The Network as Laboratory of new forms and social collisions? a co-laboratory/a space where chance and order collide? The shifting paradigm of collaboration.
Five years ago we may not have imagined how today's internet would be used. Those were the early days - the primeval forest, messy, chaotic, full of the elements, unforeseen events and creative potential. Is it more interesting now? Are we now at the end or the beginning of the 'network as laboratory': as testbed, a space for social and formal experimentation? Now the internet is a social barbecue, everyone is cooking their own food for their own friends in their own back gardens. Once people find something they enjoy doing they tend to keep doing it. Have we now reached a plateau and have what were once innovations now settled into patterns of informal and familiar use? Can we now see the networked space in itself as a site for experimental research? What new tools and resources might be emerging now? What future developments are on the horizon (grid computing, academic research links, etc)? How might policy frameworks evolve in the context of networked innovation? Let´s look across the the world, at how Chinese social networking sites are being used... let´s look at Overmundo and Orkut use in Brasil. Let´s ask ourselves and others what we expect to see in five or even fifteen years time and how things might develop in the meantime....How might media artists influence next steps? And how much does this matter in an era of ubiquitous creativity? If the network itself is the (co)laboratory then isn´t it best to get in there and roll the sleeves up and make it happen? How can we observe and measure network growth? Are data visualisation tools some of the coolest tricks around? Check out these links http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/ or http://moebio.com/santiago/ or http://spectrumatlas.org/spectrum/ http://rede.metareciclagem.org/livro/english; http://www.overmundo.com.br/ In this workshop, we will
(a) work together in advance of the workshop to gather intelligence about and look at the liveliest uses and abuses of networks today - taking stock of opinion in advance from outside the Walled Garden
(b) within the workshop examine, create and sample some of the ways in which network growth and high speed data exchange is being visualised
(c) build some scenarios for the future - consider how things might be and shift and grow when today's adolescents (who are today's experts) become tomorrows' parents. We´ll also trawl for views from outside the Garden and test scenarios in our group workshopping.
(d) consider the role and position of tdigital artists in the face of socially networked ubiquitous online 'creativity'. What roles do and will artists play in these future laboratories? Will they help make the rules and how will they break them?
Group participants are also invited to help design the rules for the event which we hope will include breaking some of the boundaries between our patch of the allotment and other group adventures! Bronac Ferran |
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The Network as Laboratory |