Conferencing and the commons

I spent the last two weeks in Kenya shuttling between Kilifi, Mombasa and Nairobi. From sitting in on village workshops aimed at deploying community vouchers on the Celo blockchain, to attending a bizarre cocktail hosted by the British High Commission “in celebration of the King’s Birthday”, to finding myself at a panel discussion hosted by Kenya’s Young Communist League, life has again taken on that familiar form of worlds within worlds within worlds, and I am grateful to be learning from all teachers. Last week in Nairobi I attended IASC 2023, an international conference on the study of the commons. The experience was in sharp contrast to the various crypto conferences I’ve attended over the past few years (and am now increasingly skeptical of). For one thing, the crowd was a lot more diverse in age, gender, and nationality. It was also a lot more academic, with a smattering of eclectic in-betweeners like artists, media theorists and filmmakers. Conferences can (and should) be seen a

I spent the last two weeks in Kenya shuttling between Kilifi, Mombasa and Nairobi. From sitting in on village workshops aimed at deploying community vouchers on the Celo blockchain, to attending a bizarre cocktail hosted by the British High Commission “in celebration of the King’s Birthday”, to finding myself at a panel discussion hosted by Kenya’s Young Communist League, life has again taken on that familiar form of worlds within worlds within worlds, and I am grateful to be learning from all teachers. Last week in Nairobi I attended IASC 2023, an international conference on the study of the