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Dear nettimers, 2594 subs/Regular 1406 subs/Digests ----------------- 4000 subs/TotalThe planet now 'officially' has seven billion people and, as oftoday, four thousand of them are subscribed to <nettime-l>. The listcontinues its slow (at times no-) growth trajectory. It seems likeit's taken just over 6 years to add the last 500 people to the list, as you can see from the last announcement on this matter we sent out in 2005 (see below), but numbers can be deceptive: in that time, the software that runs nettime has become much more precise about weeding out nonfunctional addresses.Every so often we wonder if nettime, as a project, still makes sense.Without fail, when doubts grow, the quality of the discussions picksup and shows once again a desire for exchanges that aren't reduced tohierarchical post-versus-comment formats, 'personalized' social networkmalls, or the prison of 'real-time.'The subscription base has a low but constant churn. Lots are Gmail addresses, of course; but many are academic, often with the telltale numbered username that suggests a transient relationship with the institution -- in a word, students. When so many entities in nettime's 'space' face the false dilemma 'grow or die,' this kind of gradual refresh is, well, very refreshing.For more than 16 years now, nettime has eschewed institutions and moneycompletely. Instead, collective interest and generosity, patience andpersistence have kept it going -- and keep it going.nettime's mod squad (Felix Stalder and Ted Byfield)

Judge Rules Against Privacy and Free Speech in Twitter/WikiLeaks CaseNovember 10, 2011ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal judge in Virginia ruled today that the government can collect the private records of three Twitter users as part of its investigation related to WikiLeaks. The court also refused to unseal or publicly list all orders and other court documents relating to the parties in the case, including orders that may have been sent to other companies besides Twitter.The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation represent Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian and one of the Twitter users whose records were sought by the government.“Internet users don’t automatically give up their rights to privacy and free speech when they use services like Twitter,” said Aden Fine, staff attorney for the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. “The government shouldn’t be able to get this kind of private information without a warrant, and they certainly shouldn’t be able to do so in secret. An open court system is a fundamental part of our democracy, and the very existence of court documents should not be hidden from the public.”Today’s decision was an appeal of rulings made by a magistrate judge."With this decision, the court is telling all users of online tools hosted in the U.S. that the U.S. government will have secret access to their data,” said Jonsdottir. "People around the world will take note, and since they can easily move their data to companies who host it in locations that better protect their privacy than the U.S. does, I expect that many will do so. I am very disappointed in today's ruling because it is a huge backward step for the United States’ legacy of freedom of expression and the right to privacy."Today’s ruling and other information about the case are available online at:http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/twitter-wikileaks-court-order

Full article with illustration and links can be found at:http://limpingmessenger.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/centennial-of-aerial-bombing_primordial_air-power/[…]written on the aerial bombardment centennial day in Phnom PenhTjebbe van Tijen

Most discussions around the influence of the free software philosophy onart tend to revolve around the role of the artist in a networkedcommunity and her or his relationship with so-called open sourcepractices. Investigating why some artists have been quickly attracted tothe philosophy behind the free software model and started to apply itsprinciples to their creations is key in understanding what a free, oropen source, work of art can or cannot do as a critical tool withinculture. At the same time, avoiding a top down analysis of thisphenomenon, and instead taking a closer look at its root properties,allows us to break apart the popular illusion of a global community ofartists using or writing free software. This is the reason why a veryimportant element to consider is the role that plays the license as aconscious artistic choice.Choosing a license is the initial step that an artist interested in analternative to standard copyright is confronted with and this is whybefore discussing the potentiality of a free work of art, we must firstunderstand the process that leads to this choice. Indeed, such adecision is often reduced to a mandatory, practical, convenient,possibly fashionable step in order to attach a "free" or "open" label toa work of art. It is in fact a crucial stage. By doing so, the authorallows her or his work to interface with a system inside which it can befreely exchanged, modified and distributed. The freedom of this work isnot to be misunderstood with gratis and free of charge access to thecreation, it means that once such a freedom is granted to a work of art,anyone is free to redistribute and modify it according to the rulesprovided by its license. There is no turning back once this choice ismade public. The licensed work will then have a life of its own, anautonomy granted by a specific freedom of use, not defined by itsauthor, but by the license she or he chose. Delegating such rights isnot a light decision to make. Thus we must ask ourselves why an artistwould agree to bind her or his work to such an important legal document.After