Re: <nettime> Armin Medosch: The Rise of the Network Commons: A History of Community Infrastructure

[Adam Burns via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Dear Geert,

Thank you so much for your role in making this publication a reality.

The concept of a 'Network Commons' in this sense evolved some good years 
ago from conversations between Julian Priest, Armin Medosch and myself, 
influenced by exposure to Elinor Ostram's work on developing the concept 
of the commons, countering the narrative of the 'tragedy'.

As mentioned in your post, so many people have played their part in 
forming the narrative of this history of community infrastructure.

Book launch events have been organized in Berlin, London, and Linz (with 
additional potential launches in Vienna and Athens in progress).

The up-to-date details of these book launch events can be found at 
https://www.networkcommons.org as they come to hand.

On 28/05/2025 13:08, Geert Lovink via nettime-l wrote:
> (dear all, i am proud to present this INC theory on demand #58 publication by the late Armin Medosch, who has always been active on nettime till he passed away in 2017, now accessible as pdf, epub on print on demand. thanks to volker and adam for this amazing, stressfree production. /geert)
>
> https://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/tod-58-the-rise-of-the-network-commons-a-history-of-community-infrastructure/
>
> The Rise of the Network Commons: A History of Community Infrastructure
> By Armin Medosch
>
> This book is a message in a bottle that washed ashore ten years after it was sent. Armin Medosch began documenting self-managed local networking initiatives with his book Freie Netze published in the German language in 2004. He iteratively developed The Rise of the Network Commons in draft chapters published on his website, The Next Layer, from 2013 until 2015, before his death in 2017.
>
> The Rise of the Network Commons is a cultural history of ‘the exciting world of wireless community network projects’ that spread from its origins in London, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen to Spain, Greece, North- and South America, and Africa. While deploying cutting-edge technology, the movement is made up of technical, social, and artistic hackers with a range of backgrounds and skills.
>
> This is the twofold thesis that Armin develops in this book: Involving ordinary people in building a network commons has a profound emancipatory effects on them. At the same time, doing so contributes to the democratization of technology: As a community we can begin to shape future technologies to serve our local needs rather than benefit commercial interests.
>
> As a history of community infrastructure, The Rise of the Network Commons is a highly topical narrative for strengthening the resilience of our local last mile digital infrastructures and re-enforcing regional digital self-sovereignty through direct community participation and knowledge sharing. We build the wireless commons by becoming sovereign neighbors of practice and expertise.
>
> Armin Medosch (1962 – 2017) was an Austrian media artist, journalist, curator, theorist, critic, and a pioneer of internet culture in Europe. As art activist, he co-initiated the transformation of the ship MS Stubnitz, a former GDR deep-sea fishing vessel, into a floating art space. He is well recognized as a journalist and as the co-editor of Telepolis. As an academic he earned a Master of Arts in Interactive Digital Media at the University of Sussex and a PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London and continued to his last days to publish, teach and research.
>
> Author: Armin Medosch
> Edited by: Volker Ralf Grassmuck and Adam Burns
>
> With special thanks to: Ina Zwerger, Elektra Aichele, Panayotis Antoniadis, Gregers Baur-Petersen, Andreas Bräu, Sebastian Büttrich, Teresa Dillon, André Gaul, Aaron Kaplan, Geert Lovink, Monic Meisel, Mauricio Román Miranda, Jürgen Neumann, Ignacio Nieto Larrain, Julian Priest, Enrique Rivera, Tim Schütz, Felix Stalder, Thomas Thaler, Ulf Treger, Sven (C-ven) Wagner, Simon Worthington, Manuel Orellana Sandoval and everyone at Señal 3, TV Piola.
>
> Cover design: Katja van Stiphout
> Book production and design: Ruben Stoffelen
> Published by the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam 2025.
> ISBN: 978-90-83520-92-6

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