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| | <font size="5">'''Convivial Tools Database'''</font><br> | | <font size="5">'''Convivial Tools Database'''</font><br> |
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| − | This website is a database about people, projects, concepts and websites related to [[Convivial Tools]]. It is a work in progress, and some sections are more complete than others. | + | 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. |
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| − | For information about the site itself, see [[About this Site]] and [[Road Maps]]. See the [[Site Map]] for the list of [[Main Categories]], or go to [[:Category:Root]]. See also the companion website the<br> [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org Convivial Tools Encyclopedia].
| + | 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. |
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| − | ==[[:Category:Convivial Tools]] as defined by Ivan Illich== | + | ==The Convivial Tool== |
| − | [[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. [[Convivial Tools]] are generally developed and maintained by a community of users, 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]] |
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| − | In his earlier book [[Deschooling Society]], Illich proposed the development of computerized "learning webs," at a time before the Internet existed. His subsequent book [[Tools for Conviviality]] influenced members of the 1970s [[Hacker Generation]] who developed the first personal computer. One of these was inventor [[Lee Felsenstein]], who adopted Illich's vision of tools that would be developed and maintained by a community of users. This vision of community tool development is embodied in more recent movements such as [[Free and Open Source Software]], [[Wiki]]s, [[Open Design]] and the whole of [[Web 2.0]].
| + | ==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]] |
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| − | ==[[:Category:Historical Roots]] of Convivial Tools==
| + | 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]. |
| − | The ideas put developed by [[Ivan Illich]] in [[Tools for Conviviality]] follow on a long tradition of criticism of industrial technology and of a search for viable alternatives. The [[Historical Roots]] of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]] extend back to the eighteenth century French Enlightenment and the philosophy of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. Twentieth-century precursers include philosophers such as [[Lewis Mumford]] and [[Jacques Ellul]], and counter-culture movements such as [[Whole Earth]] and [[Appropriate Technology]]. | + | |
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| − | ==[[:Category:Post-War Cybernetics]]== | + | ==About this website== |
| − | During and after the Second World War, emerging tendencies in scientific thought coalesced into a new field which [[Norbert Wiener]] called [[Cybernetics]], formed at the crossroads of computer science, electrical engineering, biology and social science. [[Post-War Cybernetics]] exercised a major influence on thinking about society, information, the environment and the use of computers. The concepts of [[Cybernetics]] were taken up by the [[Whole Earth]] movement, and the arrival of Internet spawned derivative terms such as [[Cyberspace]] and [[Cybernaut]].
| + | [[User:Michael|Michael Slattery]] created and maintains this site. |
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| − | ==[[:Category:Whole Earth]] Movement==
| + | 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 first [[Whole Earth Catalog]] by [[Stewart Brand]] in 1968. The [[Whole Earth Catalog]], which appeared regularly until 1972 and periodically thereafter, served as the center of an informal community of users and contributors. Due to their interest in [[Cybernetics]], the [[Whole Earth]] community spawned influential network-based spin-offs, such as the Internet community called the [[WELL]] and the cyber-magazine [[Wired]]. | + | |
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| − | ==[[: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. |
| − | [[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]].
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| − | ==[[:Category:Hacker Generation]]==
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| − | The [[Hacker Generation]] of the late 1970s was formed by the individuals and communities that created the hardware and software of the personal computer. 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 member of the [[Homebrew Computer Club]].
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| − | ==[[:Category:Cyberspace]]==
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| − | The emergence of the Internet lead to the development of a new culture shared by the denizens of [[Cyberspace]], which became mainstream with the development of the [[World Wide Web]] in the early 1990s.
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| − | ==[[:Category:FOSS]] - Free and Open Source Software==
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| − | [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS) is a comprehensive term encompassing both the [[Free Software]] and [[Open Source Software]] movements. The [[Free Software]] movement was created in the early 1980s by [[Richard Stallman]], a member of the [[Hacker Generation]]. It went mainstream when the offshoot [[Open Source Software]] was formulated nearly two decades later by a group that formed around [[Eric S. Raymond]].
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| − | ==[[:Category:Open Source]] Culture==
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| − | The new licences developed by the [[Free and Open Source Software]] movement inspired interest in the use of [[Open Source]] licenses in all fields of creative activity.
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| − | ==[[:Category:Open Design]]==
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| − | [[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.
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| − | ==[[:Category:Convivial Product]] Design and Marketing==
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| − | The [[Convivial Product]] is a [[Convivial Tool]] offered for public use, either by sale or by gift (see [[Gift Economics]]). The basic characteristic of the [[Convivial Product]] is [[Usability]].
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| − | ==[[:Category:Convivial Websites]]==
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| − | [[Convivial Websites]] are those which demonstrate the characteristics of the [[Convivial Product]]. They may notably include [[Review Sites]], [[How-to Websites]], and other useful websites. Other types of [[Convivial Websites]] include [[wiki]] websites and [[Social Software]] sites (see [[Web 2.0]]).
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| − | ==[[:Category:Web 2.0]]==
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| − | The Internet has evolved rapidly since the birth of the original [[World Wide Web]] in the early 1990s. It has reached a stage that [[Tim O'Reilly]] has called [[Web 2.0]], characterized notably by such phenomena as [[Social Software]], [[Virtual Worlds]] and [[Massively Distributed Collaboration]].
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| − | ==[[:Category:Web 3.0]]==
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| − | What is the web evolving towards? Some say that [[Web 3.0]] will be a [[Semantic Web]], providing machine-facilitated understanding of information to help users perform more productive [[Data Mining]] for their own personal purposes.
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| − | ==(Is this Website a [[Wiki]]?)==
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| − | This website operates under [[MediaWiki]] software and thus has the potential to be a [[Wiki]]. However, to avoid continual hassles with spammers, the site is configured so that only WikiSysop can create new accounts, and only one account is in operation. This website is thus the single-handed creation of one person.
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| | ==See Also== | | ==See Also== |
| − | *[[Main Page Backup]] | + | *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 |
