Disruptive Organizing: Collaboration and Innovation in the Open Source City

How can we reformat our cities and public spaces – and the architectures and technologies within them – as sites of collaboration and innovation? The open source movement is known not only for the innovation of robust operating systems such as Linux and Internet browsers such as Firefox but also as an emergent form of organizing based on collaborative production. Disruptive Internet technologies such as e-mail, blogging, instant messaging, Skype and Twitter have enabled the widespread availability of cheap, instantaneous global communication. These same technologies have engendered emergent forms of organizing in physical spaces including MeetUp groups, BarCamps (unconferences) and coworking communities. This presentation will discuss disruptive forms of organizing based on a current collaborative project, Breakout! Escape from the Office, which is being presented by The Architectural League of New York as part of the Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City exhibition.