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__NOTOC__ I'm [[User:Michael|Michael Slattery]]. Below is a brief description of some of the projects I've been working on - or would like to work on. For more information on each project, click on the title of the corresponding section. ==[[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] about what he called [[Convivial Tools]]. 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 exercized by specialized elites. I originally wanted to apply Illich's ideas to the design of household appliances in order to tranform them into [[Reparable Tools]]. More broadly, I wanted to explore the extent to which idea systems and social 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 got bogged down in the task of writing detailed content for the websites that I created on the subject. My attention is now focused instead on the exploration of Internet as a tool. As a friend observed recently, I've beeb diverted from my project of making reparable washing machines to a project of making easily reparable machines for the processing of information flows. ==[[Convivial Internet Tools]]== The [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=2 characteristics] that make a physical tool "convivial" can also be sought after in the design of software. This means designing software to make it easy for the average user to penetrate as deeply as they desire into the program, in order to understand how it works, and to modify or configure it without disastrous consequences. Such a design implies use of convivial principles such as reparability, simplicity, robustness, open access and modularity. The "convivial software program" is the opposite of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box black box]. Thus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software open source software] is by nature far more convivial than closed source programs. Linux is by nature more convivial than Windows, even though it still lags behind in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability usability] and market share. And for all the beauty and usability of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple,_Inc. Apple] products, they are "black boxes" from the point of view of both software and hardware. (It could be noted in passing that the hardware of the traditional [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_compatible IBM-compatible PC], based on open standards, ranks high in "conviviality"). Internet software in general, including open source software for use on the Internet, remains far from the ideals of conviviality. My personal activity in this area is currently limited to learning about these tools, with the permanent intention of trying to penetrate as far as possible into their inner workings. I've begun recording some of my progress on my [http://iuserguide.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Internet User Guide] website. Rather than actually trying to modify software design, which would be beyond my personal capabilities, I am merely working on an Internet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_help help site] (see the next section below). ==[[Convivial Help Sites]]== The convivial tool is one which increases the user's autonomy, including their ability to solve their own problems. The word "tool" in its broadest sense includes objects designed to help us learn: a book is thus a tool. So is a website designed to help the user. There exist a great many websites that provide all sorts of help in virtually any field of activity. Among the main types of help websites are: *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_help Online help] generally refers to guided assistance to a user of a software product *A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_site review site] prevents reviews about products or services, posted either by professional writers or by site users (see also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating_sites rating sites]) *An [answer site] (also called question-and-answer or Q&A site) is a type of participative website which allows any user to post a question or to answer a question posted by another user *[] (To be continued) ==[[Total Customer Service]]== Illich's vision of Convivial Tools can also be developed in the realm of customer service. The ideal of unlimited customer service is inherent in the marketing of a convivial tool. Designing a household appliance that its owner can easily repair implies designing the whole after-sales cycle, including long-term availability of spare parts, usable documentation and online assistance. But from the vendor's point of view, commercial constraints always limit the amount of after-sales service one can offer. For example, telephone assistance is costly, so it is often made a paying service, or delocalized to overseas [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_center call centers], or replaced by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IVR Interactive Voice Response] (IVR). To imagine limitless improvement in customer service in the face of real-life economic constraints we have to go outside of the box of commercial logic with the help of an abstract ideal which I call [[Total Customer Service]]. To imagine Total Customer Service you have to suspend the usual criteria of economic rationality. Traditional marketing seeks to make the user dependent, which ensures continued business. The convivial tool or service on the contrary seeks to make the user autonomous, which comports commercial risks. As the effective life of appliances increases, the sale of new models declines. In the long run you might even help the consumer to make their own tool, thus cutting the vendor entirely out the process. But truly serving the interests of customers implies serving their interests as citizens by aiming to improve society as a whole, rather than simply making a profit for your own company. The question is then how to start from the vision of Total Customer Service and still develop a rational economic activity. ==[[Cooperative Social Network]]== Most of my websites are hosted on [http://www.ouvaton.coop Ouvaton], which is a French web-hosting cooperative. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative Cooperatives] are a viable economic alternative to less democratic forms of enterprise. While the Internet abounds in examples of cooperative endeavors, from wikis to open source software, economic cooperatives are rarely found in the field of high-tech - but how often have they actually been tried? A [[Cooperative Social Network]], similar to social networks such as Facebook or Friendfeed but structured as a coop, could be developed on two levels: *A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative worker cooperative] for the team that develops and runs the website *A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers%27_cooperative consumer's cooperative] for the users (which could be limited to the paying premium memberships) This social network could be based on the same business model as existing social networks: free accounts for the majority of users, paying accounts for premium users, and operating revenues from advertising and data mining. ==The [[Alterweb]]== [To be written] [[Category:Projects]]
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