d r a g o n f l y

This is the paper I wrote for the CATaC'06 conference in Tartu, Estonia (June 28-July 1, 2006).

Abstract: The sharing of open content using free peer-to-peer technology is a challenge in a world dominated by intellectual property laws and high profile court cases against people and organisations accused of illicit file-sharing. From a legal perspective this challenge seems insurmountable for a global network that seeks to enable the sharing of local knowledge for local development. Feenberg's work on the democratisation of technology and Lessig's work on architecture as a regulatory modality helps to understand the role of technology in both constraining and protecting knowledge sharing. This paper describes how technology and techno-legal instruments such as software and content licenses can become tactical interventions in the regulation of knowledge sharing.

Paper is available online here (pdf).

As part of the requirements for a PhD in Social Sciences at the University of Bergen I need to follow a course in philosophy of science and ethics of science and write a paper which I need to present and defend for a committee of three on June 2nd, 2006. Yesterday I submitted the paper to Cathrine Holst who is responsible for the Philosophy of Science part of the PhD programme.

This was a good opportunity to finally think through the concept of cognitive justice which I use as an normative framework to study global information systems. My "task" was to defend cognitive justice against the charge of facilitating a "everything goes" relativism. I located my paper in India by using Shiv Visvanathan's conception of cognitive justice and Meera Nanda's critique on Visvanathan and his collegues of what Nanda calls "the Delhi School of Science Studies".

A copy of my paper is available in pdf. Click here. Send me your comments!