all, works of art can already 'benefit' from existing copyrightlaws, so adding another legal layer on top of this might seemunnecessary bureaucracy, unless the added 'paper work' might in factwork as a form of statement, possibly a manifesto. In this case we mustask ourselves what kind of manifesto are we dealing with, what is itsmessage? What type of works does it generate, what are their purpose andaesthetic?The GNU manifestoIn the history of the creation and distribution of manifestos the roleof printing and publishing is often forgotten or given a secondary role.But, what would have become of the Futurist Manifesto without thesupport of the printing press and the newspaper industry in France andthe rest of Europe? Not much, probably. So it is not without irony thatone of the anecdotes often given to illustrate the motivations ofRichard Stallman to write the GNU Manifesto, the founding text behindthe free software movement, is tightly linked to the story of adefective printer. Indeed, very often, the origin of the document startswith a story about a problem Richard Stallman and some colleagues of hisfaced when Xerox did not give away the driver source code of the printerthey had donated to MIT, preventing the hackers at the lab to modify andenhance it to fit their specific needs. In this case, this particularprinter model had the tendency to jam and the lack of feedback from themachine when it was happening made it hard for the users to know whatwas going on. [1] Beyond the inability to print, and behind what seemsto be a trivial anecdote, this event still remains one of the bestexamples to illustrate the side effects proprietary software can have interms of user alienation. The programmers and engineers that were usingthe printer could have fixed or found a workaround for the jamming, andcontributed the solution to the company and other users. But they weredenied the access to the source code of the software. Such a deadlock isone of the reasons why the GNU manifesto was written. What is unique inthis manifesto, is the idea that software reuse and access should beenforced, not only because it belongs to a long history of engineeringpractice, but also because software has to be free.Looking at the text itself, we can see that the tone and the writingstyle used by Stallman make the GNU Manifesto closer to an artmanifesto, than to yet another programmer's rant or technical guideline.As a matter of fact, we can read through the document and analyse itusing the specific art manifesto traits that Mary Ann Caws has isolatedbased on the study of art manifestos produced during the twentiethcentury. [2] For instance Caws explains that "it is a document of anideology, crafted to convince and convert." This is correct, the GNUmanifesto starts with a personal story, turns it into a generalisationincluding other programmers and eventually involving the reader in thegeneralisation and explaining to her or him how to contribute rightaway. Caws also characterises the tone of manifestos as a "loud genre",and it is not making a stretch to see this feature in the all-capitalrecursive acronym GNU and the way it is introduced to the reader. It isthe first headline of the manifesto and sets the self-referential tonefor the rest of the text, as well as embodying a permanent fingerpointing to what it will never be: "What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix!."Furthermore, she reminds us that the manifesto “does not defend thestatus quo but states its own agenda in its collective concern", whichis what Stallman does with the use of headlines to announce the GNUroad-map and intentions clearly: "Why I Must Write GNU," "Why GNU WillBe Compatible with Unix," "How GNU Will Be Available," "Why Many OtherProgrammers Want to Help," "How You Can Contribute," "Why All ComputerUsers Will Benefit." the GNU Manifesto also instructs its audience onhow to respond to the document with the presence of a final section"Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals" that lists and answerscommon issues that come to mind when reading it. Last but not least,manifestos are often written within a metaphorical framework thatborrows its jargon from military lingo and for many the GNU Manifesto isbeing perceived and presented as a weapon, essential in the war againstthe main players of the proprietary software industry, such asMicrosoft. In fact many hackers saw in the GPL an effective tool in "theperennial war against Microsoft." [3] Thus, when the copyleft principle,the mechanism derived from the GNU manifesto, is introduced in the 1997edition of the Stanford Law Review, it is precisely described as a"weapon against copyright" [4] and not just a 'workaround' or 'hack'.This particular concept of freedom, as it is expressed in the manifesto,is focused on the usage and the users of software. It will eventuallylead to the maintenance by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) of adefinition of free software and the four freedoms that can ensure itsexistence. On top of that, the GNU Manifesto is practically implementedwith the GNU General Public License (GPL), that provides the legalframework to enable its vision of software freedom. It means every workthat is defined by its author as free software, must be distributed withthe GPL. The license itself works as a constant reference to themanifesto, by the way it is affecting the software and its source codedistribution. Every software distributed with the GPL becomes themanifestation of GNU, and the license's preamble is nothing else but analternative text paraphrasing the GNU Manifesto. This preamble is not acreative addition to the license, on the contrary the Frequently AskedQuestions (FAQ) of the FSF even insists that it is an integral part ofthe license and cannot be omitted, thus making form and functioncoincide.Even though the GPL was specifically