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<font size="5">'''Convivial Tools Data Base'''</font>
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<font size="3">See the '''[[Main Categories]]'''</font> or go to '''[[:Category:Root]]'''. See also '''[[User:MichaelSlattery|Michael Slattery's Blog]]'''.

This website is a database about people, projects, concepts and websites related to [[Convivial Tools]]. For information about the site itself, see [[About this Site]]. For suggestions about pages to browse see [[Road Maps]].<br>
See also the companion websites [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org Convivial Tools Encyclopedia] and [http://ctwiki.ouvaton.org Convivial Projects Wiki].

==Is this Website a [[Wiki]]?==
<font size="3">'''[[:Category:Wikis]]'''</font>

This website operates under [[MediaWiki]] software and thus has the potential to be a [[Wiki]]. However, the site was initially configured to require users to create an account before they can edit articles. In addition, when the wiki began to be spammed (see [[Spam Attack]]), the configuration was changed so that only [[WikiSysop]] can create new accounts. The site thus currently operates as the personal database of [[User:MichaelSlattery|Michael Slattery]]. The companion site the [http://ctwiki.ouvaton.org Convivial Projects Wiki] is still a [[Wiki]], although as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_A._Wiley David Wiley] says: "A wiki without contributors is nothing but a blog on steroids."

==Ivan Illich and Tools for Conviviality. See [[:Category:Convivial Tools]]==
[[Ivan Illich]] coined the term [[Convivial Tools]] in his book  [[Tools for Conviviality]], first published in 1973. [[Convivial Tools]] can be defined as tools which allow the user to operate with independent efficiency. At the same time, [[Convivial Tools]] are often developed and maintained by a community of users, such as for example an on-line community.

Illich is better known for an earlier book, entitled [[Deschooling Society]], which proposed the development of "learning webs" for informal learning outside of academic institutions. In this earlier book Illich advocated the development of a computer network which strongly ressembles the Internet, at a time before the Internet existed. Illich's later book [[Tools for Conviviality]] exercised a discrete influence in certain circles, but never received major public attention. However, it influenced [[Lee Felsenstein]], a member of the [[Hacker Generation]] who contributed to the development of the personal computer. Felsenstein adopted Illich's vision of tools that would be developed and maintained by a community of users. This vision of community tool development has also been embodied in more recent movements, such as the [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS), [[Wiki]] and [[Open Design]] movements, which are manifestations of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]], without necessarily being familiar with the concept.

==[[:Category:Historical Roots]]==
When [[Ivan Illich]] wrote [[Tools for Conviviality]] in 1973, he was following on a long tradition of criticism of industrial technology and of proposal of alternatives. The [[Historical Roots]] of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]] extend at least as far back as the eighteenth century French Enlightenment and the philosophy of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. More recent precursors include twentieth-century figures such as [[Lewis Mumford]] and [[Jacques Ellul]]. The [[Whole Earth]] and [[Appropriate Technology]] movements, mentioned below, appeared a few years ''before'' Illich wrote [[Tools for Conviviality]], and probably exercised significance influence on his thinking.

==[[:Category:Post-War Cybernetics]]==
In the years just before, during and after the second world war, emerging tendencies in scientific thought coalesced into a new field which [[Norbert Weiner]] called [[Cybernetics]]. This discipline formed at the crossroads of computer science, electrical engineering, biology and social science. [[Cybernetics]] exercised a major influence on the development of theories about society, information, the environment and the use of computers, and spawned derivative terms such as [[Cyberspace]] and [[Cybernaut]].

==[[:Category:Whole Earth]]==
The [[Whole Earth]] movement began with the publication of the [[Whole Earth Catalog]] (WEC) by [[Stewart Brand]] in 1968. The [[Whole Earth Catalog]] served as the focal center of an informal community of users and contributors to that publication, which appeared regularly until 1972, and periodically thereafter. [[Stewart Brand]] and the [[Whole Earth]] community spawned a number of influential spin-offs, such as the [[Coevolution Quarterly]], the Internet community called the [[WELL]] and the magazine [[Wired]].

==[[:Category:Appropriate Technology]]==
The theme now called [[Appropriate Technology]] was first introduced as [[Intermediate Technology]] in the mid-nineteen-sixties by [[E.F. Schumacher]], who is best-known for his book [[Small is Beautiful]].

==[[:Category:Hacker Generation]]==
The [[Hacker Generation]] refers to the individuals and communities that created the hardware and software of the personal computer in the late nineteen-seventies and early nineteen-eighties. It includes people such as [[Steve Wozniak]] and [[Steve Jobs]], who created the [[Apple Computer]], and [[Lee Felsenstein]], an electronic engineer who along with Wozniak and Jobs was a founding member of the [[Homebrew Computer Club]].

==[[Free and Open Source Software]] [[:Category:FOSS]]==
[[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS) is a comprehensive term encompassing both the [[Free Software]] and [[Open Source Software]] movements.

==[[:Category:Wikis]]==
A [[wiki]] is a website whose pages can be edited by any visitor. The first wiki, called [[WikiWikiWeb]], was created by [[Ward Cunningham]] in 1995. Wikis were brought to the attention of the general public by the success of [[Wikipedia]], an online collaborative encyclopedia created in 2001. This website presents numerous pages with information about [[:Category:Wiki People|people]], [[:Category:Wiki Websites|websites]], [[:Category:Wiki Engines|software]] and [[:Category:Wiki Concepts|concepts]] in the realm of wikis.

==[[:Category:Open Design]]==
[[Open Design]] is the application of the principles of [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS) to the design of physical objects such as machines and computer hardware. Open Design is a general term covering a number of specific [[Open Source]] movements, such as the [[Open Source Hardware]] movement for Open Design of microcomputer chips, and the [[Open Source Tool Design]] movement which concerns primarily the Open Design of machines.

==[[:Category:Convivial Product]]==
The [[Convivial Product]] is a [[Convivial Tool]] offered for public use. Unlike the other sections of this website listed above which aim to present only objective information, the pages about the [[Convivial Product]] present a mixture of objective information and of subjective vision about what a [[Convivial Tool]] can and should be.

==Other Categories==
*'''[[:Category:Online Information]]''' -- listings of review sites, how-to sites, and other useful websites
*'''[[:Category:Open Source]]''' -- [[Open Source]] movements and licenses
*'''[[:Category:Cyberspace]]''' -- culture and inhabitants of [[Cyberspace]]
*'''[[:Category:MediaWiki]]''' -- use of the [[MediaWiki]] software engine
*'''[[:Category:This Site]]''' -- pages and sub-categories about this website
*'''[[:Category:RainDog's Opinions]]''' -- miscellaneous rants