Category Archives: Theory
Realizing How Zsocial lacks the Participatory model
Recently we came across Zsocial and “discussed” it in Episode 36, or rather I ranted about it and figured I should write out my criticism. Zsocial is a new social network that is being developed by the Zcommunications community, which includes the speaker/author Michael Albert, who wrote ParEcon: Life After Capitalism and Realizing Hope: Life Beyond […]
Continue readingCyberunions Talk Show: Episode 37 Left wing, FLOSS, Right wing, or What
Download OGG HQ Download ogg lq Download mp3 0:28 Sparks are flying Walton is exhausted from playing futbol Sparks have through rank and file thoroughly won and got an unlikely supporter The Teamsters Jimmy Hoffa Jr. supported a rank and file movement, but not the Teamsters for a Democratic Union 6:35 Stephen’s part of the […]
Continue readingThe Cyberunions Podcast: Episode 31 The Tech 5th International
Download MP3 Download high quality OGG Download low quality OGG 0:31 Welcome to DF – Mexico City I am not making the announcement Mayfirst and Laneta (en español) I ran into Occupy Mexico In love with Mexico City 6:50 Interview with Peter Waterman Where the ideas originate? Began working with unions in 1985 ICT International […]
Continue readingFreedom of Association in the Networked Workplace
There is a workplace taking place in Brussels on 26 January that will look at issues important to understanding the effects of new technologies on workplace organisation and trade unions. There is a particular focus on the surveillance of workers, and what this means for union organising. Details below: Freedom of Association in the Networked […]
Continue readingApplying swarm theory to networked union organising
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBbU0Lol-FQ] Beautifully demonstrated by this video, swarm theory is an idea from biology that proposes that large groups can solve complex problems very efficiently. For instance, ant colonies can quickly find the richest food source, bees choose a new hive or birds fly in exhilarating patterns like the starlings above. Individual ants or starlings don’t understand […]
Continue readingFrom Luddism 2.0 to Cyberunions
It’s time for unions to embrace the information age and develop an online, global, networked social movement unionism.
Continue readingOpen source trade unions
Is Open Source organising the way forward for trade unions? Some people seem to think so, but are we even sure what it means? Trade unions in the West have been in decline since the late 1970s. This is because the capitalist crisis of the early 70s was caused in part by a powerful labour […]
Continue readingWikileaks, crypto-anarchy and the politics of information freedom
The fact that hackers have been drawn to libertarianism is largely due to the absolute failure of the left to understand where the class line runs through the information wars.
Continue readingWorship the Glitch
It’s a feature, not a bug If you’ve watched an ad for fibre optic broadband or the latest iPhone, you’d be forgiven for thinking that by parting with a (fairly substantial) splodge of wonga, you’ll soon be immersed in a brave new techno-utopia. In reality, the experience is rarely as seamless as it is meant to be. […]
Continue readingWhat can unions learn from Facebook?
I like to keep an eye on academic work on cyberunionism. There’s not a lot of it about, probably because trade union use of new technology is still fairly minimal. Also, the fast pace of technological change doesn’t fit in well with the academic cycle: it takes time to research, analyse, write, peer review and […]
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