dmz-arty-techie-event in Limehouse Townhall, London this friday and saturday.
Very nice setting, along the lines of previous events like the ntk/mute festival of inappropriate technology. Limehouse Townhall is decorated with an eye for detail - the colour-bar of the dmz wiki is repeated on banners and window-transparencies, even the banisters are wrapped in coloured ribbons.
The main hall is a buzzing forum of exhibits, screens, mingling people, strange music. Hidden in an upstairs backroom a coffee launge, just the right space to escape from the activity elsewhere. Turkish mint tea, peace and quiet, some snacks. The programme - a photocopied A4 page with very few entries. These discussions and presentations happen in a rather small side-room with almost no air-circulation. The windows are taped off with black paper, so that the projected images would be visible - one has to set priorities sometimes!
An essay london.zip about the background of this type of events in London is printed on the backside of the dmz-poster, definitely worth reading!
There was a small workshop about the We Seize events around the World Summit of the Information Society. Check the We Seize Twiki for the presentation and details about a range of activities.
"We Seize" and the implications of the World Summit of Information Society were also mentioned during a panel discussion on Wireless Networks. The main part of this panel was about exciting wireless gadgets and their potential community use. It seems that Wireless is moving on from the geeky phase into a phase of wider appropriation, both from a business and a community standpoint. Everybody seemed to agree that the political framework that allows for unlimited wireless use is worth defending. It was also clear that it would be rather easy for governments to start licencing the frequences that are used for wireless technology.
The "We seize" gathering (December 8-13) in Geneva and many online places will be a space to discuss ways to defend or extend what we have and what we need for the buzzing, creative, forwardpushing, playful activities that were displayed during the dmz event.
Very nice setting, along the lines of previous events like the ntk/mute festival of inappropriate technology. Limehouse Townhall is decorated with an eye for detail - the colour-bar of the dmz wiki is repeated on banners and window-transparencies, even the banisters are wrapped in coloured ribbons.
The main hall is a buzzing forum of exhibits, screens, mingling people, strange music. Hidden in an upstairs backroom a coffee launge, just the right space to escape from the activity elsewhere. Turkish mint tea, peace and quiet, some snacks. The programme - a photocopied A4 page with very few entries. These discussions and presentations happen in a rather small side-room with almost no air-circulation. The windows are taped off with black paper, so that the projected images would be visible - one has to set priorities sometimes!
An essay london.zip about the background of this type of events in London is printed on the backside of the dmz-poster, definitely worth reading!
There was a small workshop about the We Seize events around the World Summit of the Information Society. Check the We Seize Twiki for the presentation and details about a range of activities.
"We Seize" and the implications of the World Summit of Information Society were also mentioned during a panel discussion on Wireless Networks. The main part of this panel was about exciting wireless gadgets and their potential community use. It seems that Wireless is moving on from the geeky phase into a phase of wider appropriation, both from a business and a community standpoint. Everybody seemed to agree that the political framework that allows for unlimited wireless use is worth defending. It was also clear that it would be rather easy for governments to start licencing the frequences that are used for wireless technology.
The "We seize" gathering (December 8-13) in Geneva and many online places will be a space to discuss ways to defend or extend what we have and what we need for the buzzing, creative, forwardpushing, playful activities that were displayed during the dmz event.
