Patrice Riemens

Bio

Although I do research, write and publish (sometimes even in newspapers!) I am not a media person in the traditional sense of the word - not with the 'old media'. but I surely think I can be described as a 'new media' person. I am not a professional either - a category which in our age of 'Transition' forms in my view more a problem than a solution anyway.

Media-wise I belong, a.o., to the group that founded nettime.org, have moderated it for some time, and am still a regular contributor. Also to the Sarai Reader list, and the Commons-law list. All three are fairly well established discussion platforms in both the Global North and the Global South.

For the remainder I have been contributing to/ publishing in scientific/ academic reviews like Multitudes (France), Cultural Politics (UK), and a number of others. I research and write about issues which are very adjacent to the concept of commons, or belong to it outright. For instance my contributions to the Open Publications/ Open Access/ Open Review and Free Knowledge movement.

I am also associated with the 'Open Organisations' movement which strives to make voluntary organisation more transparant and accountable, and with the 'Hack the State' initiative, where citizens develop tools and learn (by exchanging experiences) to make the administrative machinery of the state work for the commons instead of the other way round.

More recently I have been involved in looking at the ins and out of the 'Wikileaks' phenomenon and the issue of openness of information in general.