rog's blog

I've now run 2 out of our 3 workshops at the Takeaway Festival which is all going by in a bit of a blur, especially after a stimulating but exhausting evening of lectures and discussions - some of which happened over a pint or two of lager. The discussions in the workshops have been really useful - I didn't know what to expect at all before hand. They've confirmed that there's a growing interest in blogging and the possibilities of new (user generated) media generally and that this comes from lots of (sometimes conflicting) perspectives.

It seems clear that the first epoch of the 3rd Millennium, the Network Age, was already asserting itself in increasingly powerful ways by the early 1990s, if not sooner, through the literal reorganization of the social, political, and economic infrastructure around electronic networks.[1] Samuel R. Smith

Ideas and discussions about networks and complexity are increasingly important among the most diverse communities. These range from hippies to hard-nosed business people and from radical activists to right wing reactionaries and all shades of opinion in between. The discussions range from visions of a collaborative heaven to a hell filled with terrorists, paedophiles and copyright pirates.

Whatever the vision, most seem to start from the assumption that networks are in some way a new phenomenon or at least that they are much more significant now than ever before. They are seen as either the product of, or at least encouraged by, the recent explosive growth of digital media and particularly the internet. Few commentators on the subject explore the nature of networks, except to provide a small number of examples that suit their argument.

I attended a workshop loosely based around the EVNT software project but billed as bringing together producers of events and coders of event software to meet each other and “brainstorm the future of event organisation (with an emphasis on the arts), calendaring tools and technologies.”

I wouldn’t really describe myself as belonging to either of those groups but I was very glad I was along for the ride. The introduction to why we were all there generally and specifically as individuals was really interesting. It became clear that although there was a good deal of common ground among us we had such diverse motivations that distinctions like coders and producers weren’t that meaningful.

This may read a bit like a small child's reflections after having been to the fair or circus. I can tell you about lots of bright colours and new sounds / noises and nice people offering me things but there may not be much more to it...

Cybersonica 05 was made up of a number of quite distinct elements. There was the first two days at The Dana Centre and then another existence as The Art at Encompass at The Old Truman Brewery. There were symposia, performances, workshops and exhibits running throughout.

On the first day I caught parts of a session about Interactive Audiovisual Experiments. I chatted to Chris O'Shea afterwards because I found the ideas behind his work challenged things that bother me about lots of 'interactive' work that I think has a very narrow idea of what interaction involves. Particularly he talked about how important open source principles / ideas are to him.

Pervasive Connections is a one-day event and exhibition about wireless networks, mobile technologies and locative media. The event will focus on opportunities for artists and local communities to work with new social technologies.

The development of Networked Media Environments allows the interconnection and networking of people and ideas, a cross-fertilisation between those from diverse cultures and with diverse knowledge. This can lead in two very different directions:

We had a lecture as part of our MA course from Adam Burns about Intelligent
Media. It linked up social political issues with technical covering how isssues to do with Data are connected to Control / Surveillance / Power particularly in the light of technological developments. This is something that most people are probably not very