targeting software, it does nottake long for some people to see this as a principle that could beadapted or used literally in other forms of collaborative works. Asearly as 1997, copyleft is mentioned as a valid framework forcollaborative artworks in which artists would pass "each work from oneartist to another." [5] Of course, this is suddenly brought to ourattention not because of the collaboration itself, but because of itssudden legal validity. Indeed the idea of passing works from one artistto another and encouraging derivative works is nothing new. Forinstance, back in the sixties, mail artists such as Ray Johnson evenused the term "copy-left" in their work, [6] and it was possible on someoccasions to spot the now very popular copyleft icon, an horizontallymirrored copyright logo, marking a mail art publication. In this contextcopy-left was seen as a symbol of "free-from-copyright relationships"with other artists in a way that was "not bound to ideologies".[7] In astrange twist, the use of this term is echoing years later, not withoutcynicism, in some reproductions of Johnson's works which are now stamped"Copyright the estate of Ray Johnson."[8]So why a sudden interest in such practices? Precisely because of thegrowing development of intellectual property in the field of culturalproduction. At the time, under the 1976 copyright act, the onlyrecognised artistic collaborative work was the joint work, in which itis required that all the authors agree that all their contributions aremeant to be merged into one, flattened down, work. This made perfectsense in the context of the print based copyright doctrine but wasclearly not working for digital environments where the romantic visionof the author is dissolved in the complex network of branches, copiesand processes inherent to networked collaboration. This situationprovided much headache to lawyers focused on the copyrighting ofdigitally born works. One of these works is for instance BonnieMitchell's 1996 “ChainArt” project, in which her students and fellowartists were invited to modify a digital image and pass it to someoneelse using a file server. In such a project the whole process and itsdifferent iterations are the work itself, not the final image at the endof the chain. The work exists as a collection of derived, reused andremixed individual elements that cannot be flattened down into onesingle 'joint work' and as a consequence, from a legal perspective,could neither be protected nor credited properly under the limitedcopyright regulations.[9] No surprise then that Heffan picked the ChainArt project as an example of artistic work that could greatly benefitfrom the GPL and the use of copyleft that can encourage "the creation ofcollaborative works by strangers".[10]...and back to the manifestoAlthough this conclusion makes perfect sense legally, it clearlyoverlooks and diminishes the artistic desire to reflect upon the natureof information in the age of computer networks. Many artists adopted theGPL early on, not because of their wish to collaborate with strangers,but instead to augment their work with a statement derived from the freesoftware ideology. For instance Mirko Vidovic used the free softwaredefinition to develop the GNU Art project,[11] in which suddenly, theGPL becomes a political tag, a set of meta data that could be applied toany work of art. By choosing the GPL as a means of creation anddistribution, artists are aiming at implementing an apparatus similar tothe digital aesthetics that Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) had described"as a process of copying […] that offers dominant culture minimalmaterial for recuperation by recycling the same images, actions, andsounds into radical discourse".[12] The weapon against copyright becomesa flagship for the recombining dreams of the digital resistance asenvisioned by CAE. But by directly reusing the GPL, projects such as GNUArt failed none the less to really break through the position ofStallman that refuses to take part in judging if whether or not works ofart should be free.This is why a few lawyers, Mélanie Clément-Fontaine, David Geraud, aswell as artists, Isabelle Vodjdani and Antoine Moreau, felt the need tomake more explicit the artistic context and motivations of a liberatedwork of art by creating the Free Art License (FAL), equivalent to thepopular free software GNU public License and articulated specificallyfor the creation of free art. [13] Suddenly, the license becomes an artmanifesto. In the FAL the rules of copyleft are exposed, they stand ontheir own and enable the artistic creation, not for the sake of creatingbut as a means to produce singular and collective works. What is seen asfreedom is just a very specific definition as envisioned in the GNUmanifesto and that can only exist within the set of rules it represents.Moved to an artistic context, the rules to define freedom become asystem to make art. In the same way that 'cent mille milliards depoèmes' was the 1961 OuLiPo manifestation of creative rules, the freeart license is also a combinative manifesto, one that enables free art.It is not a simple adaptation of the GPL to the French copyright law, itis a networked art manifesto that operates within the legal fabric ofculture.Anyone who respects the rules of the FAL is allowed to play this game.Just like the ludic aspect in OuLiPo's work, and its probable root fromQueneau's flirt with surrealism, artists who start to consciously usethe GPL and the FAL solely for its 'exquisite' properties might start asuperficial relationship with the creative process. Indeed, RaymondQueneau, co-founder of the OuLiPo reminded us already that we should notstop at the process' aesthetics itself because "simply constructingsomething well amounts to reducing art to play, the novel to a chessgame, the poem to a puzzle. Neither saying something nor sayingsomething well is enough, it is necessary that it be worth saying. Butwhat is worth saying? The answer cannot be avoided: what is useful."