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__NOTOC__ I created my first website, which was intended to be a [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org Convivial Tools Encyclopedia], in order to promote the ideas of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich Ivan Illich] about what he called "Convivial Tools". ==The vision of Ivan Illich== The underlying theme of all of Illich's work is how to give back to the average citizen some part of the control over knowledge and technology which is currently exercized by specialized elites. Illich was a precursor of the personal computing revolution and of the Internet. His book [http://clevercycles.com/tools_for_conviviality Tools for Conviviality] directly influenced [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=39 Lee Felsenstein], whose key role in the invention of the personal computer is little recognized today. Illich also advocated "[http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=31 Learning Webs]" facilitated by a computer that would produce "peer matching." This remarkable premonition by Illich of one of the main functions of the Internet shows how much of his pioneering vision has today become mainstream. ==Reparable tools== Illich's ideas could be applied to the design of household appliances, in order to give them the [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=2 characteristics of convivial tools], and notably [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=4 reparability]. Designing appliances to be easily reparable by their owners would both give consumers more control over technology, and reduce waste by making appliances more durable and easier to recycle. ==Idea systems and social systems as "tools"== More broadly, I wanted to explore the extent to which [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=20 idea systems] and [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=21 social systems]can be considered "tools," and how they could be made more "convivial" in Illich's sense. ==Internet "tools"== My projects in the field of Convivial Tools got bogged down in the details of fleshing out the several websites that I created on the subject. Moreoever, I failed to connect with any broader community on this theme. My attention instead turned to the exploration of the Internet as a tool. As a friend observed recently, I've been diverted from my project of making reparable washing machines to a project of making easily reparable machines for the processing of information flows. I now envisage a separate project to make internet tools more convivial. For example, open source software contains many of the characteristics of convivial tools, but is generally still too hard to use, with modules that are far from being "reparable" by the average user. But I would also still like to get back to the reparable washing machine....
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