Scott Rosenberg; Wordyard…

“Over the last several days I’ve had brief immersion experiences in two very different — yet reasonably compatible — projects that aim to give that pendulum a big shove. One, the IndieWeb, is a classic Internet-era bottom-up movement trying to build and test working technologies and tools for autonomous, empowered individuals; the other, the Respect Network, is an attempt to jumpstart a new identity system and financial network based on individual trust and privacy. One is led by idealistic developers, the other by idealistic businesspeople.”

Sarah Jaffe interviews Astra Taylor for In These Times…

“We really need to think through these issues on a social level. I tried to steer the debate away from our addiction to our devices or to crappy content on the Internet, and really take a structural view. It’s challenging because ultimately it comes down to money and power and who has it and how do you wrest it away and how do you funnel some of it to build structures that will support other types of voices. That’s far more difficult than waiting around for some new technology to come around and do it for you.”

I’m looking forward to cracking open Astra’s new book: The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age.

Laurie Penny; New Statesman…

“There is nothing wrong with making things that people want. The problem is that personhood and desire are constrained by capital; money affects whose wants appear to matter. The kids in Startup House may want a pizza delivery drone, but not in the same way low-income families want health care, or the elderly men lying in their own faeces on Howard Street want a safe place to sleep. There is nothing wrong with making things people want. It’s just that too little attention is being paid to the things people need.”