[14]In other words and adapted to the FAL, the network aesthetics are notenough, their existence must be contextualised and positioned to escapeits fate of a convenient technological and legal framework. This is whyif the game aspect is obvious in the collective works that surround theFAL, we must see beyond the rules that are presented to us to perceivethat such an artistic methodology aims to be an answer to the issueperceived by Chon in the analysis of the “ChainArt” project. Namely, toengage with the fluidity of information and try to turn the clichédattitude of artists towards their unique and immutable contributions toart into a useful game. At the same time the emphasis is put on thecollective nature of production and not community work.The main issue with the intention of the FAL is that unlike the digitalaesthetics modeled by CAE from Lautréamont's ideas,[15] the mechanism ofa free art, against the capitalisation of culture and for the freecirculation of ideas within the network can only work by making themachine responsible for this very same capitalisation legitimate. Whilethe mail art derivatives are happening outside of any obvious legalregulations, the copyleft art is literally hacking the system to reach asymbiosis and establish a kingdom within the kingdom. As a consequencethese political works are very different from the artistic politicsdeveloped after the Russian revolution and World War I. Here, the artistis not an agent of the revolution but the vector of an 'arevolution'. Acopyleft art is in the end not so much a critical weapon but instead acornucopia that operates recursively and only within the frame of itslicense. Artists that are engaging with it, thus turning the license ina shared manifesto, cannot materialise an anti-culture, a counterculture, nor a subculture, they must create their own from scratch.Instead of seeking opposition and destruction of an enemy, they aim atfounding and building.ConclusionIf we look at 1897 Mallarmé's 'Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira lehasard', it is possible to only see it as an interesting visual designexperiment in poetry. This approach misses the reason why this workexists in the first place. By turning art into the gathering andcomposing, even painting of both time and space within a text, itreached the apotheosis of parnassianism and symbolism upon whichmodernism broke through.[16] A similar issue of complex lineage andcontextual information surrounds a document such as the FAL and leads toconcurrent 'raisons d'être.' Indeed, the FAL is not just an 'excercicede style,' it is the embodiment of several elements that are announcingimportant changes in artistic practices: a call to turn legal rules intoa constrained art system, a reflection on the nature of collaborationand authorship in the networked economy, a living archeology of thecreative process by bringing traceability and transparency, andultimately, the mark of an age of copyright and bureaucratic apotheosisthat is pushing artists to develop their practice within theadministrative structure of society and embed it in their creativeprocess.Unfortunately, and this is one of the reasons there is so much confusionand misunderstanding about the use of such licenses by artists andtheoreticians, is that, with such a manifesto where form meets function,once the license is used, it triggers a process of rationalisation thatleads to a fragmentation of the original ideology and intention intodifferent, possibly contradictory, elements: * A toolkit for artists to hack their practice and free themselves from consumerist workflows. * A political statement against the transformation of the digitalculture into what CAE calls the "reproduction and distribution networkfor the ideology of capital". * A legal and technical framework to interface with the currentsystem and support existing copyright law practices. * A lifestyle, and sometimes fashion statement.In practice it is possible for an artist to only see one of these facetsand either ignore or not be aware of the others, making the license asmanifesto multidimensional, open to different interpretations, notunlike the medium it was drafted in: the law.---[1] Sam Williams, Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade forFree Software, ed. Sam Williams (Sebastopol: O'Reilly and Associates,Inc., 2002).[2] Mary Ann Caws, Manifesto: A Century of Isms (Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press, 2000).[3] Ibid. 1, p. 13.[4] Ira V. Heffan, "Copyleft: Licensing Collaborative Works in theDigital Age," in Stanford Law Review, Vol. 49, No. 6 (Jul., 1997), pp.1487-1521.[5] Ibid.[6] "From Mail Art to Net.art (studies in tactical media #3)", McKenzieWark, email on the nettime mailing list,http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0210/msg00040.html.[7] "RYOSUKE COHEN MAIL ART - ENGLISH", accessed May 13, 2011,http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~cohen/info/ryosukec.htm.[8] Ibid. 6.[9] Margaret Chon, "New Wine Bursting from Old Bottles: CollaborativeInternet Art, Joint Works, and Entrepreneurship," in Oregon Law Review,Spring 1996.[10] Ibid. 4.[11] "GNUArt", accessed May 13, 2011, http://gnuart.org.[12] Critical Art Ensemble, "Recombinant Theatre and DigitalResistance," in TDR (1988-), Vol. 44, No. 4 (Winter, 2000), pp. 151-166.[13] "Free Art License 1.3," accessed April 19, 2011,http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en.[14] Constantin Toloudis, "The Impulse for the Ludic in the Poetics ofRaymond Queneau," in Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 35, No. 2(Summer, 1989), pp. 147-160.[15] Ibid. 12.[16] Jacqueline Levaillant, "Les avatars d'un culte: l'image de Mallarmépour le groupe initial de la Nouvelle Revue Française," in Revued'Histoire littéraire de la France, 99e Année, No. 5 (Sept. -Oct.,1999), pp. 1047-1061.a.--http://su.kuri.mu# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets# more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime< at >kein.org

