Peer Production and the Californian ideology

Abstract

This session is aimed at exploring and discussing different political issues around P2P. Peer production (short for mass-online commons-based peer production) refers to the particular way of open collaboration behind information-centred initiates like free software and Wikipedia, though in the late years it has been exported to other production realms (from hardware to building and farming). Many authors believe it represents in fact an emerging mode of production with disruptive consequences, ranging from a new form of communism to an extreme variety of neoliberal cognitive capitalism. In this session we will tackle issues like the presence of the so-called Californian ideology in political discourses about P2P, the political geography of P2P, the role of nature and the environment in alternative production experiences and the politics of hackerspaces.