[Ecommerce] Open Cultures :: Conference Announcement
James Love
james.love@cptech.org
Tue Apr 8 10:37:01 2003
OPEN CULTURES: FREE FLOWS OF INFORMATION AND THE POLITICS OF THE COMMONS
+ Vienna, June 5 & 6, 2003
+ http://opencultures.t0.or.at
+ open@t0.or.at
** Conference Announcement
** Call For Resources
** Travel Grants Available
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** CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
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Today's infosphere allows a quick and easy exchange of digitized
information.The tools of creation and the means of distribution are
becoming moreaffordable by the month, thus continuously expanding the
range of creatorsand users. Yet, not everyone is happy with this. A
coalition of large media conglomerates calls for Draconian measures to
stop this free flow of information. New restrictive technologies and new
oppressive laws are being developed right now, in an attempt to create
scarcity out of the digital abundance. The current security fears are
manipulated to equate openness with danger in a cynical effort to
protect the assets of large industries against the forces of innovation.
Against this backdrop, a counter movement is taking shape that is guided
by the idea of 'the commons': resources accessible to all.
Rather than expanding the means of control to catch up with the ease of
data processing, this movement takes the free availability of
information as its starting point. It recognizes that a free society
needs free flows of information, that the attempt to control information
quickly leads to controlling people. Creativity - commercial, scientific
and artistic - requires the ability to easily and freely built upon what
others have created.
The Open Cultures conference will survey the new territory of the
commons by bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners from
different corners of this vast field. We will talk about access to
scientific information, free software, patents and other forms of
knowledge monopolies, wireless community networks, open distribution
channels, about the economics and the aesthetics of the commons.
We want to strengthen the understanding of the shared visions and goals,
learn from the different experiences and approaches and send a signal
that, yes, openness is possible, indeed, it's the only direction to move
forward.
The conference will focus on the following topics:
* Information Commons
Open Access Journals and other institutional initiatives to build a
infrastructure for free access to information
* Media of the Commons
Grassroots publishing, peer-to-peer, free distribution, freenet
* Wireless Community Networks
Rather than buying bandwidth from global telecom giants rebuilding
information flows locally, from the ground up. One wireless cell at a time.
* Politics Of the Commons
International treaties and international governing bodies. What are the
possibilities of using them to advance openness and access?
* Culture of the Commons
What culture and art is emerging in the commons?
The conference will include workshops of streaming technologies and on
wireless networks as well as exhibition of media installations who
explore the ideas of openess and free access.
Speakers and Guest include:
Shu Lea Cheang (Artist, Kingdom of Piracy), Vera Franz and Darius
Cuplinskas (Open Society Institute, Budapest, osi.hu), Adam Hyde
(Artist, Frequency Clock), Jaromil (Developer, Dyne:bolic), Jamie Love
(CPTech), Armin Medosch (Artist), Eben Moglen (Professor of Law,
Columbia University NYC, EFF Pioneer 2003), Eric Moeller (Journalist,
infoanarchy.org), Andy Mueller-Maguhn (Chaos Computer Club, ccc.de,
ICANN), Bruce Sterling (Novelist), Alan Toner (NY
University, Media activist, freedistro.org)
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** CALL FOR RESOURCES
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As we all know, a conference as a live event has a limited reach: a few
dozen people at worst, a few hundred at best. Nevertheless, its value
can be much greater. The event character of a conference serves to focus
attention, to create a defined context in which people, ideas and
projects meet, learning takes place and new ideas can grow. Made
accessible and archived on line, this focus can become an important
reference point for the larger discussion way beyond the actual event.
We would like to invite you to expose your ideas/projects to this focus
on Open Cultures without the burden of having to travel to Vienna. How?
By submitting a resource to the "Open Cultures Repository".
A resource can be a text, a media file, a project, or a call for
participation. We are in the process of assembling critical resources
for the theory/practice of free information flows. We invite you to
contribute to this collection of resources, by submitting one, or more,
resource(s) either as original media files, or as links to resources
already out-there but hard to find. The resource that you want the
community to know about can be your's or someone else's.
Please browse the resources that are already online and contribute to
expanding the scope and value of this open collection.
Should you have any questions / comments to this project, please do not
hesitate to contact us.
http://opencultures.t0.or.at
open@t0.or.at
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** TRAVEL GRANTS AVAILABLE
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Thanks to a generous contribution from the Open Society Institute (OSI),
a small number of stipends are available to cover participants' travel
costs. Participants eligible for these stipends should be from countries
outside the US and EU.
If you wish to apply for a stipend, please send an email to
open@t0.or.at indicating your interest in the conference and travel
expenses.
Deadline for applying is April 30, 2003. The stipends will be awarded in
consultation with the OSI and recipients will be notified by May 15.
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= Open Cultures Conference
= Vienna, June 5 & 6
= http://opencultures.t0.or.at
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