Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

From Convivial Tools Database
Jump to: navigation, search
 
Line 1: Line 1:
 
__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
<font size="5">'''Convivial Tools Database'''</font>
+
<font size="5">'''Convivial Tools Database'''</font><br>
----
+
<br>
<font size="3">See the '''[[Main Categories]]'''</font> or go to '''[[:Category:Root]]'''. See also '''[[User:MichaelSlattery/Blog|Michael Slattery's Blog]]'''.
+
This website is a database about people, things, concepts and movements related to [[Convivial Tools]]. [[Ivan Illich]] coined the term [[Convivial Tools]] in his 1973 book [[Tools for Conviviality]]. Convivial Tools can be defined as tools which allow the user to operate with independent efficiency.
  
This website is a database about people, projects, concepts and websites related to [[Convivial Tools]]. For information about the site itself, see [[About this Site]]. For suggestions about pages to browse see [[Road Maps]]. See also the companion websites [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org Convivial Tools Encyclopedia] and [http://ctwiki.ouvaton.org Convivial Projects Wiki].
+
This database website is a companion to the [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org conviviality.ouvaton.org] website, which remains my main showcase on the subject of Convivial Tools. The present website is a grab-bag of more hastily-written or less directly relevant pages. Some articles on the present website were copied over from that other website (they are tagged as [[:Category:Copied from conviviality.ouvaton.org]]), which seems a bad idea, since any modifications to one copy should then also be made to the other.
  
==Ivan Illich and Tools for Conviviality. [[:Category:Convivial Tools]]==
+
==The Convivial Tool==
[[Ivan Illich]] coined the term [[Convivial Tools]] in his book  [[Tools for Conviviality]], first published in 1973. [[Convivial Tools]] can be defined as tools which allow the user to operate with independent efficiency. At the same time, [[Convivial Tools]] are often developed and maintained by a community of users, such as for example an on-line community.
+
This part of the website seeks to describe the [[Convivial Tool]] as a possible object of design and marketing. See the following categories and pages:
 +
*[[:Category:Convivial Design]]: characteristics of the convivial tool
 +
**Introductory page: [[Convivial Tool Characteristics]]
 +
*[[:Category:Convivial Product]]: production and marketing of the convivial tool
 +
**Introductory page: [[Convivial Product]]
  
Illich is better known for an earlier book, entitled [[Deschooling Society]], which proposed the development of "learning webs" for informal learning outside of academic institutions. In this earlier book Illich advocated the development of a computer network which strongly ressembles the Internet, at a time before the Internet existed. Illich's later book [[Tools for Conviviality]] exercised a discrete influence in certain circles, but never received major public attention. However, it influenced [[Lee Felsenstein]], a member of the [[Hacker Generation]] who contributed to the development of the personal computer. Felsenstein adopted Illich's vision of tools that would be developed and maintained by a community of users. This vision of community tool development has also been embodied in more recent movements, such as the [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS), [[Wiki]] and [[Open Design]] movements, which are manifestations of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]], without necessarily being familiar with the concept.
+
==Thematic Topics==
 +
This part of the website situates Convivial Tools within the broader frameworks of alternative technology and social change. See the page [[Thematic Topics]] for a more detailed summary. The main thematic topics are listed below in approximate order of their chronological development:
 +
*[[:Category:Historical Roots]] of the ideas behind Convivial Tools - see the introductory article [[Historical Roots Narrative]]
 +
*[[:Category:Post-War Cybernetics]] - see the introductory article [[Post-War Cybernetics]]
 +
*[[:Category:Sixties Counterculture]] - see the introductory article [[Sixties Counterculture]]
 +
*[[:Category:Whole Earth]] - see the introductory article [[Whole Earth]]
 +
*[[:Category:Appropriate Technology]] - see the introductory article [[Appropriate Technology]]
 +
*[[:Category:Ivan Illich]] - see the introductory article [[Ivan Illich]]
 +
*[[:Category:Convivial Education]] - this category needs to be added, since much work has been done on Convivial Tools for educational purposes 
 +
*[[:Category:Hacker Generation]] and the invention of the personal computer - see the introductory article [[Hacker Generation]]
 +
*[[:Category:Postmodernism]] - see the introductory article [[Postmodernism]]
 +
*[[:Category:Web]]: the web as convivial technology - see the introductory article [[The Web]]
 +
*[[:Category:FOSS]] - see the introductory article [[Free and Open Source Software]]
 +
*[[:Category:Open Source]] as a broad movement - see the introductory article [[Open Source]]
  
==[[:Category:Historical Roots]]==
+
The scope of these thematic topics is too wide. Some of the pages have been transferred or copied into my tentative (and very incomplete) [http://interdb.org Internet Database] and [http://iuserguide.com Internet User Guide] websites. Detailed pages on [[wiki]]s have been transferred to my [http://toolswiki.ouvaton.org Wiki History Database].
When [[Ivan Illich]] wrote [[Tools for Conviviality]] in 1973, he was following on a long tradition of criticism of industrial technology and of proposal of alternatives. The [[Historical Roots]] of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]] extend at least as far back as the eighteenth century French Enlightenment and the philosophy of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. More recent precursors include twentieth-century figures such as [[Lewis Mumford]] and [[Jacques Ellul]]. The [[Whole Earth]] and [[Appropriate Technology]] movements, mentioned below, appeared a few years ''before'' Illich wrote [[Tools for Conviviality]], and probably exercised significance influence on his thinking.
+
  
==[[:Category:Post-War Cybernetics]]==
+
==About this website==
In the years just before, during and after the second world war, emerging tendencies in scientific thought coalesced into a new field which [[Norbert Wiener]] called [[Cybernetics]]. This discipline formed at the crossroads of computer science, electrical engineering, biology and social science. [[Post-War Cybernetics]] exercised a major influence on the development of theories about society, information, the environment and the use of computers, and spawned derivative terms such as [[Cyberspace]] and [[Cybernaut]].
+
[[User:Michael|Michael Slattery]] created and maintains this site.
  
