[p2p-research] Nomadic Conference in Berlin/ New York

[Robin]

Something I am working on together with a lot of other people, including some who are also on this list.

Please forward to people who care about these networks, and share whatever observation you may have.

Robin.


A loose network of nomads, skillsurfers, hackers, open space fanatics and hospitality exchange addicts is hosting a conference on (postmodern/neo)nomadic culture, with a strong focus on setting up spaces/bases/places that are open for nomads. The conference takes place in Berlin from the 20th to the 30th of November, or maybe even longer. And in New York from the 5th to the 6th of December See http://sharewiki.org/en/she 

With this initiative we would like to better our existing ecosystem to sustain current forms of nomadism in the western world. In practical terms, we want to make it easier for nomads to go beyond conventional housing, jobs and schooling. We also would like to improve our real social networks (real social in terms of meeting up in real life).

What is a nomad? A nomad is someone who believes that traveling (physically or mentally) is a way to learn (about others and about themselves) and to experience life. Some of the nomads travel for work, others for study, others to learn from random encounters on the road.

In essence, we would like to create a shared way of living/ cooperating that goes beyond borders, and which brings these people together. What we would like to see is a network of bases that are shared with (neo)nomads.

The 'bases' we currently have encourage more cooperation, sharing and solidarity between participants. For most participants these places are life-learning/changing places, for many others they mean family. In addition, they potentially could also be great vehicles for experimenting new solidarity networks, practical skillsharing, exchange of nomadic crafts, social/political activism, p2p related projects, as well as nomadic cooperatives and other forms of social entrepreneurship. 

The initiative for nomadbases is one that is closely related to hospitality exchange. In the past 5 years we have seen a great leap forward in this field, examples include networks such as http://bewelcome.org and http://couchsurfing.org See for an overview here: http://couchwiki.org/en/A_Brief_History_of_Hospitality_Exchange_Networks

Where hospitality exchange has a focus on P2P exchange for mostly (for free) short-term accomodation, we would like to go beyond, towards rather long-term hospitality.

In essence what we would like to accomplish is a self-sustained network of communities, houses, farms, squats, collaborative work-spaces, etc. that are open for shared living with people that travel as a way of life. These places would be autonomous nodes within a larger network that function as convergence places to teach/learn/share and to meet like-minded people who you connect with and work on projects together.

Closely related to this is also a rise of networks in terms of skillsharing. Examples include skill-exchange networks such as Traveling School of Life, School of Everything, Journeyman and Wwoofing. In an ideal world these networks would be more connected both offline as online, for example by having integrated/ exportable personal profiles (tag-system, friends, skills, desires). As such you would know who would be where when, and you would easily know where to be if you want to learn skill x and share desire y.

The potential of these networks and models is enormous, and go much further than what is described here so far. They are a basic vehicle for social transformation. Without going too far in terms of ambitions (which could be plenty), this conference is just a small step in bringing people together who share these ideals.