Economics is dead. Long live economics!
Paul Samuelson provided the textbook definition of economics as the "study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people." Would this definition apply to the information age - or to life on the Internet? Controversies in current literature relate primarily to the words "scarce", "resource" (and hence "commodity") and "produce".
The Attention Economy: The Natural Economy of the Net
If the Web and the Net can be viewed as spaces in which we will increasingly live our lives, the economic laws we will live under have to be natural to this new space. These laws turn out to be quite different from what the old economics teaches, or what rubrics such as "the information age" suggest. What counts most is what is most scarce now, namely attention. The attention economy brings with it its own kind of wealth, its own class divisions - stars vs. fans - and its own forms of property, all of which make it incompatible with the industrial-money-market based economy it bids fair to replace. Success will come to those who best accommodate to this new reality.
28 Sep 09
You looked better on MySpace
This paper examines Social Network Site (SNS) users’ criticism of a popular style of SNS profile picture referred to as “MySpace Angles.” Reactions to this style of portraiture label the display of these photographs “deceptive,” alleging that MySpace Angles fool users into believing that the subject is more attractive than they actually are. This case study approach utilizes a close reading analysis of the MySpace Angle commentary, revealing three main themes in users’ critique of MySpace Angles: 1) users who post these photographs are conforming to a social trend at the expense of their individuality; 2) the presentation of these photographs is narcissistic; and, 3) these photographs purposefully conceal the body. This case study displays a shift in the conception of deception online; on the social Web populated by SNSs, theories of deception and authenticity are called into question as users are increasingly anchored to their bodies and expected to effortlessly present an online self mirroring the off–line self.
27 Sep 09
The Digital Given--10 Web 2.0 Theses by Ippolita, Geert Lovink
The internet turns out to be neither the problem nor the solution for the global recession. As an indifferent bystander it doesn't lend itself easily as a revolutionary tool. The virtual has become the everyday. The New Deal is presented as green, not digital. The digital is a given. This low-key position presents an opportunity to rethink the Web 2.0 hype.
HOWTO build your own open source Dropbox clone | fak3r
Meanwhile at work I’m working on a solution to sync large data clusters online and the project manager described it as the need for ‘Dropbox on steroids’. Before I had thought it was more complicated, but after thinking about it, I realized he was right. Look, Dropbox is a great idea, but it obviously is just a melding of rsync, with something watching for file changes to initiate the sync, along with an easy to use front end. From there I just started looking at ways this could work, and there are more than a few; here’s how I made it work.
23 Sep 09
Copyright v. Culture - MTT - Music Think Tank
In the case of the written word, it is possible to draw inspiration (and characters) from multiple sources and to bring those characters together in a new context to reveal new truths (or at least discussions) about the human condition, but when this is attempted with musical materials (such as Danger Mouse’s The Gray Album), the music industry demands no less than total destruction of all such works.
30 Jul 09
7 Excellent Open Courseware Collections for Digital Photographers
Упатства/учебници за фотогафирање
Huxley vs Orwell | К О М У Н И К А Ц И И
Кратко стрипче за денешното време низ идеите на Хаксли и Орвел.
30 Jun 09
Startup 101: Introducing Our Serialized "How to Build a Startup" Book - ReadWriteStart
"Startup 101" is a serialized book about the thrills and spills of starting a Web technology venture.
25 Jun 09
What has copyright to do with democracy?
Others believe that copyright per se constitutes a kind of protection of the integrity of both author and work, and that the requirement for the whole concept of copyright to occur was that censorship was abolished
-
It was not very close at hand to regard the spiritual products of the author as a kind of property. The first copyright act from 1710, the English Statute of Anne, seems to avoid the word property as long as possible, and when it appears, it is not defined. The law speaks rather of propriety and proprietors. In an earlier draft of the law, which was never passed, the wording was that the author's "books and writing" was "undoubted property". The fact that these words did not find the way into the final act, is probably indicative of a deep fundamental disagreement among the legislators.
These various ideas were related to the views on conventional property, which can be inherited indefinitely. Now, if the fruits of the mind could constitute private property, wouldn't this property also be possible to inherit for as long as there are heirs? Already Milton and Locke had in the 1600s realized that literary works were of a very special importance for the development of society and for learning. Locke, for instance, took a stand against the "ignorant and lazy stationers" whose exclusive rights to certain classics prevented access to this knowledge when they did not bother to publish new editions. - novica on 2009-06-25 -
And another view on the same matter from: http://questioncopyright.org/promise.
>
The Stationers based their strategy on a crucial realization, one that
has stayed with publishing conglomerates ever since: authors do not
have the means to distribute their own works. Writing a book requires
only pen, paper, and time. But distributing a book requires printing
presses, transportation networks, and an up-front investment in
materials and typesetting. Thus, the Stationers reasoned, people who
write would always need a publisher's cooperation to make their work
generally available. Their strategy used this fact to maximum
advantage. They went before Parliament and offered the then-novel
argument that authors had a natural and inherent right of ownership in
what they wrote, and that furthermore, such ownership could be
transferred to other parties by contract, like any other form of
property.
Their argument succeeded in persuading Parliament. The Stationers had
managed to avoid the odium of censorship, as the new copyrights would
originate with the author, but they knew that authors would have
little choice but to sign those rights back over to a publisher for
distribution. There was some judicial and political wrangling over the
details, but in the end both halves of the Stationers' argument
survived essentially intact, and became part of English statutory law.
The first recognizably modern copyright, the Statute of Anne, was
passed in 1710. - novica on 2009-06-25
Welcome to the Openworld Institute - Linking Salaries to Growth Rates
The Flexiwage policy links the salaries of the public sector directly to the economic growth rate of Singapore. Over the years, public sector employees at all levels of Singapore's government have become interested in applying eGovernment and related innovations that improve the business climate of the country.
What's wrong with the Web?
Workshop and ideas about how to fix some stuff on the web.
11 Jun 09
Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year
Некои идеи како полесно да се пропатува светот.
07 Jun 09
Us Now - dotSUB
Us Now tells the stories of online networks that are challenging the existing notion of hierarchy. For the first time, it brings together the fore-most thinkers in the field of participative governance to describe the future of government.
Top Tags
Public Tags (133)
Novica Nakov's Public Lists (3)
Highlighter, Sticky notes, Tagging, Groups and Network: integrated suite dramatically boosting research productivity. Learn more »
Join Diigo