==[[:Category:Whole Earth]]==
+
The website is a structured collection of pages grouped into [[Special:Categories|categories]]. (Note that a page can belong to several categories, and that a category can be nested within others.) All categories are attached, directly or indirectly, to [[:Category:Root]]. Links to pages or categories that have yet to be created appear as [[red links]]. For a look behind the scenes, see [[:Category:Scaffolding]].
The [[Whole Earth]] movement began with the publication of the [[Whole Earth Catalog]] (WEC) by [[Stewart Brand]] in 1968. The [[Whole Earth Catalog]] served as the focal center of an informal community of users and contributors to that publication, which appeared regularly until 1972, and periodically thereafter. [[Stewart Brand]] and the [[Whole Earth]] community spawned a number of influential spin-offs, such as the [[Coevolution Quarterly]], the Internet community called the [[WELL]] and the magazine [[Wired]].
+
  
==[[:Category:Appropriate Technology]]==
+
Is this Website a Wiki? The website operates under [[MediaWiki]] software, and thus has the potential to be a [[Wiki]]. However, to prevent spam, the site is currently configured so that only I can edit pages.
The theme now called [[Appropriate Technology]] was first introduced as [[Intermediate Technology]] in the mid-nineteen-sixties by [[E.F. Schumacher]], who is best-known for his book [[Small is Beautiful]].
+
  
==[[:Category:Hacker Generation]]==
+
==See Also==
The [[Hacker Generation]] refers to the individuals and communities that created the hardware and software of the personal computer in the late nineteen-seventies and early nineteen-eighties. It includes people such as [[Steve Wozniak]] and [[Steve Jobs]], who created the [[Apple Computer]], and [[Lee Felsenstein]], an electronic engineer who along with Wozniak and Jobs was a founding member of the [[Homebrew Computer Club]].
+
*The companion website, [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org conviviality.ouvaton.org], my main showcase about Convivial Tools.
 
+
*[[:Category:Cooperation]]: a site-within-the-site, the beginning of what could be a separate project on the subject of Cooperation
==[[Free and Open Source Software]] [[:Category:FOSS]]==
+
[[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS) is a comprehensive term encompassing both the [[Free Software]] and [[Open Source Software]] movements.
+
 
+
==[[:Category:Wikis]]==
+
A [[wiki]] is a website whose pages can be edited by any visitor. The first wiki, called [[WikiWikiWeb]], was created by [[Ward Cunningham]] in 1995. Wikis were brought to the attention of the general public by the success of [[Wikipedia]], an online collaborative encyclopedia created in 2001. This website presents numerous pages with information about [[:Category:Wiki People|people]], [[:Category:Wiki Websites|websites]], [[:Category:Wiki Engines|software]] and [[:Category:Wiki Concepts|concepts]] in the realm of wikis.
+
 
+
==[[:Category:Open Design]]==
+
[[Open Design]] is the application of the principles of [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS) to the design of physical objects such as machines and computer hardware. Open Design is a general term covering a number of specific [[Open Source]] movements, such as the [[Open Source Hardware]] movement for Open Design of microcomputer chips, and the [[Open Source Tool Design]] movement which concerns primarily the Open Design of machines.
+
 
+
==[[:Category:Convivial Product]]==
+
The [[Convivial Product]] is a [[Convivial Tool]] offered for public use. The [[Convivial Product]] is a vision what the [[Convivial Tool]] can and should be.
+
 
+
==Other Categories==
+
*'''[[:Category:Online Information]]''' -- listings of review sites, how-to sites, and other useful websites
+
*'''[[:Category:Open Source]]''' -- [[Open Source]] movements and licenses
+
*'''[[:Category:Cyberspace]]''' -- culture and inhabitants of [[Cyberspace]]
+
*'''[[:Category:MediaWiki]]''' -- use of the [[MediaWiki]] software engine
+
*'''[[:Category:This Site]]''' -- pages and sub-categories about this website
+
*'''[[:Category:RainDog's Opinions]]''' -- miscellaneous rants
+
 
+
==Is this Website a [[Wiki]]?==
+
<font size="3">'''[[:Category:Wikis]]'''</font>
+
 
+
This website operates under [[MediaWiki]] software and thus has the potential to be a [[Wiki]]. However, the site was initially configured to require users to create an account before they can edit articles. In addition, when the wiki began to be spammed (see [[Spam Attack]]), the configuration was changed so that only [[WikiSysop]] can create new accounts. The site thus currently operates as the personal database of [[User:MichaelSlattery|Michael Slattery]]. The companion site the [http://ctwiki.ouvaton.org Convivial Projects Wiki] is still a [[Wiki]], although as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Wiley David Wiley] says: "A wiki without contributors is nothing but a blog on steroids."
+
 
+
==Blog==
+
See also [[User:MichaelSlattery/Blog|Michael Slattery's Blog]].
+

Latest revision as of 14:23, 7 January 2014