[FM Discuss] reflections on collaborative futures

[Anne Gentle]

Book sprinters --
Great job, your efforts are inspirational! I personally enjoyed reading the
blog entries through the week.

Any writer respects the two-step "put butt in seat and start writing"
efforts that the group put forth. From 10-midnight for days straight takes
real passion and discipline. And to write reflective blog entries and
summaries to the mailing list on top, well, believe me when I say that's
impressive. Well done. :)

Anne

On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 1:01 AM, adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net> wrote:

> thanks for the support and encouragement :)
>
> actually, i just spent yesterday looking at the book. the structural
> issues are there but not too bad ...i'm guess i'm too close to it still,
> my opinion will probably flip flop the next days
>
> a webcam could be fun to do ... will see if its possible next sprint
>
> adam
>
>
> On Tue, 2010-01-26 at 14:40 -0500, Joshua Facemyer wrote:
> > Just a quick response (there's so much to respond about!!):
> >
> > I think that, no matter how "successful" the book-formation was, the
> > sprint would have to be successful, being an opportunity to see how
> > several different things work (both technical and collaborational).
> >
> > I think what you did is phenomenal.  I wish I could have been there!
> > Congrats to all who were involved!
> >
> > Maybe, in the future, you could do some sort of video stream for
> > booksprints.  That might really help improve real-time collaboration.
> > And we can all "be there" :)
> >
> > JF
> >
> > On 01/25/2010 02:43 PM, adam hyde wrote:
> > > hi,
> > >
> > > so, we locked 5 people in a room with aco and i and we wrote a book in
> 5
> > > days. it was an extremely interesting experiment. i am still recovering
> > > from it and i can not yet clearly think about the book, the process etc
> > > but i wanted to write a few things for the list....
> > >
> > > firstly, i admit to being scared about this project. to ask 5 people (+
> > > Aco) who don't know each other to come to berlin and write a book in 5
> > > days when all they have is the title...thats kinda scarey. i did not
> > > know if we would succeed or even what constituted success. failure to
> me
> > > was that those involved thought it was a waste of time. i had warned
> all
> > > involved that we might fail, including the transmediale festival that
> > > was funding the sprint.
> > >
> > > the thing that concerned me most was that we were embarking on an
> > > entirely new type of Book Sprint. Previous sprints had been about
> > > writing procedural documentation. Perhaps the only books deviating
> > > slightly from this might be the GSoC Mentoring guide and possibly parts
> > > of the CiviCRM manual.
> > >
> > > When I look at procedural documentation of free software I see it as a
> > > known - yes we can make excellent books in short time frames. when
> there
> > > is something concrete infront of you then it is possible to describe
> it,
> > > and it is also possible for others to describe the same thing and
> extend
> > > the text. there is a shared understanding of what it is you are writing
> > > about and we have developed a methodology to do this....however this
> > > sprint was directed by nothing other than the speculative title
> > > 'collaborative futures'. how do you get 5 people to share a vision
> about
> > > something so intangible? Collaboration itself is a abstract notion with
> > > very grey boundaries and a million different histories and
> > > contexts...adding 'the future' to this seemed to adjectify the already
> > > vague grounds into a barely visible haze
> > >
> > > tricky.
> > >
> > > additionally we did _no_ discussion before everyone entered the room on
> > > Monday morning (day 1). nothing discussed over email, no background
> > > reading. nothing. this was deliberate as i wanted to be hard about the
> > > 0->book in 5 days....to add more flavour to the event we were also
> using
> > > an alpha pre-release version of a new type of software and Aco was in
> > > the room with us building the software as we used it (happy to say that
> > > booki now seems pretty robust and is now starting to exceed the
> > > functionality of the FM tool set)...
> > >
> > > thankfully we had a good team and also a team that knew very well that
> > > this process was an experiment and it might fail. Those in attendance
> > > were Mushon Zer-Aviv, Michael Mandiberg, Mike Linksvayer, Marta
> Peirano,
> > > Alan Toner, Aleksandar Erkalovic (Aco) and me (facilitator). ..for
> those
> > > that don't know the line-up I have put their bios at the bottom of this
> > > email.
> > >
> > > the team was astonishing - a broad range of experiences and the feeling
> > > in the team was really amazing. very warm and friendly while at the
> time
> > > being open to challenge and straight talk.