Dear nettimers,it seems like the MIC CHECK, the ritualistic practice of amplifying a speaker's voice in public space through call and response, is now migrating from cities and squares to public (or semi-public) events held by the authorities in various venues. Basically, protesters bring with themselves a text and engage in call and response so as to overcome the amplified voice of authority. A very simple tactic, but quite effective, as you can see from the videos below.The first powerful action that I know of was held at the Panel for Education Policy in New York on October 26:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbmjMickJMAThen Wisconsin governor Scott Walker (the union-buster) was mic-checked at the Chicago's Union League Club on November 3:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oHRdiklTlU&feature=shareAnd yesterday Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann was mic-checked by a group of students in Charleston, SC:http://mountpleasant-sc.patch.com/articles/bachmann-talks-foreign-policy-at-yorktown#video-8403501I can see this spreading so as to become one of the favorite forms of contestation of the Occupy Movement. It would be interesting to know whether someone is working on a social history of the Mic Check.Enjoy,Snafu

This link is to the pre-release HTML version of my new book ImmersionInto Noise. The series publisher is doing a net soft launch (nopublicity) now and then Open Humanities Press in conjunction with theUniversity of Michigan Library's Scholarly Publishing Office is doinga proper publicity campaign soon to coincide with the release of theprint and downloadable e-book versions.Hope that you find it of interest.http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.9618970.0001.001http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/immersion-into-noise.htmlJoseph Nechvatal PhDhttp://www.nechvatal.netblog: http://post.thing.net/blog/244

http://blog.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/11/author-sues-reviewer-over-comments-on-amazon/Author sues reviewer over comments on Amazon11Nov11 – 10:30 amby Alice PurkissA father of three from Nuneaton, UK, appeared in the High Court yesterday to face libel allegations over a book review he wrote on Amazon.Vaughan Jones, 28, appeared at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday for a hearing to defend himself against the libel suit from online entrepreneur Chris McGrath.McGrath, author of “The Attempted Murder of God: Hidden Science You Really Need to Know,” undertook libel action against Jones, after he published a review of the book on Amazon, and comments regarding the book and Mr McGrath himself on Richard Dawkins’s website during September and October 2010. Jones also outed McGrath as the author of the book, which had been written under the pseudonym “Scrooby”.McGrath is not only suing Jones for his allegedly defamatory comments, but Amazon, Richard Dawkins himself, and the Richard Dawkins Foundation.Presided over by His Honour Judge Maloney QC, Jones was joined by legal representation for Amazon and the Richard Dawkins Foundation to ascertain if there is a case to answer.Entrepreneur turned author McGrath believes that Amazon and the Richard Dawkins Foundation did not respond appropriately to the alleged defamatory statements on the respective websites, and thus they are also liable for a defamation suit.John Kampfner, the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, said: “That a family man from Nuneaton can face a potentially ruinous libel action for a book review on Amazon shows how archaic and expensive our libel law is.”Kampfner added that the Libel Reform Campaign, which is underway with English Pen and Sense about Science, is hoping to commit to a bill in the next Queen’s speech to reform the chilling effect libel has on freedom of speech.The hearing continues today

Computational Culture: Double Book Launch and Launch of Computational Culture, a journal of software studiesThursday 8th December 20115.30-7.30pmRoom: New Academic Building, LG01GoldsmithsNew Cross LondonFree, All WelcomeTo Celebrate the launch of the journal Computational Culture, the editorial group presents book launch presentations by Olga Goriunova and Adrian Mackenzie.Computational Culture is an online open-access peer-reviewed journal of inter-disciplinary enquiry into the nature of the culture of computational objects, practices, processes and structures. The journal’s primary aim is to examine the ways in which software undergirds and formulates contemporary life. Computational processes and systems not only enable contemporary forms of work and play and the management of emotional life but also drive the unfolding of new events that constitute political, social and ontological domains. In order to understand digital objects such as corporate software, search engines, medical databases or to enquire into the use of mobile phones, social networks, dating, games, financial systems or political crises, a detailed analysis of software cannot be avoided.Issue One, A Billion Gadget Minds, is published in November: http://www.computationalculture.net/Olga GoriunovaRoutledge Research in Cultural and Media StudiesIn this book, Goriunova offers a critical analysis of the processes that produce digital culture. Digital cultures thrive on creativity, developing new forces of organization to overcome repetition and reach brilliance. In order to understand the processes that produce culture, the author introduces the concept of the art platform, a specific configuration of creative passions, codes, events, individuals