[spectre] A couple of a talks at Access Space

[Jake Harries]

Hi
There are a couple of talks coming up at Access Space in Sheffield which
might interest list members.
Both events are free and there's no need to book.


Show & Tell Friday 24th Sept 2-4pm

Steve Corbett “The public sphere, Access Space and the hacker work ethic”

He'll be presenting his recently completed Masters dissertation in
Sociological Research at the University of Sheffield. The research is based
on his experiences of participating at Access Space this summer. The paper
looks at the recent history of technological change and is broadly concerned
with the form of society that is being invoked by the advent of the
Internet. Central to this is the role that ICTs and the Internet are playing
in contemporary society. He spent a month conducting research at Access
Space in order to understand how free/libre and open source software can be
utilised in creative and active ways, with social benefits.
Using the public sphere perspective of Jurgen Habermas, the paper asks in
what ways ICTs can be empowering or disempowering, passive or active,
exclusionary or inclusionary, consumerist or prosumerist, dominating or
liberating. The talk will also discuss the hacker
work ethic and argue that the way in which Access Space incorporates the
principles of hacker culture as social practice can challenge the dominant
cult of commodified ICT use.
In conclusion, the ways in which these principles can effect wider social
changes will be discussed. Hopefully, this will provide a stimulating and
critical discussion about the importance of ICTs and the Internet in
everyday life and the possibility of wider social
changes.

Contact for info: jake at access-space.org
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Artist Talk Saturday 9th October 2-4pm
Dominic Smith
“As above, so below”

Dominic will be talking about the nature of free/open source practice
amongst the arts. When artists choose to engage with FLOSS tools,
development environments and processes there is the inevitable consequence
that freedom and openness becomes reflected in their work. As artists engage
with the microcosmos of openly accessible code we find that this exerts and
influence upon macrocosmos of galleries, festivals and related groups. He
will be investigating what factors are necessary for this parallel action,
looking at examples and discussing the motivating factors for artists when
engaging with this process.

http://dominicsmith.info/
Dominic is a founder of the Polytechnic in Newcastle, an organisation
working with a hands-on, open and distributed approach to art & technology.
http://ptechnic.org/


Contact for info: jake at access-space.org

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Jake Harries
Digital Arts Programme Manager
ACCESS SPACE
Unit 1, AVEC Building
3-7  Sidney St
Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK
t: +44 (0) 114 249 5522
w: www.access-space.org
Reg. Charity 1103837
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Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England.
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http://loss.access-space.org/
http://audiotools.lowtech.org
http://www.furtherfield.org/zerodollarlaptop
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