The issue “Media Practices Commoning” published in Open Cultural Studies contains a selection of contributions that critically discusses current concepts like commons and conviviality by situating them within the contemporary framework of digital media technologies. We thus contribute to the ongoing debate on media practices of commoning as well as a media ontological understanding of commoning processes. These are pressing issues in times of ubiquitous computing and platform capitalism, where an ever-increasing number of devices, technologies and complex infrastructures are interwoven with human and other organic agencies. Daily practices are increasingly framed by digital technologies and thus rendered as productive sources for data production. Thereby, the media ontological question is raised how practices, technologies and data might be conceptualised as commons without being commodified and functionally operationalised (Deuber-Mankowsky). Yet these seemingly antagonistic strategies are intertwined, indicating that more and more new forms of coexistence emerge through an increasing number of socio-technical arrangements. Hence, the idea of conviviality, or living together, is undergoing deep transformations and requires a thorough analysis.
With contributions by Frank Adloff, Bastian Ronge, Andreas Beinsteiner, Selena Savic Viktor Bedö, Michaela Büsse, Yann Martins, Shintaro Miyazaki and Jeremy Gilbert
Find out more about the international conference Media | Practices | Commoning (09.-11.10.2017) and have a look at selected talks of the event here.
Introduction
Anne Ganzert, Beate Ochsner, and Robert Stock
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Experimental Conviviality: Exploring Convivial and Sustainable Practices
Frank Adloff
ABSTRACT: The paper develops a concept of conviviality as a form of friendly togetherness that includes people, technical infrastructures and nature. Show More
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The Capitalist Form of Life, and How To Deconstruct It
Bastian Ronge
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The article sets out the thesis that the social-ontological account based on the form of life concept can be used to analytically and normatively Show More
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Conviviality, the Internet, and AI. Ivan Illich, Bernard Stiegler, and the Question Concerning Information-technological Self-limitation
Andreas Beinsteiner
ABSTRACT: In his book Tools for Conviviality (1975), Ivan Illich calls for human self-limitation in technology development. Show More
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Toys for Conviviality. Situating Commoning, Computation and Modelling
Selena Savic, Viktor Bedö, Michaela Büsse, Yann Martins, and Shintaro Miyazaki
ABSTRACT: This article explores the use of agent-based modelling as a critical and playful form of engagement with cooperative housing organizations. Show More
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Platforms and Potency: Democracy and Collective Agency in the Age of Social Media
Jeremy Gilbert
ABSTRACT: Attitudes to digital communication technologies since the 1990s have been characterized by waves of optimism and pessimism, as enthusiasts have … Show More
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