[spectre] Social Technologies Summit - Futuresonic 2007

[Drew Hemment]

SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGIES
SUMMIT
10-12 May 2007
Contact Theatre
Manchester

The 'ideas strand' of the Futuresonic festival, the Social  
Technologies Summit, brings together leading figures to explore "a  
whole new way of doing things in the air".

In 2007 the Summit returns with a programme that is stronger than  
ever before, with leading figures from around the world converging on  
Manchester for the USE YOUR IMAGINATION one-day event; the  
ENVIRONMENT 2.0 talks and presentations exploring the sustainability  
of future arts and technologies; and the FREE STUDIO session  
introducing the leading figures in the grass roots open source  
movement that is sweeping across Brazil like wild fire and  
captivating the world's imagination.

____

USE YOUR IMAGINATION
http://www.futuresonic.com/07/imagination.html
A part of the Social Technologies Summit

A man falls in slow motion from a high building. Upon impact the  
concrete paving gives way and ripples in concentric waves as it  
absorbs the energy of his fall. There is an idea out there that the  
world is not solid any more. Now that everyone can speak to anyone  
while on the move or open a web page from anywhere, the ground  
beneath our feet is no longer hard, but 'soft', as in 'software'.

We live in an age when the future of the next few hundred years is  
being written. Just as the printing press and the steam engine  
changed history, so the decisions made now about the design of the  
technologies we use will shape our lives tomorrow.

It is not just scientists who are engineering this future, but  
artists and DIY technologists also. And we are now at a moment when  
these ideas are breaking out of small labs and art events. The key  
creative from Saatchi & Saatchi behind the celebrated T Mobile  
adverts featuring 'soft' urban scenes which brilliantly capture these  
concepts will participate alongside figures from art and engineering.

Leading figures from around the world are converging on Manchester  
for Use Your Imagination, a one day event presented by a major new  
research institute called Imagination at Lancaster. This unique event  
begins with the idea that it is for everyone, and with the goal of  
'open sourcing' some of the technologies and concepts that are  
reshaping our lives today.

Followed by a participatory workshop which aims to enable you to find  
your future art/technology partner, plus Manchester's first DORKBOT,  
an open event for people doing strange things with technology.

____

FREE STUDIO
http://www.futuresonic.com/07/freestudio.html
A part of the Social Technologies Summit

There is today a grass roots open source movement that is sweeping  
across Brazil like wild fire and captivating the world's imagination.

A high profile session coinciding with the initiation of a local  
Estudio Livre (Free Studio) in Manchester, based on the Brazilian  
model, will be headed by Claudio Prado.

Claudio Prado (Brazil), 63 is the leading figure in the Brazilian  
movement. He was deeply involved in the countercultural movement in  
1960's London - he was one of the organizers of the first Glastonbury  
Festival, and was involved in the launch of the International Times  
and of the first format of Time Out. In London he met the musician  
Gilberto Gil, now Culture Minister of Brazil, with whom he has had a  
lifetime friendship.

Claudio is now in a unique position, working in a very new frontier  
between government and media activists running the Digital Culture  
Department of the Ministry of Culture of Brazil. He is the man  
responsible for Brazil's involvement in international discussions  
around digital and open source culture, and all its consequences in  
IP regulations, cultural production and identity, creative economy  
and so on. He is also responsible for putting all these concepts into  
practice, through the Pontos de Cultura project - 600 grassroots  
cultural centers spread all around the country that receive a digital  
multimedia production infrastructure and take part in a series of  
meetings and workshops regarding free and open source software for  
multimedia production, open licensing, gift economy and similar  
subjects.

Claudio will be joined by  joined by Cristiano Scabello, a walking  
collision of Brazilian dub sound system and open source activist,  
plus leading open source activists from the UK such as James Wallbank  
(founder of Access Space), and Dave Carter (Head of Manchester  
Digital Development Agency).

Followed by a Manchester Free Studio workshop, focusing on the  
initiation of a local Estudio Livre (Free Studio) in Manchester,  
based on the Brazilian model.

____

ENVIRONMENT 2.0
http://www.futuresonic.com/07/environmenttalks.html
A part of the Social Technologies Summit

Environment 2.0 is a new international initiative seeking to explore  
the sustainability of future arts and technologies. It is a part of a  
3 year project by Futuresonic seeking to minimise the environmental  
impact of the Futuresonic festival and also to explore broader issues  
connecting Futuresonic's interest in mobile and social technologies  
with the new urgency surrounding climate change.

In Environment 2.0 two worlds collide. When the environment is  
mapped, tagged and digitised it becomes navigable, computable and  
manipulable. How can this approach to environment, one which is  
iconic for our times, be reconciled with the need to address climate  
change? How can we, for example, provide mobile devices with new  
"super-senses" and abilities by enabling a wide range of physical  
sensors to be easily attached and used by anyone, especially non- 
experts. Do such technologies offer new opportunities, or do they  
distract from hard choices?

How green is the internet? An email has been circulating about the  
carbon footprint of avatars in the Second Life virtual world. Leading  
environment advocates will unpick such half truths, and outline some  
of the ways people can work together to address climate change.

Followed by a network meeting for Environment 2.0.

____

ARTIST TALKS
http://www.futuresonic.com/07/futurevisual.html

As the main conference strand of the Futuresonic festival, the Social  
Technologies Summit will also host discussions of the festival's  
artistic themes. In 2007 this will involve a talks and presentations  
as a part of Futurevisual, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of  
seminal multi-media events that took place in the halcyon year of  
1967, and brings together legendary figures from the 1960s with some  
of the most cutting-edge AV artists working in the world today.

____

FUTURESONIC 2007
For an overview of the Futuresonic 2007 festival programme
visit http://www.futuresonic.com/07/futuresonic2007

____

DELEGATE PASS
http://www.futuresonic.com/07/bookings.html

Delegate Pass (includes £30 Weekender Wristband)
£45
Student Delegate Pass
£10
++Fixed number of Day Passes available each day on a Pay-What-You-Can  
basis.

The Delegate Pass gives you access to the Social Technologies Summit,
all Futuresonic seminars and talks, and all Futuresonic Live and  
Urban Play
events over the festival weekend.

Conference places limited - advance booking essential.