at the service of Artisans worldwide with the goal of equipping them in their efforts
to rethink peace and propose new modes of action
This interview gives precise explanations of the « meaning » and approach of the <irenees.net> website.
Interview with Henri Bauer, Founder and Director, website < irenees.net >
EIDO-IDEA
What is the meaning behind the creation of the resource website <irenees.net> ?
M. BAUER
The desire to communicate with others via the Internet brought about the creation of a new figure, a « website ». It consists of a virtual space whose objective is the transmission of information from a transmitter to a receptor, or « user ». An institution, an organization, a movement, a person, created his « website » to share information (text, images, sounds) with the « users ».
As the websites grow, the information becomes more diverse but at the same time overwhelming : Internet users might have the impression that they are drowning in information. The websites no longer constitute a « web », but rather, in fact, millions of free electrons deprived of relational coherence.
When one does a search for the word « peace » or « building peace », « conflict and peace », the search results are extremely numerous, complicated, and sometimes even irrelevant. This overabundance, accompanied by a vast dispersion, is a source of chaos. Whereas the Internet was meant to promote communication and the partition of knowledge with neither spatial nor temporal borders, in a democratic manner and at minimal cost, the « web » has fallen victim to its success : the Internet is proving itself to be inefficient.
To respond to this chaos, one of the Irenees’ techniques consists of establishing logical methods of producing and structuring information so that it can be presented on the Internet in a plain and pertinent manner. The secret consists in associating three fundamental techniques :
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Artisans of Peace enter into a process of capitalizing on the most interesting, most innovative, most efficient of what they do. Thus, they grab hold of that which they are.
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They share this « know-how » and « self-expression » in the form of « donation and counter-donation » via the Internet.
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They use the website « irenees.net » to put this know-how at the disposition of all Internet users in a simple, organized and pertinent manner.
It is in this way that <irenees.net> is a prototype of a resource website.
In this sense, I want to radically change the current use of the Internet : so that it constitutes, as well, a prototype for Internet usage.
<Irenees.net> is not a website like the others : it does not make information available about a precise entity.
<Irenees.net> is not a portal : it does not put up a list of links.
<Irenees.net> is also not a « superwebsite » that proposes the contents of a group of other websites.
At the heart of the Internet. <irenees.net> is something unprecedented : it is a website that proposes innovating approaches and useful resources on the Art of building Peace. By the same token, < irenees.net> constitutes a prototype website in the sense that it proposes a completely new use of the Internet.
I must mention here the important role that plays :
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The Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation for the Progress of Humankind, through moral, logistical, and financial support of this initiative ;
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the Director of this same Foundation, Mr. Pierre Calame, through his critical and constructive eye.
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the company Exemole, and, notably, its President, Mr. Vincent Calame, for the development of the website.
In effect, the Internet can prove to be an efficient tool for developing systems of collective intelligence and processes of civil movement : such is the capital gain that Irenees can provide.
EIDO-IDEA
Is the website < irenees.net> able to be at the origin of innovative, theoretical contributions?
M. BAUER
The question comes up regarding joint elaboration of collective intelligence to promote peace. The website <irenees.net> does not automatically give birth to Collective Intelligence on the art of peace. A « Collective Intelligence » would not know how to mechanically produce a resource website. The use of certain techniques does not necessarily drive the acceptance of their content. The users of the <irenees.net> website can take advantage of it simply by using it to reinforce their own theoretical convictions.
In effect, this phenomenon today constitutes one of the most important methods of using the Internet. Currently, each actor of peace present on the Internet possesses his own information system, efficient in terms of production and management of his information, but that does not necessarily allow him to communicate with other actors of peace, thus constraining him, for technical reasons, to make a political choice : that of working in his own corner. Whereas the fundamental dynamic of the Internet gives the possibility to adopt exactly the opposite approach : to move instead to the production and exchange of information, and, consequently, to the construction of a collective intelligence of peace. In effect, the Internet itself is a tool of communication and exchange : it is operational only because it is built on a unique technical foundation common to us all, allowing us to make it work.
Paradoxically, this shared technology that permits all and sundry to communicate is on its way to being sidetracked by a certain vicious circle of narcissism : each actor uses the Internet to diffuse his information and, with it, « his » manner of seeing the world. Rather than benefiting from the Internet’s capacity for exchange, he puts himself in a position of one who provides information or as one who consumes it. There is no true exchange, no confrontation or convergence, no one person’s know-how is meeting up with that of another. Information is simply added to a list. It is this basic dynamic that gave birth to today’s search engines, and not the reverse.
