[re:publica 2013] One

First day of re:publica 2013 is over and I am just about to hit the second. But I wanted to share some impressions on the panels and presentations I attended first.

After a warm welcome by our hosts, I started with a panel on Open Data and Open Government. As I also support Open Access, I sympathize with the idea to give people who paid with their taxes for the gathering of governmental data access to the results. It's the people's administration, not the administration's people after all.

I was also happy to see Yoani Sánchez and hear about her experience of blogging in Cuba. I learned about the possibilities to blog and tweet without internet access (using Flash sticks and SMS) and my disdain for any totalitarian system and the use of censorship to enforce silence on people got a little refreshing.

Some people moved with me from Cuba to Iceland and from censorship to the attempt to built a truly democratic constitution (which failed). Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir shared her experience of being a "plug in" into the political system. Very energetic and very promising, I wish there were lots of EU politicians like her. Unfortunately Iceland is not (yet) part of our union.

Next came the Irish human rights activist Joe McNamee who criticized how big companies actually ignore or shape communication politics which is a deeply undemocratic process. Insightful. There is work to be done.

Now I went from open data to data protection - following the old rule "öffentliche Daten nützen, private Daten schützen" (securing private data, using public data). A lawyer and a programmer staged a vivid discussion on privacy, transparency and encryption.

I was also particularly looking forward to hear Mozilla's Mitchell Baker and her ideas on how to build a web we can trust. And I was more than happy with her presentation - as I usually am with her companies tools and systems.

Last but not least I attended Richard Allen's discussion before taking a long overdue break and meeting fellow re:searchers @ re:publica. There was some final preaching by Mr. Lobo as well. I stayed out of it though.

[googlage] "Merkel sagt..."

1. Merkel sagt Hilfen zu.
2. Merkel sagt die Wahrheit.
3. Merkel sagt Nein.
4. Merkel sagt Teilnahme am UN-Umweltgipfel in Brasilien ab.
5. Merkel sagt Nein zum Einsatz in Libyen.
6. Merkel sagt Nein zum eigenen Energieressort.
7. Merkel sagt Afghanistan Millionenhilfe zu.
8. Merkel sagt Italien-Reise ab und kündigt Erklärung an.
9. Merkel sagt Griechenland umfassende Hilfe zu.
10. Merkel sagt Unterstützung im Kampf gegen Boko Haram zu.
11. Merkel sagt, es ist alles gesagt.

[googlage] "Romney says..."

1. Romney says he turned around Olympics - Did he?
2. Romney says poor people taste like chicken.
3. Romney says no thanks to medicare.
4. Romney says president ignored debt problems.
5. Romney says he likes grits, saying 'y'all'.
6. On Fox, Romney says he is misunderstood.
7. Romney says he would oppose Blunt Bill if it prevented people.
8. Romney says he owns guns - But does he?

9. Romney says Santorum needs 'miracle' to get nomination.


Just catching up with my older googlages these days.

In the once-upon-a-time days of the First Age of Magic, the prudent sorcerer regarded his own true name as his most valued possession but also the greatest threat to his continued good health, for - the stories go - once an enemy, even a weak unskilled enemy, learned the sorcerer's true name, then routine and widely known spells could destroy or enslave even the most powerful. As times passed, and we graduated to the Age of Reason and thence to the first and second industrial revolutions, such notions were discredited. Now it seems that the Wheel has turned full circle (even if there never really was a First Age) and we are back to worrying about true names again.

(Vernor Vinge, True Names, 1981)

"Julian Assange - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Part 2 of 2)"

"Julian Assange - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 (Part 1 of 2)"

"Blogging On A Regular Basis Has Been.."

.. impossible for me during the last months. I finished my degree and worked a lot for the research project I was assisting on. I still observed many things around me though that might pop up later again when I write new posts.

As of now, I decided to break the rule that you have to keep your blog followers happy with frequent posting. I will continue this blog anyways as randomly as I want to. You might find three posts at a time or three weeks without any updates. Time is erratic.

I leave you with several links today - important links, if you follow up on current ICT-related politics. Enjoy engaging with these topics.