and works that are propelled by cultural currents and maintained through digitally native means. Art platforms can occur in numerous contexts bringing about genuinely new cultural production, that, given enough force, come together to sustain an open mechanism while negotiating social, technical and political modes of power.Software art, digital forms of literature, 8-bit music, 3D art forms, pro-surfers, and networks of geeks are test beds for enquiry into what brings and holds art platforms together. Goriunova provides a new means of understanding the development of cultural forms on the Internet, placing the phenomenon of participatory and social networks in a conceptual and historical perspective, and offering powerful tools for researching cultural phenomena overlooked by other approaches.http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415893107/Olga Goriunova is Senior Lecturer in Media Practices at London Metropolitan University, curator of the recent show Funware (Arnolfini, Mu, Baltan) and an editor of Computational Culture.Adrian MackenzieThe MIT PressHow has wirelessness—being connected to objects and infrastructures without knowing exactly how or where—become a key form of contemporary experience? Stretching across routers, smart phones, netbooks, cities, towers, Guangzhou workshops, service agreements, toys, and states, wireless technologies have brought with them sensations of change, proximity, movement, and divergence. In Wirelessness, Adrian Mackenzie draws on philosophical techniques from a century ago to make sense of this most contemporary postnetwork condition. The radical empiricism associated with the pragmatist philosopher William James, Mackenzie argues, offers fresh ways for matching the disordered flow of wireless networks, meshes, patches, and connections with felt sensations.For Mackenzie, entanglements with things, gadgets, infrastructures, and services—tendencies, fleeting nuances, and peripheral shades of often barely registered feeling that cannot be easily codified, symbolized, or quantified—mark the experience of wirelessness, and this links directly to James's expanded conception of experience. "Wirelessness" designates a tendency to make network connections in different times and places using these devices and services. Equally, it embodies a sensibility attuned to the proliferation of devices and services that carry information through radio signals. Above all, it means heightened awareness of ongoing change and movement associated with networks, infrastructures, location, and information.The experience of wirelessness spans several strands of media-technological change, and Mackenzie moves from wireless cities through signals, devices, networks, maps, and products, to the global belief in the expansion of wireless worlds.http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12285Adrian Mackenzie is Reader and Codirector at the Centre for Science Studies at Lancaster University, U.K, author of Cutting Code, software and society and Transductions, bodies and machines at speed and an editor of Computational Culture.Presented by the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of Londonhttp://www.gold.ac.uk/cultural-studies/_________________________________Dr. Matthew FullerDavid Gee Reader in Digital MediaCentre for Cultural StudiesGoldsmiths CollegeUniversity of LondonNew CrossLondon SE14 6NWe: m.fuller< at >gold.ac.ukt: +44 (0)20 7919 7206w: http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cultural-studies/staff/m-fuller.php# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets# more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime< at >kein.org

Hello all.A warm reverie / eulogy from the 'intellectual salon'; 'Kittler and theSirens' Tom McCarthy 9 November 2011http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/tom-mccarthy/kittler-and-the-sirens/-pasted below- <...>http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/tom-mccarthy/kittler-and-the-sirens/Kittler and the SirensTom McCarthy 9 November 2011Tags: theoryIn 2004, after I gave an artist?s talk in a gallery in Berlin, a group ofpeople strode up to speak to me. They were, they told me, followers of themedia theorist Friedrich Kittler, members of his entourage ? or, to give itits semi-official name, the Kittlerjugend. They used this last term notwithout irony; but it was the type of irony that masks seriousness, in theway that Hamlet?s pretending to be mad acts as a cover for him actuallybeing mad. The shoulders of the lead delegate, a charismatic Russian?migr?e named Joulia Strauss, were wrapped in a hand-woven silk shawlbearing a large reproduction of al-Jazeera?s test pattern. My art project,they informed me (it involved a narrative of radio transmission and networkinfiltration), met with their approval ? that is, with the approval of theman himself, or at least (and perhaps equally importantly) of his aura.Great, I said. I?d heard all about Kittler: ?Derrida of the digital age?whose vision combined the circuitry of Lacan?s models for the psyche, andFoucault?s archaeological conception of all knowledge and its systems, withthe material hardware of technological transcription and recording:typewriters, tape recorders, film projectors and their non-analogueoffspring. We all went to a bar. The next day, the Jugenddelegation whiskedme off to a screening, in another gallery, of Debord?s In Girum Imus Nocte.The gallery was operated by a media-activist group called Pirate Cinema;its whole programme was composed of illegally downloaded films. They?d beenhit with a punitive fine for this some months earlier, which the GermanBundeskulturstiftung had paid for them. I asked if Pirate Cinema were partof the Kittlerjugend. No, Strauss said; but they have good relations withthem ? they?re also his former students. And so, she added, are half themembers of the