Olga Gil gave a presentation on networks and politics. She discussed thinkers like Yochai Benkler and his work on the wealth of networks. She also discussed projects between thinkers and makers, including @RedesyCambio. Finally, she explored how networks empower institutions, citizens, firms and ideas, and can lead to change. The presentation examined these topics over the last 40 years of technological revolution and the empowerment it enables.

1. Networks and Politics
A Presentation for
Olga Gil, Ph.D.
December 4rd, 2012.
Monthly Tertulia of the
Spanish Fulbright Alumni Association

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3. 2
I. Thinkers
Find us @
Twitter @TicWisdom
@OlgaG
@JeanCharles

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The Wealth of Networks
Power to the People
A Moment of Opportunity
Radical Reordering
“Collective actions practices, …
decentralized, that do not rely on
the price system or the managerial
structure of coordination”
“The most convincing case for a
fundamental change on how we
understand the economy of society”
--Lawrence Lessig
Yochai Benkler,
Medialab Madrid 2010

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2
Networks & Politics
Arquitecture
is control in Cyberspace:
it is power to regulate
behaviour in society.
--Lawrence Lessig. An example is
Facebook, reproducing the same structure (&
induced also) we find in society. --Stephen
Downs
Language is also control.
.
@cognolab_beta

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@cognolab_beta

7. Politics and Networks… 6
Democracy
…And what went wrong…?
•Individualism –attack on family, class…) made very difficult to engage people in politics
•The end of the Cold War broke the social contract between elites and the citizen
•Elite put of the control of voters
•Democracies today depart from the egalitarian outcomes
@cognolab_beta

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What the digital world has made to the USA today…?
A positive view
Change in productive, leaership and relation models:
@NewUrbanMechs –new urban mechanics civic -- innovation
focused on delivering transformative city services to Boston residents
@CitizensConnect City of Boston´CitizenSourcing. Mayor´s 24 hours
plan
@Patrick_Brennan in Boston or @CoryBooker

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II. Makers --and in between
Find us @
Twitter @TicWisdom
@OlgaG
@JeanCharles

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How
… did TicWisdom came about?
People such as @piscitelli has inspired us from 2009 to 2011. And
others such us @MadanRao @LRainiee @stevehargadon or
@zephoria were the first informed about the initiative. In Spain we
counted on @alafuente @dreig and @jfreire among others… and
growing.
TicWisdom is now working for profit in !) Big Data Projects
2) Developing Long Life Learning Programs Designed for
Private International Firms at IBEX Index and Universities,
3) On the Trends side, working for private firms and building
bridges with with three universities at the moment
Besides, we are now over 20 people working under the LABs
label
TicWisdom is committed to participate in society and devotes
20% of its time to support non-for-profit causes for two projects
linking Enterpreneurship, Sustaninability and Sports for Kids on
the one hand and Spain Global Branding on the other.

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Projects “in Between”
@RedesyCambio
Together with Maria Luz Congosto
@Congosto, Cecilia Gañán de Molina
@CeciliaGanan, Ricardo García Vegas,
Carlos Montes, Dolors Reig Hernendez
@DReig, Jaime Ridriguez Martinez,
Lourdes Soria and Llanos Montes
@LlanosMontes and Jean Charles
Blondeau @JeanCharles

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An example of a project in
Between, thinkers and
makers:
@RedesyCambio…
Firms,
Institutions and
Citizens in the
Networked Age
@OlgaG
olgagil@olgagil.es

14. Where… did TicWisdom was Born 13
At Medialab-Prado, Madrid (http://medialab-prado.es)
Medialab-Prado is an international space oriented to the production, research, and
broadcasting of digital culture. It is a space where art, science, technology and society merge
– a space where workshops, seminars, debates, meetings, concerts.... take place.
Streaming is available for quarterly events so that #influence and #global participation are
possible. All the sessions are recorded and are openly available and free.
Thank you Jean Charles @Jeancharles Julia @julajcandela and Yolanda @Tintaalsol, Jose,
Juan, Pascale Bang-Rouhet, @McGlaria, Marcos, Gabriel for your support those challenging-
start days, and many others before and afterwards…
@cognolab_beta

