Including:

social progressives, thinkers, doers, visionaries,
hackers, activists, artists, musicians, academics,
scientists, professors, engineers, philosophers,
performers, anyone-who-is-doing-cool-projects.

As an incentive to get up so early on a saturday morning,
we'll be serving everyone who arrives early with a free,
delicious meal.

And, to top if off, after the conference, there'll be a
party-till-dawn with 6 live bands in the main gallery and
film screenings in the cinema next door!

-/-

WTF is based upon open space, and is thus self-organising
(everyone proposes sessions at the start of the day, and
people go to whichever ones they like), and pretty fun,
thanks to the law of 2 feet (which states that if you are
at any point, neither benefiting others nor yourself,
then, use your two 2 feet to get the hell out of there..)

There'll be a virtual linkup through the web-chat (IRC)
with one wall dedicated to IRC projection; and wireless
(wi-fi) access; each session will be summarised live onto
a wiki; a printed magazine will be produced in the evening
from the various summaries...

And, most importantly, there'll be lots and lots of
interesting people/ideas/projects.

Venue:

491 Gallery, 491 Grove Green Rd
Leytonstone, London E11, UK

Leytonstone Tube : Eastbound central line (red one)
Grove Green exit, 50 yrds left.

 http://tinyurl.com/268xu (streetmap.co.uk map)

For those of you who cannot make it to London, there
will also be a live "virtual" linkup to the event.

Just point your browser @  http://webirc.espnow.net
and join in the fun!

For those of you that know IRC, the above is
equivalent to: irc.freenode.net, #esp

And, on the day itself, you can also listen to an
audio stream from:  http://radio.wtfcon.org

Cost:

Pay what you like. Really.

Small Request:

Please add your name to the WTF site @
 http://wtfcon.org/coming_to_wtf2

This will allow us to prepare enough food/drinks =)

Info:

 http://wtfcon.org | +44 (0) 7719 615 413

Join in and help us organise via the live web-based
chat @  http://webirc.espnow.net

-------------------------------------------------
# What is WTF?! : The hype
-------------------------------------------------

WTF is many things to many people.

Some have described it as "yet another good excuse to get
drunk on a saturday afternoon". (And, yes, we will have
good cheap beer to go with the free food and the cake).

Others have described it as "a conference of emerging memes
(foafy-crypto-socio-semantic-economic-media-activist-style)
empowered with technology (wi-fi, wikis, audio feeds, irc)".

And, some nutcase described it as "a mental orgy with lots
of passionate, bright, talented, and friendly young things
working towards affecting real, positive change".

But, don't believe the hype. Come find out for yourself.

-------------------------------------------------
# Who comes to WTFs?
-------------------------------------------------

It's pretty hard to nail down the type of people who
come to WTF.

But, if you are interested in just talking, then do not
come. If you are interested in doing something based on
the talk, then, do.

Some of those who have come to our last 2 gatherings
include members of:

- Access for Broadband
Taking on the telecommunications industry to close
the growing digital divide.

- BBC

- Chaordic Commons

- Colombia Solidarity

- Dekspace / Consume

- Espians

- European Creative Forum

- Free2Air
Creating open community wireless networks.

- Green Angels Social Centre

- Greenpeace

- Guerrilla News Network (GNN)

- Indymedia

- Kendra Initiative
Semantic web media application

- Libby Miller
FOAF Goddess

- London Social Forum

- Media/Freedom Hacklab set up by the Wombles

- Michael Linton and Open Money
Founder of LETs and working to create effective
community currency systems.

- Minciu Sodas Laboratory

- New Economics Foundation
One of the few forward-thinking think tanks in the UK.

- Romek Szczesnia
Cryptographer, Music Label, and much more besides.

- Swhack Collective

- The uniteddiversity open organisation
Walking the talk, and working towards a better future.

- World Future Council

-------------------------------------------------
# Why WTF?!
-------------------------------------------------

There are many individuals and organisations that are
working away in their own way to have a positive impact
on the world. However, too often, these people are on
their own, and believe that they are alone.

But truth is, over the course of the last few years,
there has been a substantial increase in the number of
people who understand the key issues and have taken the
leap from merely talking about them to actually doing
something about them.

Some very powerful things can happen if all these people
are brought together and given a chance to interact
and (hopefully) work together.

On a practical level, what this means is an opportunity
to not only spread the good ideas between ourselves, but
to also find good collaborators, supporters and critics.
Together, we have everything we need.

And, most importantly of all, we should be having fun
doing this.