Bundeskulturstiftung?s grants committee.Kittler?s aura seemed to hover over the whole city; by the end of my staythere I wondered whether taxi drivers and Imbiss-stand operators might beprot?g?s or associates as well. He seemed to lurk, invisible, beneath theintersection-points between the worlds of art, philosophy and politics, hisbodily presence transmuted into riffs that multiplied like echoes acrossexhibition catalogue essays and club fliers and general public banter.Whenever I heard someone mention Ovid and feedback loops or H?lderlin andbinary code in the same sentence, I knew that I was listening to themaster?s voice piped down a hotline from the inner sanctuary at Humboldtwhere, like Hegel two centuries before him, he?d established his HQ.A year or so later, back in London, I received another summons from theKittlerjugend: they were decamping, en masse, to the Starr Auditorium atTate Modern, where the London Consortium had convened a symposium onKittler?s work. When I arrived, Strauss, dressed in a catsuit, wasdemonstrating Delphic intervals on a lyre to a bemused English audience,while a colleague at a mixing desk dropped in the odd annotation. Theycleared the stage and the great man himself came on. He looked like aretired porn actor: grey, shoulder-length hair; big moustache; glasses thatframed eyes with a permanent sensual glint in them. He delivered amesmerising lecture on Sappho and Pink Floyd, Heidegger and Wagner, thatlinked classical notions of geometry to Beckenbauer?s mastery of football,nymphs prostrated before godheads to Hendrix?s multiple visitations on hisgroupies. Afterwards, Strauss and her companions introduced me to him, withall the pomp and ceremony (again, sprinkled with irony to disguise itsearnestness) of viziers granting Marco Polo an audience with the Khan.Kittler was charm itself: friendly, indulging, modest. He asked me whetherShakespeare?s work contained motifs of music and transmission; I suggestedAriel?s broadcast to Ferdinand in The Tempest; he thanked me profusely,though of course he would have already known the passage inside out.I still hadn?t read his work at this point. While I was writing C, friendskept telling me I had to check out Gramophone, Film, Typewriter. But I heldoff, not wanting to cloud my primary research on technology and melancholiawith academic ?takes? on the subject. I read it as soon as I?d finishedthough, and boy was it good:What remains of people is what media can store and communicate. What countsare not the messages or the content with which they equip so-called soulsfor the duration of a technological era, but rather? their circuits, thevery schematism of perceptibility.This was not just the new Hegel: even better, it was the anti-Hegel,deliriously following through on his avowal to chase Spirit (Geist) out ofthe Humanities (Geistliche Wissenschaften), to celebrate the poetry ofmateriality and the materiality of poetry. Here was someone who ? at last!? had charted the genealogy, or transmission lines, of writing?s interfacewith bodies, from Sade to Kafka, Marinetti to Pynchon. Most exciting ofall, he lucidly and irrefutably articulated something I?d been tryingineptly to persuade people of for years: that Dracula is a book about theDictaphone.I met him one more time, back in Berlin a year or so later, when I waslaunching the German edition of Remainder. Five minutes before my readingin the Volksb?hne?s Red Room, the Jugend swept in and formed a pocket intowhich he slipped, to a gasp from the audience. The box office refused tolet him pay: I think the cashier was a former student; I know my publicistwas. Kittler nodded approvingly when I mumbled, in response to a questionabout my novel?s pairing of trauma and repetition, something about Freudhaving a mechanical conception of our psychic apparatus ? a point he?d madetwenty years previously.Afterwards, he told me he?d been testing out the Sirens episode in theOdyssey. He took the three most prominent sopranos from the German NationalOpera and placed them on the very rocks on which Homer locates them (thesecan be identified with total accuracy, he assured me) and, instructing themto sing, had himself conveyed past them in a yacht, to see if they couldactually be heard. The rocks, he explained, don?t drop directly down intothe sea but slope in with a shallow incline that makes it impossible forboats to pass close by. The singers were inaudible.Maybe there?s more other noise now, I suggested: aeroplanes, motorboats,general modern static. Not at all, he insisted: the spot is extremelyisolated; there?s no noise pollution there at all. ?Which means,? heconcluded, ?that Homer was deliberately setting a false trail: what he?stelling us between the lines is that Odysseus disembarked, swam to therocks and fucked the sirens.? Maybe he?d been a porn actor after all. Iasked who?d funded the project. The Bundeskulturstiftung, he said. Can youimagine the Arts Council, with its craven adherence to government criteriaof ?productiveness? and ?outcomes?, footing the bill for such a venture?Not long afterwards, Strauss sent a hand-woven shawl to my newborndaughter. Lines from H?lderlin?s Bread and Wine were embroidered on it: wozu Dichter in d?rftiger Zeit? Aber sie sind, sagst du, wiedes Weingotts heilige Priester, Welche von Lande zu Land zogen in heiligerNacht. what use are poets in desolate times?But they are, you say, like the high priests of the Wine God, Who wanderedfrom country to country in the sacred night.When I thanked her by email, she replied with three words: ?Deutschlandwird Griechisch!? (?Germany becomes Greek!?) We corresponded again lastmonth, after Kittler?s death. ?The arrival of the gods,? she said, ?tookplace after the four machines that kept him alive were turned off.? He?dgiven the command himself: his last words were ?Alle Apparate auschalten? ?switch off all apparatuses.

