Difference between revisions of "Convivial Tools"

''Convivial Tools'' can be defined as tools which allow the user to operate with independent efficiency, and with minimal reliance on external expertise. The term applies in particular to tools that are developed and maintained by the commmunity that uses them.  

The concept of ''Convivial Tools'' was developed by [[Ivan Illich]] in his book [[Tools for Conviviality]] (1973). Illich was a major thinker of what was called the Counter-Culture. He built upon ideas formulated by the [[Appropriate Technology]] and [[Whole Earth]] movements in the late nineteen-sixties, which in turn had [[Historical Roots]] going back to the naturalism of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], and to eighteenth and ninetheenth century critiques of industrial society.

Each of the thematic topics presented on this website illustrates, in its own way, the idea of "Convivial Tools." For example the [[Hacker Generation]] that invented the personal computer in the nineteen-seventies was a prime example of a community that itself developed the tools that they themselves used, as are the more recent [[FOSS|Free and Open Source Software]] movements. The participatory culture of the [[Web 2.0]] is the latest manifestation of a tendancy towards increased control of users over their tools, reversing the long historical trend of personal loss of control over the complex machinery of industrial society.