Now, to respond to the complexity and depth of today’s challenges to peace, a collective intelligence is essential : the Artisans of Peace cannot continue to elaborate deprived, fragmented, and inefficient intelligibilities. In this way, <irenees.net> opposes using the Internet as a means to privatize methods of elaboration and thought.
Numerous Artisans of Peace complain that they lack communication and interaction with other Artisans of Peace. Some actors of peace have already requested that Irenees realize a work that analyzes their system of information management and to assess the suitability of this system to fostering exchange. Irenees analyzes their theoretical conceptualizations and their technical systems in order to identify their capacity to exchange information.
Next, Irenees puts into place a system of open access information, internally compatible and consentient. It develops technical tools so that each Artisan of Peace can enhance and pool together his know-how in a structured manner, establishing a true dynamic of resource exchange with other Artisans of Peace.
In this manner <irenees.net> favors communication and dialogue between different information management systems thus permitting true exchange. As such, <irenees.net> permits the building of bridges between Artisans of Peace. It makes virtual bridges available that allow Artisans of Peace to enter into an initiative of exchange, confrontation, and consentience of their knowledge.
The Artisan of Peace who has not yet developed his system of information management, or who continue to use the ancient system of « each one for himself » – which is incapable of exchanging with other systems, will henceforth adopt Irenees as their common system, knowing that it is not only a technical tool but also an intellectual initiative.
It is in this sense that participating in the resource website <irenees.net> is a theoretical option by which the Artisan of Peace commits himself to enter into an initiative of a joint collaboration of collective intelligence, an Art of Peace.
EIDO-IDEA
Do you mean to say that the <irenees.net> website can equally be a source of practical contributions?
M. BAUER
The question comes up regarding the convergence of actors, a convergence based on an ethic of co-responsibility, able to give rise to the creation of an Alliance of Artisans of Peace. Even if the method of <irenees.net> permits the elaboration of collective intelligence on the Art of Peace, <irenees.net> does not automatically give birth to the formation of alliances. An « Alliance » cannot fulfill the necessary role that does a resource website. The elaboration of a collective intelligence does not necessarily lead to a sharing of values or objectives, the users of the website can benefit from it as a means to reinforce their practiced positions.
In effect, rationality is not sufficient to give reason to humanity or to its relationships. Other elements come into play that can have the same importance, or become as powerful, notably symbolic elements : culture, economic interests, sentiment, willpower, faith, et cetera. A very simple example : even if they used the Internet intensively, even if they shared the same perception of the world, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google engage in a merciless battle regarding the commercial use of the Web. And if, to respond to the complexity and depth of the current challenges to peace, a collective intelligence were to assert itself, this would still not be sufficient : the process of an alliance is indispensable. The Artisans of Peace cannot continue to implement deprived, fragmented, and inefficient initiatives. In this way, Irenees opposes using the Internet to the dispersion of civil action, of its privatization even.
The Irenees initiative goes further than the elaboration of a collective intelligence : it wants to favor the emergence of an Alliance of Artisans of Peace. In order to do so, it must respond, at least, to two great challenges :
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First, to obtain the participation of serious and innovative actors of peace. In effect, the current challenges to peace need new and robust responses. In the domain of peace building and conflict management, it is better to implement shared, effective initiatives endowed with genuine capacities for action and innovation, than numerous disorganized projects, efficient when it’s a matter of treating the « collateral damage » of the absence of peace, but inefficient when it comes to building peace.
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Second, that these partners set themselves common ethical values and converging objectives. In this perspective, Irenees makes virtual bridges available that allow Artisans of Peace to enter into an initiative of exchange, confrontation, and convergence of their self- expression as well as their know-how.
EIDO-IDEA
You seem to be making a transition from the technical domain – the Internet, to another one…
M. BAUER
We are entering here into the ethical domain. It is in this sense that participating in the resource website <irenees.net> is an ethical option by which the Artisan of Peace commits himself to enter into an Alliance initiative. It is for this reason that the <irenees.net> website cannot claim to be organizing an Alliance of Artisans of Peace. On the other had, <irenees.net> is proving to be very efficient at creating favorable symbolic conditions for bringing to fruition such an Alliance.