Info, news & debate
Low-impact IT
Friends in high places: billionaire-free, collapse-proof communications with LoRa and Meshtastic
Building and strengthening networks is crucial to improving our resilience to the changes and social upheaval heading our way. Our social networks buffer us against possible insults to our circumstances. Everything that improves our connections increases our resilience.
You can help develop non-corporate digital tools to support collaboration between community groups
Are you sick of having to always use corporate software, that uses your data to track your activities, to try to sell you things, and who knows what else?
How to contribute to the Credit Commons Society
Fancy doing something new, interesting, rewarding and potentially world-changing in the new year?
Matthew Slater, co-author of the Credit Commons white paper explains how you can join an interesting group of people, and contribute to the development of the Credit Commons Society.
Keeping your tech ticking: how to extend the lifetime of your laptop
Have a feeling your device is on its last legs and dreading the day you might have to consider buying a new one? Sophie Paterson shares top tips to keep your technological devices ticking, starting with how to extend the lifetime of your laptop.
How the REA / Value Flows model can change the world: Lynn Foster of Mikorizal (Part 2)
Here’s the second part of our interview with Lynn Foster of Mikorizal and the Value Flows model. Part 1 is here.
Understanding the REA / Value Flows model: Lynn Foster of Mikorizal (Part 1)
Today Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org / NonCorporate.org is talking with Lynn Foster of Mikorizal and the Value Flows model. We’ve heard some very good things about her work, together with her partner, Bob Haugen.
Building the open web: an interview with Micky Metts of Agaric
Dave Darby interviews Micky Metts of Agaric, based in Boston, Massachusetts, who is active in both the co-operative and free/open source movements.
So long, Doris: how to make a Linux computer from scratch
When his old computer died, Simon Lennane knew exactly what to do to get back up and running, by building a Linux computer from scratch.
Co-operativising the tech sector: an interview with Graham Mitchell of Webarchitects & CoTech
We speak to Graham Mitchell of Cotech about the co-operativisation of the tech sector and helping people switch to free and open source software.
Is technology the problem? Conversation with Dave King of Breaking the Frame and the New Lucas Plan
This is a conversation between Dave Darby of NonCorporate.org and Dave King of Breaking the Frame and the New Lucas Plan. Dave (K) is opposed to the ‘technocracy’ that he describes as the root cause of environmental destruction and lack of democracy.
How I built a Raspberry Pi Space Invaders arcade machine with my kids
This describes how my kids and I built an arcade machine, based on a Raspberry Pi. So, the first question many of you will be asking is….
Reduce, reuse… repair? The repair renaissance building skills and communities
With UK media decrying a recent YouGov survey revealing a whopping 69% of 18-24 year olds in the UK don’t know how to bleed a radiator and 54% would be flummoxed replacing a fuse, what hope is there for a repair renaissance amidst the current tide of throwaway consumerism?
How much electricity does Bitcoin consume, and what are the alternatives?
When an idea grows far beyond its original conception, develops its own culture, factions & internal dynamics, and through implementation compromises with the real world, it can become the very enemy of what it first espoused.
Join our new online community Living Low Impact
We’re excited to introduce our new Facebook group Living Low Impact – and you’re invited!
£30, credit-card-sized, non-corporate, low-energy computers set up to run Linux; any boxes not ticked there?
These are cheap (£30) mini computers that run Linux and will make a good second computer for children (for example), a media player in another room, or a data server. It might save people buying another laptop and it means you can reuse the peripherals of older PCs (screen, mouse etc).
Can you offer your IT skills to help build a website to challenge the pro-corporate bias in UK trade deals?
Website help needed: with Brexit, the UK will be heading into international ‘trade’ deals, which are likely to be as much about establishing corporate rights and diminishing democracy as the EU/US TTIP – a deal that is now on the back-burner.
Low-impact & the city 12: switching to the Phone Co-op (do it today!)
The Phone Co-op is the UK’s only co-operative telecoms provider. 100% member-owned, they have a democratic internal structure and no external shareholders. You can just become a customer, or you can become a member too, and have a say in the way the co-op is run.
Resilient networks: building a low-tech internet
A solution to the absence of high-speed wireless networks across some developing countries and increasingly appearing in the form of WiFi based community networks in numerous countries in Europe, building a low-tech internet could have benefits for all. With excerpts from an original Low-tech Magazine article by Kris De Decker, we explore how a less resource-intensive and more energy-efficient …
Low-impact & the city 11: buying a laptop without Windows – with Linux or with no operating system at all
This is the last in a series of articles to help you to jettison Windows and corporate software generally.
Companies like Fairphone, Ecotricity etc. are doing great things, but could easily be picked off by the corporate sector; why aren’t they co-ops?
Body Shop, Green & Blacks, Ben & Jerry’s and Innocent Drinks represented a Brave New World when it came to doing business – Fair Trade, sustainable, (slightly) less hierarchical, informal, friendly.