October Book Club
Civic tech isn’t just about coding and designing. There are a lot of great books and articles out there that address society, culture, technology, discrimination, economics, and all those other things we care about. So lets read and talk about some of them.
What is the relationship between computer code and the legal code? For much of the 90s and 00s, the Internet appeared to be unregulatable, and many argued that computing and network technologies have innate global, democratic qualities that have no need or ability to be ruled by a government (a sentiment famously expressed by John Perry Barlow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation). Yet, the last decade seems to have proven the opposite argument - the Internet is a powerful technology that significantly impacts the lives and actions of individuals, but it has no innate moral values and no special qualities that prevent it from being regulated and used by traditional nation states.
Lawrence Lessig is among the foremost proponents for the latter argument, with Lessig making his detailed arguments though his books Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace and Code: Version 2. Since its publication in 2006, Code: Version 2 has become foundational reading for anybody who wishes to understand the impact of Internet technology and society or society’s impact on the Internet.
In October, let’s discuss Parts 0, 1, & 2 of Lessig’s Code: Version 2 (157 pages), which is available via:
If you only have time to read one chapter from this, please read Chapter 7: What Thing Regulate.
As usual, food will be provided.
Want to help organize future book clubs? Let us know at contact@opentwincities.org
Got ideas of what to read for future book club meetings? Add them to https://workflowy.com/shared/7c2f4fb4-41d4-d38d-55c7-ec631e6d0436/ .