-------------------------------------------------
# The day : an overview
-------------------------------------------------

Here is what the day of WTF 2 will look like:

[Times are in current London Time -- British Summer Time]

11:00 WTF starts

Brunch served to all early arrivals
People are given a tour of the venue

11:30 Wiki/Wifi Wonderland Workshop

12:00 Introductions and exchange of gifts

The WTF Radio will commence broadcasting too

12:30 Session proposals and creation

13:00 (Half hour buffer period for usual delays)

13:30 1st sessions start

14:15 2nd sessions start

15:00 Break

15:15 3rd sessions start

16:00 4th sessions start

16:45 Break (Move to Vertigo Cinema next door)

Magazine production starts

17:00 Keynote and closing session

18:00 Film screenings start

20:00 Party starts! Live bands! DJs! Dancing!

With the exception of the brief wiki/wifi workshop, which
we feel needs to be done to get those new to the game up
to speed, the rest of the WTF is defined entirely by its
participants.

The various sessions and even the movies shown at the film
screenings are all defined by those that are there.

The event itself is to simply act as a support structure
that provides the necessary facilitation to maximise the
effectiveness of people interacting and working together.

-------------------------------------------------
# Remember the Gift!
-------------------------------------------------

We believe that a real gift culture/economy can have a
beneficial impact on our society.

So we ask that you bring, if you want, a gift to give to
others at WTF. It can be anything. A book, a sculpture,
some food, a hard drive, a poem, a peanut.

-------------------------------------------------
# WTF.2 sessions
-------------------------------------------------

At the last WTF, we had the sessions being proposed for
the first time at the event itself. This time, it would
be good to have the sessions proposed beforehand on the
wiki.

Then people will be able to read up on the relevant
materials before the event, and make better use of their
time at WTF.

We could also have have some good discussion on the
session topics too.

Please comment on/propose sessions @

 http://wtfcon.org/wtf2_sessions

-------------------------------------------------
# The day : in detail
-------------------------------------------------

As you can see from the plan above, the day kicks off @
11am with brunch being served and people being given
tours of the venue.

There are 4 important areas to bear in mind:

- Gallery (the main area where we convene)

- Side gallery

- Vertigo cinema

- Oak (upstairs in Vertigo)

Then, the Wiki/Wifi workshop will take place in the main
Gallery whilst everyone arrives. If you already know about
wikis and wifi, then please feel free to do whatever you
please like chatting to the others or perhaps exploring the
venue.

After the workshop, everyone introduces themselves very
briefly and passes on any gift they've brought. There
were about 100 people at the last WTF, so please keep
the introductions short (ideally less than 20 seconds).

Everyone then goes off to chat and come up with session
proposals. And, depending on the response to their
proposal, pick an appropriate slot and room for it.

There are 4 session slots during the day, and upto 4
simultaneous sessions happening in the aforementioned
areas. Giving a total of 16 sessions for the day.

The sessions will be named after the initial letter of
the room/area and the session slot, e.g. S1, S2, S3, S4
for the 4 sessions that will be taking place in the Side
Gallery.

Recommendation:

Many sessions have a lot of overlap, so session
mergers are strongly encouraged.

Once the sessions are agreed upon, everyone goes off to
the various sessions.

Whoever proposed the session normally acts as the session
host, and different hosts use different approaches in
how they do their session. Some do presentations, some
don't. And, most encourage open discussion and a
pro-active focus on the solutions.

Each session will last up to 40 minutes. Feel free to move
around between sessions. There are often lots of very
interesting things being said.

After each session slot, everyone will be reconvened into
the main Gallery area, where the hosts of the next round
of sessions will remind everyone of where their session
will be happening.

Although most sessions are fascinating, there are some
which are very dull. If you find yourself in one, please
don't sit there getting bored out of your mind. Move
elsewhere!

Depending on the number of volunteer session shailars
(summary writers) that we have got, we'll do live write
ups of the various sessions onto the wiki/irc chat.
These summaries will then be edited into a magazine
for everyone to take away at the end of the day.

After the fourth round of sessions, we will fully move
to the Vertigo Cinema next door, whilst preparations for
the party start in the main Gallery.

There, we'll hold a closing circle with a review of
the key points of the day by everyone before the
amazing film screenings start with coverage of various
social/political/technical/fun issues.

After that, everyone can get totally drunk and party
till late at night, or dawn the next morning (depending
on how hardcore they want to be).

-------------------------------------------------
# How much does it cost?
-------------------------------------------------

It's pay what you like.

And, given that we do have a lot of costs to cover (food,
drinks, venue, technical equipment, etc.), you are
encouraged to give as much as you can afford and believe
is reasonable.

One added benefit is that when you come for the WTF, you
don't have to pay entry to the party afterwards.