> > >
> > > During the first day we relied heavily on traditional 'unconference'
> > > technologies – namely colored sticky notes. With reference to
> > > Unconferences we always need to tip the hat to Allen Gunn and
> Aspiration
> > > for their inspirational execution of this format. We took many ideas
> > > from Aspiration's Unconferences during the process of this sprint and
> we
> > > also brought much of what had been learned from previous Book Sprints
> to
> > > the table. First, before the introductions, we each wrote as many notes
> > > as we could about what we thought this book was going to be about. The
> > > list consists of the following:
> > >
> > >        * When Collaboration Breaks.
> > >        * Collaboration (super) Models.
> > >        * Plausible near and long term development of collaboration
> tech,
> > >          methods, etc. Social impact of the same. How social impact can
> > >          be made positive. Dangers to look out for.
> > >        * Licenses cannot go two ways.
> > >        * Incriminating Collaborations.
> > >        * In the future much of what is valuable will be made by
> > >          communities. What type of thing will they be? What rules will
> > >          they have for participation? What can the social political
> > >          consequences be?
> > >        * Sharing vs Collaboration.
> > >        * How to deconstruct and reassemble publishing?
> > >        * Collaboration and its relationship to FLOSS and GIT
> communities.
> > >        * What is collaboration? How does it differ from cooperation?
> > >        * What is the role of ego in collaboration?
> > >        * Attribution can kill collaboration as attribution = ownership.
> > >        * Sublimation of authorship and ego.
> > >        * Models of collaboration. Historical framework of
> collaboration.
> > >          Influence of technology enabling collaboration.
> > >        * Successful free culture economic models.
> > >
> > > Then each presented who they were and their ideas and projects as they
> > > are related to free culture, free software, and collaboration. The
> > > process was open to discussion and everyone was encouraged to write as
> > > many points, questions, statements, on sticky notes and put them on the
> > > wall. During this first day we wrote about 100 sticky notes with short
> > > statements like:
> > >
> > >        * "Art vs Collaboration"
> > >        * "Free Culture does not require maintenance"
> > >        * "Transparent premises"
> > >        * "Autonomy: better term than free/open?"
> > >        * "Centralised silos vs community"
> > >        * "Free Culture posturing"
> > >
> > > ...and other cryptic references to the thoughts of the day. We stuck
> > > these notes on a wall and after all of the presentations (and dinner)
> we
> > > grouped them under titles that seemed to act as appropriate meta tags.
> > > We then drew from these groups the 6 major themes. We finished at
> > > midnight. i was not sure if we had made enough ground.
> > >
> > > Day two – 10.00 kick off. I woke at 5am wondering how the hell we were
> > > going to make this work. I woke up Aco in the next room and ranted a
> bit
> > > about what we could try. We had breakfast, went to the venue and the
> > > strategy was that we simply each choose a sticky note from one of the
> > > major themes and started writing. It was important for us to just 'get
> > > in the flow' and hence we wrote for the rest of the day until dinner.
> > > Then we went to the Turkish markets for burek, coffee and fresh
> > > Pomegranates.
> > >
> > > The rest of the evening we re-aligned the index, smoothed it out, and
> > > identified a more linear structure. We finished up at about 23.00
> > >
> > > Day three – At 10.00 we started with a brief recap of the new index
> > > structure and then we also welcomed two new collaborators in the
> > > realspace – Mirko Lindner and Michelle Thorne. Later in the day, when
> > > Booki had been debugged a lot by Aco, we welcomed our first remote
> > > collaborator – Sophie Kampfrath. Then we wrote... at the end of the day
> > > we restructured the first two sections, did a word count (17,000 words)
> > > and made sushi.
> > >
> > > After sushi we argued about attribution and almost finished the first
> > > two sections. Closing time around midnight.
> > >
> > > Day four – A late start (11.00) and we are also joined by Ela Kagel,
> one
> > > of the curators from transmediale. Ela presented about herself and
> > > transmediale and then we discussed possible ways Ela could contribute
> > > and we also discussed the larger structure of the book. Later Sophie
> > > joined us in real space to help edit and also Jon Cohrs came at dinner
> > > time to see how he could contribute. Word count at sleep time (22.00):
> > > 27,000.
