‘Open Source Democracy’ Available for Free Download

A new ebook edition (pub/kindle) of Open Source Democracy, with CC license, is now available for download at unglue.it.

The books asks: What would happen if the ‘source code’ of our democratic systems were opened up to the people they are meant to serve?

In the software industry, the open source movement has emphasized collective cooperation over private ownership. Open source enthusiasts have found a more efficient way of working by pooling their knowledge to encourage innovation. The open source community recognizes that solutions to problems emerge from the interaction and participation of lots of people, not by central planning. An open source model for participatory, bottom-up and emergent policy would force us to confront the most pressing issues of our time.

Open source principles challenge us all to participate in the redesign of political institutions in a way which enables new solutions to social problems to emerge as the result of millions of interactions. In this way, online communication may indeed be able to change offline politics.

Download it here.