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II. Applied Thinking
How do networks empower
institutions, citizens and
firms?
And religion… @Pontifex
Find us @
Twitter @TicWisdom
@OlgaG
@JeanCharles

16. @OlgaG
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COSTS

17. @OlgaG
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COSTS

18. @OlgaG
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REPUTATION

19. @OlgaG
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NETWORKS

20. @OlgaG
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INSTITUTIONS
IN CIVIL
SOCIETY
Foto: Siemens.com

21. @OlgaG
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INSTITUTIONS IN CIVIL SOCIETY

22. @OlgaG
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FIRMS

23. @OlgaG
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PEOPLE

24. @OlgaG
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PEOPLE AND
… PARTIES
correctphilippines.org/problems_of_presidentialism

25. @OlgaG
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IDEAS
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27846/

26. @OlgaG
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CHANGE http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27846/

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El ámbito de la reflexión de esta presentacion
COSTS son los últimos cuarenta años, en los que
hemos sido testigos de una gran revolución
REPUTATION tecnológica. Esta revolución se basa en un
cambio, el empoderamiento. Internet hace
posible que la humanidad se comunique a gran
NETWORKS escala de forma distribuida. Las redes de
comunicación distribuída facilitan el
empoderamiento del individuo y de la
FIRMS sociedad.
INSTITUTIONS Investigando científicamente las posibilidades
novedosas que existen de modificar objetivos,
prácticas, formas organizativas y valores
PEOPLE sociales a través de las redes sociales, y cómo
empoderan a las instituciones, al ciudadano, y
las empresas, hemos llegado a conclusiones. El
IDEAS estudio se realiza desde las aportaciones
teóricas de la ciencia política, y de manera
CHANGE secundaría, desde la sociología y la
matemática…

28. COSTS 25
Hemos encontrado variables estructurales nuevas, que dependen
de la tecnología distribuída y que afectan positivamente a la
REPUTATION acción colectiva.
NETWORKS Hemos visto tambien que los grandes detonantes del cambio son
los cambios de valores, las nuevas ideas, la búsqueda de
innovación, y diferenciación.
FIRMS
Por lo tanto, podemos hacer recomendaciones como:
• La prospectiva sobre las nuevas ideas y sus aplicaciones, como
INSTITUTIONS las avanzadas por Joi Ito, director de Medialab en MIT, cuya visión
es la de una tecnología que forme parte de la naturaleza, en lugar
PEOPLE de intentar dominarla… a diferencia de lo hecho en revoluciones
industriales anteriores. O centros como The Centre for Design and
Geopolitics en San Diego, en http://designgeopolitics.org
IDEAS • Podemos hablar de mejores prácticas, prácticas nuevas y
disruptivas.
•Podemos establecer recomendaciones para el diseño de
CHANGE acciones colectivas.

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Networks and
Politics
I. Thinkers
II. Makers
Conclusions

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31. @OlgaG
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REFERENCES A Great Scientific Study, Bonobos ed. December 2012. Thanks to Dr. Rodrigo Sandoval

32. @OlgaG
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REFERENCES A great applied example, december 2012. Thanks to @Amaya_Flyabit

33. 30
Time 4 Your
Questions
We invite you to
contact us
@TicWisdom
Olga Gil - Founder and Director
@olgag
+34 609448309
olgagil@olgagil.es

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Thank you very much
Visit us at
www.TicWisdom.com
Olga Gil, Ph.D.
Founder
Author of the idea and design for this presentation
Jean-Charles Blondeau @jeancharles
Labs director
Education. Moodle. Tech tools. Feeds specialist and Financial Planning