> > >
> > > Day five – The last day. We arrived at 10.00 and discussed the
> > > structure. Andrea Goetzke and Jon Cohrs joined us. We identified areas
> > > to be addressed, slightly altered the order of chapters, addressed the
> > > (now non-existent) processes section, and forged ahead. We finished
> 2200
> > > on the button. Objavi, the publishing engine for Booki, generated a
> > > book-formatted PDF in 2 minutes. Done. Word count ~33,000
> > >
> > > As I understand it transmediale will print between 200-500 copies of
> the
> > > book.
> > >
> > > so...what are my thoughts on the book? I find it very hard to reflect
> on
> > > its success 'as a book'. I see the experiment a success. i find the
> > > content and process has changed how i think about collaboration and
> > > provoked some questions about collaboration that i dont know how to
> > > answer. As for the book as a book - I think it has some major
> structural
> > > issues and i think its scope goes too far. However i think it still
> > > works. in all likelihood it will be used as a teaching resource in NYU,
> > > parsons, and Staten Island University since thats where 2 of the
> > > participants teach...so that is in itself a success. However I think we
> > > can do better. I remember the first procedural documentation book
> sprint
> > > (Inkscape) and I remember the weeks after that event thinking how we
> > > could have easily improved the process. We did improve it and I think
> > > our sprints have become better and better. I can already see that in
> > > sprints like this with a more speculative narrative we need to focus
> > > much more on structure and 'writing in support of a conclusion'....the
> > > methodologies still need to be worked out but i feel very positive
> about
> > > the future of this kind of sprint...also, I think if this book wasn't
> > > sooo extremely speculative much of these concerns would have been
> > > addressed...
> > >
> > > anyways...it was a fantastic experiment. i enjoyed it very much and i
> > > would be very interested in your thoughts on what i have written and
> the
> > > content of the book (http://www.booki.cc/collaborativefutures)
> > >
> > > ...until then, heres the bios of those involved:
> > > The starting 7 included:
> > >
> > > Mushon Zer-Aviv is a designer, an educator and a media activist from
> > > Tel-Aviv, based in NY. His work explores media in public space and the
> > > public space in media. In his creative research he focuses on the
> > > perception of territory and borders and the way they are shaped through
> > > politics, culture, networks and the World Wide Web. He is the
> co-founder
> > > of Shual.com – a foxy design studio; ShiftSpace.org – an open source
> > > layer above any website; YouAreNotHere.org – a dislocative tourism
> > > agency; Kriegspiel – a computer game based on Guy Debord’s Game of War;
> > > and the Tel Aviv node of the Upgrade international network. Mushon is
> an
> > > honorary resident at Eyebeam – an art and technology center in New
> York.
> > > He teaches new media research at NYU and open source design at Parsons
> > > the New School of Design.
> > >
> > > Mike Linksvayer is Vice President at Creative Commons, where he started
> > > as CTO in 2003. Previously he co-founded Bitzi, an early open data/open
> > > content/mass collaboration service, and worked as a web developer and
> > > software engineer. In 1993 he published one of the first interviews
> with
> > > Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux. He is a co-founder and currently
> > > active in Autonomo.us, which investigates and works to further the role
> > > of free software, culture, and data in an era of software-as-a-service
> > > and cloud computing. His chapter on "Free Culture in Relation to
> > > Software Freedom" was published in FREE BEER, a book written by
> speakers
> > > at FSCONS 2008. Linksvayer holds a degree from the University of
> > > Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in economics, a field which continues to
> > > strongly inform his approach. He lives in Oakland, California.
> > >
> > > Michael Mandiberg is known for selling all of his possessions online on
> > > Shop Mandiberg, making perfect copies of copies on
> > > AfterSherrieLevine.com, and creating Firefox plugins that highlight the
> > > real environmental costs of a global economy on TheRealCosts.com. His
> > > current projects include the co-authored groundbreaking Creative
> Commons
> > > licensed textbook "Digital Foundations: an Intro to Media Design" that
> > > teaches Bauhaus visual principles through design software;
> > > HowMuchItCosts.us, a car direction site that incorporates the financial
> > > and carbon cost of driving; and Bright Bike, a retro-reflective bicycle
> > > praised by treehugger.com as “obnoxiously bright.” He is a Senior
> Fellow
> > > at Eyebeam, and an Assistant Professor at the College of Staten
> > > Island/CUNY. He lives in, and rides his bicycle around, Brooklyn. His
> > > work lives at Mandiberg.com.