"Yoani Sánchez - Oslo Freedom Forum 2010 English/Español"

"Transmediale 10 - Ushahidi And Wolfram|Alpha"

This years media art and politics festival was titled "Futurity Now". This refers to the concept of atemporality presented by speakers such as Bruce Sterling or Alexander Rose. They somehow refuse chronology and propose concurrence as the new world view, struggling to get rid of the ghosts of postmodernity. Main claim was that we do not live in a multi-cultural but in a multi-temporal society.

More interesting to me was the panel discussing the "Ideologies and Futures of the Internet", with the keynote from Conrad Wolfram (Wolfram|Alpha) and interesting presentations from Joy Tang and Juliana Rotich about the use of mobile technology in Africa.

The final panel, "Liquid Democracies", went even further than the first one and explained how network cultures show that there is no longer an outside world, that we live in an age of aspatiality and atemporality - but with a lot of neofeudalism going on within the net. The next talk opposed this, describing the collecitve as control authority using social media to generate micropublics.

The most promising project presented is the F/OSS based crowdsourcing site Ushahidi. It is a platform that allows anyone to gather distributed data via sms, email or web and visualize it on a timeline. This is especially helpful for crisis response and in my opinion quite promising as a counterweight to the lies that come to the world public via the filters of embedded journalism.

[Googlage] "Westerwelle Says"

Ladies and oh-so-gentle men.. we have a new government and I cannot spare you todays truths.

Here is another one of my long lost in the void and almost (almost...) forgotten Googlages. Enjoy the show with our new Foreign Affairs Minister.

Westerwelle says the Free Democrats are now keeping all options open.

Westerwelle says that he will not sign the coalition agreement without significant tax cuts.

Westerwelle says free markets can kickstart the economy.

Westerwelle says he is willing to extend the talks.

Westerwelle says he will sign no coalition agreement without it.

Westerwelle says its time to turn the page on a new chapter in relations between Germany and the Grand Duchy.

Westerwelle says he is willing to extend the talks to introduce drastic reforms.

Westerwelle says his party is willing to be the junior partner in a coalition government with the Christian Democrats.

Westerwelle says tax reforms are the way to go.

Westerwelle says the Free Democrats are now keeping all options open.

"Remember, Remember..."

... the fifth of November."

It's Guy Fawkes Night again and I am wondering how many people know the original story behind all the bonfires and how many just got a glimpse of it from the V comics.
Apparently history needs not only to be written to be remebered, but also to be nicely re-written (as in those fantastic comic books) to remain within cultural memory. The process of actively reproducing stories seems to be as important as getting them told by someone else - which links us back to older oral cultures who depended on telling and re-telling stories as well.

As of now, I am not telling you more about Guy Fawkes, I am going to watch the movie tonight.

I leave you with this:

"Autumn on Suomenlinna"

"[NYC 1920s]: Edward Hopper, Automat, 1927"

Edward Hopper, Automat, 1927
Ursprünglich hochgeladen von Gatochy

Working on 1920s America these days - focussing on NYC. First impression.

"Keeping It Floral In Berlin"

"Memory And Symbolism Bubbling Up Again"

The experienced spiral traveller.

"Iran IV"

"Iran III"

http://twitter.com/persiankiwi

"Iran II"

"In a nationally televised speech in Iran today, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei ordered his countrymen not to stage further protests, warning the nation, "I am following you all on Twitter."

To back up his words, the Supreme Leader then displayed his Twitter account page, showing that he was indeed following 65,875,224 people, but had only one follower, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Ayatollah's announcement sent a chill up the spines of opposition leaders, most of whom assumed that the Supreme Leader did not have a Twitter account.

"You mean he's been reading all my tweets?" said opposition organizer Mohsen Sobhi. "Oh, shit.""

Andy Borowitz

"Animal Magnetism"

Been to the Tierpark lately, a huge zoo in the East of the city. One of Europe's largest. And definitely a nice one. Not sure about quality of animal caring, but I assume there are EU regulations concerning animal rights. Hope so. Anyhow, nice day. I am so identifying with that lovely pondering ape snapshot. ;) - Well, the owl suits me, too O.o.

Oh - and more on New Media soon, as I will attend a conference on social networking, responsibility and so on next Wednesday, which I expect to be highly critical and biased, as most speakers are either neo-liberals or conservatives. It's gonna be FUN!

But first a dark weekend in Leipzig ... .