[Imc-uk-network] Lancaster Knowledgelab Feb 05: Call for Contributions

[ionnek]

pls fwd to local collectives if suitable...

Hello everybody,

having been to the first round of lancaster knowledge lab meetings, I 
think the setting can be a useful environment to discuss where indymedia 
is, should or will be going. The next session in february is called 
"Hacklab" and invites contributions about Technology, Creativity and 
Social Organisation - that's basically what we are doing all the time. 
Right now, indymedia really seems to be at a crossroads - the technology 
is not as cutting edge as it was 5 years ago, differences in the way 
imcistas see the project are becoming visible, social movements have 
generated tons of other alt.media outlets and everybody could 
theoretically run their own blog.

Big questions that are coming to my mind: how does indymedia slot into 
the blogsphere - technically, socially, politically? Or doesn't it, and 
should it? Local nodes in a global network - conflicts and 
collaborations. Organising Indymedia - Punk or NGO? Indymedia is Free 
Software. Indymedia - the movement's photoalbum or CNN's competitor 
(Urbana-Champaign)? Indymedia - interfacing physical and virtual spaces.

The first knowledge lab meeting was organised in "sessions", with 
plenaries spread across the meeting. A session was usually 2 hours long. 
I went to one that was put together by the people who made short 
contributions under one shared theme.
The second knowledge lab will also include some boxes and i guess we 
could contribute or use them in some way.

We could collect the topics that are bothering us at the moment, work 
out some short, discussion-inducing thesis/papers, and use the lancaster 
hacklab meeting to discuss indymedia issues amongst each other and with 
other people who know their stuff. We have the questions, we have the 
experience, we have a need to discuss our project - let's go for it!

I propose to collect issues and people who could introduce (alone, in 
groups...) them so that we can send a proposal to the knowledgelab 
people pretty soon.

Here is the call:


CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS, INTERVENTIONS AND COLLABORATION

Hacklab: Technology, Creativity, Social Organisation
A weekend gathering for collaborative and creative reflection
February 3/4/5 – 2006
Institute for Advanced Studies
Lancaster University, North West England.

We are happy to invite you to the “Hacklab”, which is a follow-up event 
to “Making Global Civil Society” (Lancaster, November 4/5/6). It is 
hosted at and with the support of the Institute for Advanced Studies 
(IAS) at Lancaster University by the “Counter Knowledge Lab Collective”. 
For information about hacklabs in general, see www.hacklab.org.uk. Since 
the gathering will be defined by those who get involved in preparing it, 
the following are merely suggestions, but the idea is to create topical 
and themed spaces alongside timetabled sessions.

We imagine talks and discussions about things like:

*technology and social organisation, such as novel “management” and 
organisation within free software projects or hacklabs, as well as DIY media
*freedom of information & communication and related social, political, 
or cultural movements
*digital divides and tribal connections
*free hardware?
*the EU Software Patent Directive (swpat.ffii.org) as enclosure
*feminism and information technology
*primitivism (as a technology?)
*organic composition in music and elsewhere?
*psychedelic technologies

Additionally, we hope to create spaces for hands-on workshops, such as:

*how to use Free Software for everyday purposes, such as emailing 
(Thunderbird, Evolution), web
*installation of GNU/Linux operating systems (to “dual-boot” with or to 
replace MS Windows) surfing (Firefox), text writing (OpenOffice.org) and 
photo manipulations (GIMP)
*using the command line interface: the basics
*learning (to write) code: from sys-admin scripts to wherever your 
skills may take you
*system security, privacy, encryption, set up a “safe” computer network 
at home or at work
*women demystifying the box: understanding components to repair hardware 
and install software
*recycle computers: provide access to the public and for artistic 
installations, such as VJ-ing
*any other hacks

Some people are rumoured to be working on multimedia installations: 
music, video and other forms of altered states of mind. There is also a 
session being planned about how academic research projects can learn 
from grassroots movements' and other cyberspace groups' use of ICT for 
collaborative projects (and knowledge creation) with the view to form a 
collective to provide such services for academic research projects, like 
the www.aktivix.org communiuty server does for political activists. 
Participation is limited to a hundred people. A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TRAVEL 
GRANTS AND FREE ACCOMODATION IS AVAILABLE.
SEND SUGGESTIONS FOR WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, AND PAPERS (MAX. 1 PAGE) TO:
n.moeller at <http://knowledgelab.pbwiki.com/at> lancaster . ac . uk /\ 
get a wiki pwd

Costs, incl. (predominantly organic and vegan) Friday dinner, Saturday 
lunch and dinner:
Volunteers/unpaid activists: Free
Unfunded students: Donation
Funded students, Lancaster academics: £20 (additional donation welcome!)
Representatives of smaller NGOs: £35 (negotiable)
Representatives of bigger NGOs: £65
Academics: £65

http://knowledgelab.pbwiki.com/index.php?wiki=SecondKnowledgeLab
http://knowledgelab.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_knowledgelab_archive.html