> > >
> > > Marta Peirano writes about culture, science and technology for the
> > > Spanish media, encompassing newspapers, online journals and printed
> > > magazines. She is a long term contributor and founder of the online
> > > media arts journal Elástico and is the author of "La Petite Claudine",
> a
> > > widely read blog in the Spanish language about art, literature, free
> > > culture, pornography (and everything in between). In 2003 and 2004 she
> > > directed the Copyfight Festivals in Spain (CCCB, Santa Mónica) with her
> > > collective Elástico, a symposium and exhibition that investigated
> > > alternative models of intellectual property. Marta has given numerous
> > > lectures and workshops on free culture, digital publishing tools and
> > > journalism at festivals and universities. She recently published "El
> > > Rival de Prometeo", a book about Automatas and the engineering of the
> > > Enlightenment. She currently lives in Berlin and is working on a second
> > > book.
> > >
> > > Alan Toner was born in Dublin and studied law in Trinity College Dublin
> > > and NYU Law School, where he was later a fellow in the Information Law
> > > Institute and the Engelberg Center on Law and Innovation. His research
> > > is focused on the  countervailing impact of peer processes and
> > > information enclosure on cultural production and social life. In 2003
> he
> > > worked on the grassroots campaign 'We Seize!' challenging the UN World
> > > Summit on the Information Society; he has participated extensively in
> > > grassroots media and information freedom movements. Since 2006 he has
> > > also worked in documentary film, including co-writing and co-producing
> > > "Steal This Film 2" (2007). In 2008 he co-created the archival site
> > > http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/. Currently he's writing a book on
> the
> > > history of economic and technological control in the film industry.
> > > Sometimes he can be found near Alexanderplatz, and at
> > > http://knowfuture.wordpress.com/.
> > >
> > > Aleksandar Erkalovic is reknowned internationally in the new media arts
> > > and activist circles for the software he has developed. He used to work
> > > in Multimedia institute in Croatia, where he was the lead developer of
> a
> > > popular NGO web publishing system (TamTam). Aleksander has a broad
> > > spectrum of programming experience having worked on many projects from
> > > multiplayer games, library software, financial applications, artistic
> > > projects, and web site analysis applications, to building systems for
> > > managing domain registration. Aleksander was for a long time the sole
> > > programmer for FLOSS Manuals and is now leading the development
> > > (together with Adam Hyde and Douglas Bagnall) of a new GPL-licensed
> type
> > > of collaborative authoring and publishing platform called 'Booki'.
> > > Aleksander's new media artistic collaborations have won many awards, as
> > > well as being extensively exhibited internationally. Aleksander also
> > > organises creative and educative workshops directed to young people,
> > > experts, and amateurs that are interested in the software he has
> > > developed and free software in general. He is currently also employed
> by
> > > Informix in Zagreb, Croatia.
> > >
> > > Adam Hyde was for many years a digital artist primarily exploring
> > > digital-analog hybrid broadcast systems. These projects included The
> > > Frequency Clock, Polar Radio, Radio-Astronomy, net.congestion, re:mote,
> > > Free Radio Linux, Wifio, Paper Cup Telephone Network, Mobicasting,
> > > Silent TV and others. Many of these projects have won awards and have
> > > been widely exhibited internationally. Since returning from a residency
> > > in Antartica in 2007 Adam founded FLOSS Manuals and has been focused on
> > > increasing the quantity and quality of free documentation about free
> > > software through FLOSS Manuals, exploring emerging methodologies for
> > > collaborative book production (Book Sprints), and developing Booki with
> > > Aleksander and Douglas. Adam has facilitated over 16 Book Sprints, is
> > > also the co-founder (with Eric Kluitenberg) of the forthcoming
> > > Electrosmog Festival for Sustainable Immobility and facilitator of the
> > > forthcoming Arctic Perspectives technology cahier.
> > >
> > >
> > > adam
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
> --
> Adam Hyde
> Founder FLOSS Manuals
> German mobile : + 49 177 4935122
> Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
> irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals
>
> "Free manuals for free software"
> http://www.flossmanuals.net/about
>
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