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I'll try to flesh out here a description of some of the projects I've been working on or would like to work on. ==Convivial Tools== I created my [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org first website] in order to promote the ideas of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich Ivan Illich] concerning what he called [[Convivial Tools]]. The underlying theme in 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 exercized by specialized elites. Illich was a precursor of the personal computing revolution and of the Internet. His book 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. In particular, I wanted to apply Illich's ideas to the design of household appliances in order to tranform them into [[Reparable Tools]]. Designing appliances to be easily reparable by their owners would both give consumers more control over technology, and reduce waste by making applicances more durable and easier to recycle. More broadly, I wanted to explore the extent to which [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=21 social systems] and [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=20 idea systems] can be considered "tools," and how they could be made more "convivial" in Illich's sense. However, my projects in the field of Convivial Tools all got bogged down in the mechanics of fleshing out the several websites that I created on the subject. My attention is now focused instead on the personal discovery of Internet tools. As a friend observed recently, I was diverted from my project of making reparable washing machines to a project of making easily reparable machines for the processing of information flows. ==Cooperative Social Network== [[Category:Projects]]
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