Agents of Alternatives – what’s new!

A quick update on the collaborative book, started here at window874.

We recently launched and shared our crowd funding campaign at sponsume: http://www.sponsume.com/project/agents-alternatives-redesigning-our-realities which will still be up and running for 6 more days, so you can secure yourself a unique first-edition copy, and contribute as well.

Besides that, the book is growing with many great new contributors. Among others there are Valerie A. Brown and John Harris, co-authors of ‘Tackling Wicked Problems – Through the Transdisciplinary Imagination’ (2010) http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781844079254/ and ‘The Human Capacity for Transformational Change: Harnessing the Collective Mind’ (2014)!

There is also going to be an essay by: Frigga Haug, sociologist and philosopher, http://www.friggahaug.inkrit.de/, http://www.zeitwohlstand.info/.

We are very happy to have them in our collaborative book and complement it with great number of new case studies, illustrating methods, tools and processes of a great variety of projects. In the interview section, we got an interesting conversation with Marcin Jakubowski on  Open Source Ecology, Global Village Construction Set and the potential of mutual learning. “…but all the people bring diverse skills and step up to teach others. The learning simply happens by diffusion”

Below is the current list of our contributors, with more to come. If you have an interesting project in mind, you would like to share with us, just drop us a line at: agentsofalternatives@gmail.com.

 

Interviews with:

Marcin Jakubowski, Open Source Ecology, GVCS

Francesca Walsh & Isolde Nagel on the Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe;
Cecilia Palmer on the DIY-fashion workshop initiative Fashion Reloaded;
Elisa Garrote-Gasch on Repair Café Kreuzberg, Berlin;
Amber Hickey on the book Guidebook of Alternative Nows;
Maya Indira Ganesh on the information advocacy organization Tactical Tech;
Frauke Hehl & Antonia Gerlinde Schui on the workstation ideenwerkstatt e.V.;
Cordula Andrä on the intentional community ZEGG, Centre of Experimental Cultural Design;
Caleb Waldorf, Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga and Fiona Gueß on the self-organized learning project Public School;
Daphne Büllesbach & Luisa Maria Schweitzer on the civil society organization European Alternatives e.V.,
Diana Krabendam on the design agency The Beach,

…with more to follow.

Case studies:

BYO Biennale;  Clear Village; Drawing By Numbers; Global Service Design Jam; Global Village Construction Set; Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie; Kuutio; Make{able}; Mode Uncut; Open Structures; Open Wear; Peloton; Satokartta.net; Time/Bank; Tradeschool.coop; and University of Neighbourhood … and more to follow including other potential contributors:  Boom Wehmeyer; CollectifEtc; Greenmaps; Recetas Urbanas; Open Knowledge Foundation/Festival; A Year of Open Source Living; Architeture for Humanity;Rural Studio; Luchtsingel by ZUS; Sustainist Design Book by The Beach; Spatial Agency project & book; Thinkpublic

… and the case studies you suggest!

Essays by:

Frigga Haug, philosopher and sociologist on new visions of work;
Valerie A. Brown & John Harris on the role of aesthetic thinking in the collective mind;
Martin Parker, co-author of the book Dictionary of Alternatives;
David Bollier, author of the book Think Like a Commoner;
Michel Bauwens, founder of the peer-to-peer initiative P2P-Foundation;
Otto von Busch, fashion hacker and activist on his fashion project >Self_Passage<;
Ben Pohl and Anna Richter of the 5-year-experiment University of Neighbourhood;
Saara Hannula of the art project Reality Research Centre;
Cindy Kohtala, doctoral researcher of the Maker movement;
Malin Bäckman on design participation in communities;
and the contributing editors – Alastair Fuad-Luke on design activism and design for social innovation; Katharina Moebus on mutual learning; Anja-Lisa Hirscher on participation in making; and Cathérine Kuebel on socio-poetic nomadism.