-------------------------------------------------
# How to get there?
-------------------------------------------------

The address:

491 Gallery, 491 Grove Green Rd
Leytonstone, London E11, UK

It's in London. If you cannot make it to London, then
consider attending via the virtual link-up @

 http://webirc.espnow.net

If you are coming in person, then, hop on the Central
Line (the big red one); head east; and, get off @ the
Leytonstone tube station.

Once at the tube station, turn right towards the
Grove Green Road exit which will take you onto the
main road. Take the left and head about 50 yards down
and you will be at 491 Gallery.

See  http://tinyurl.com/268xu for a streetmap.co.uk
map.

-------------------------------------------------
# The Law of what?
-------------------------------------------------

The Law of Two Feet.

Just in case you missed it in the waffle above, we would
like to remind you of this very important law.

It simply states that:

If you are ever in a WTF session where you are
neither benefiting yourself (e.g. learning) nor
benefiting others (e.g. teaching), then use your
two feet to get the hell out of there to either
another session or to the sunshine outside.

In other words, don't sit there feeling bored and don't
feel embarrased to move around.

-------------------------------------------------
# What's the party gonna be like?
-------------------------------------------------

A night of amazing live music, D.J.s, art and film
by Kings of a Beatless Empire:

Live bands:

Ludo; Mr Burnty Lips; Crayon
Nice White Adults; Motel Hero

D.J.s:

Stefan (Beatz and Breakz)
Eden (Drum & Bass)
Hackney (Indie and Hip Hop)

-------------------------------------------------
# Help Wanted
-------------------------------------------------

Please edit  http://wtfcon.org/wtf2_help_offered if
you can help in some way.

We can always do with more help =)

In particular, we need:

- Volunteers to do live write-ups of the various sessions.

- Volunteers to film the day.

- Projectors (would be nice =)

And, if you have a laptop, then bring it. We'll provide
juice and connectivity.

-------------------------------------------------
# Pedipeace Soho Summit
-------------------------------------------------

Democracy at crossroads.

For more info, see:

 http://wtfcon.org/soho_summit

 http://tav.espians.com/pedipeace/1

 http://tav.espians.com/pedipeace/2

-------------------------------------------------
# Sister Events
-------------------------------------------------

NotCon '04


Sunday 6th June 2004, Imperial College Union
All day, starting from 11am.

-'-

European Creative Forum 3.


Saturday 12th of June, 142 Lea Bridge Road, London
All day, starting from 1pm.

-'-

Wizards of OS 3


10th-12th of June, Berlin
Three day full on conferences about the digital commons.

-------------------------------------------------
# Virtual Linkup
-------------------------------------------------

The most interesting conferences/gatherings always
seemingly end up happening in the furthest part of the
world.

And, most of us don't always have the budget to jet
around at leisure.

(Although, Erol Ziya of Access for Broadband Campaign
and Gregor of the Lena Project/OSCOM did manage to
surprise us for the last WTF by descending from Cyprus
and Switzerland.)

In recognition of this, we've setup a virtual link-up
to make it easy for those not attending in person to
participate and attend via the internet.

This takes the form of a web-based chat system and an
audio stream.

It's pretty easy to get onto. Just point your web
browser at:

 http://webirc.espnow.net

(or, if you know it -- irc.freenode.net #esp)

For example, during the sessions, people could relay
the session details to you, and you could relay your
thoughts and comments back to the session via anyone
who is relaying.

Please note that as part of our transparent and open
practise, the webchat is everyday publically archived
in real time to:

 http://irclogs.espnow.net/esp/index

-------------------------------------------------
# The Shailas and the Magazine
-------------------------------------------------

One of the other key things that we have observed about
conferences/gatherings is that they are not truly open,
if people are not able to participate before, during and
after the day of the event itself.

Consequently, we strive to get the sessions documented in
the form of shailas (summaries) in real-time as they
happen.

At the last WTF, we had the sessions written up into:
 http://wtfcon.org/wtf1_sessions

We are trying to go beyond that with this WTF, and
actually print a full on magazine at the end of the day,
with edited summaries of the day's sessions.

If you have a laptop, and are willing to document the
sessions as they happen, then, please bring your laptop
and add your name to:

 http://wtfcon.org/wtf2_help_offered

Thanks!

-------------------------------------------------
# The mystery of the cake
-------------------------------------------------

If you were at the last WTF, and know who brought the
cake, we'd like to know!

-------------------------------------------------
# And, finally...
-------------------------------------------------

If you've read everything so far, then thank you!

If you like the general vibe from what you've read, then
you should definitely join in @  http://webirc.espnow.net

And, finally, don't forget to add your name to the list @

 http://wtfcon.org/coming_to_wtf2

We need to know how many people to cook for!

See you soon.

--
with love, tav \ founder and producer
 tav@espians.com / wtf :  http://wtfcon.org
_______________________________________________