[hi nettimers, here's what a blogger in the huffington post had to say about spacebank. there's a new infomercial on <http://spacebank.org>, and you can also open an account there, if anyone's interested. saludos. / i.] Artist Brings Virtual Currency to Occupy Wall Streethttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/amelia-marzec/artist-brings-virtual-cur_b_1080436.html"Money is one of the most intimate things there is. I might give you the contents of my wallet, but I won't give you access to my bank account."Meet Fran Ilich, a media artist and activist who started his own investment bank six years ago with nothing more than server space. On the eve of Bank Transfer Day, he sits with me in the dimly lit kitchen of Eyebeam Art and Technology Center where he is a fellow, to discuss the Spacebank and how he ended up at Occupy Wall Street.The bank is a complex nano-macro economy that includes funds and eleven virtual enterprises that can be traded in a stock exchange. Ilich has set a virtual currency, the Digital Material Sunflower, designed to help people achieve their goals.The Spacebank began when, as a student, Ilich experienced a strike in his native Mexico against a resolution for privatized education. It hit a high point when a classmate decided to take over the school and drove off with all the equipment in the computer lab. As the students kept striking, Ilich realized they had to stop and acknowledge money. That through their passion they were forgetting about paying rent. It was time to act rationally.He started a server to regulate and keep track of the money that was coming in and going out. He had to regulate RAM consumption, hard disc consumption, and pay for bandwidth as more people came to the site. "The money I put in there was already lost. I would have spent it on a pack of cigarettes, a beer..."Years later, he is in the process of setting up one of his commodities, which consists of a tiny vending machine selling Homies. He has been collaborating with Kaho Abe, another fellow at Eyebeam, on the design of an ATM machine from a hacked magnetic card dispenser. The machine will convert dollars to his virtual currency.Through mimicking capitalism, Ilich questions how we can subvert the existing financial system. He has expressed an interest in opening a branch of the Spacebank at Occupy Wall Street, and has been there often, telling folks that they can avoid giving money to the banking system by starting their own bank. Ilich is most fascinated by the library at Occupy Wall Street, which is distributing books like a publishing company. His latest book, Otra Narrativa es Posible, will be available later this year from the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam.He has been offered donations for the bank that he turned down, wanting people to open actual accounts. "No donations, I'm sorry. If you open an account, then we have a relationship." Despite the importance of the movement, he has remained critical. There's so much capital flowing though Zuccotti Park that it can negate a sense of being anti-capitalist."Years ago it was clear to me that the actual revolution would be financial," he says. "Don't hate the banks, become the banks."

Call for Contributions/AbstractsCritique, Democracy, and Philosophy in 21st Century information Society. Towards Critical Theories of Social Media.The Fourth ICTs and Society-ConferenceUppsala University. May 2nd-4th, 2012.http://www.icts-and-society.net/events/uppsala2012/http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/CfA.pdfA unique event for networking, presentation of critical ideas, critical engagement, and featuring leading critical scholars in the area of Critical Internet Studies and Critical Studies of Media & Society.Confirmed Keynote Speakers* Andrew Feenberg (Simon Fraser University, Canada): Great Refusal and Long March: How to Use Critical Theory to Think About the Internet.* Charles Ess (Aarhus University, Denmark): Digital Media Ethics and Philosophy in 21st Century Information Society* Christian Christensen (Uppsala University, Sweden): WikiLeaks: Mainstreaming Transparency?* Christian Fuchs (Uppsala University, Sweden): Critique of the Political Economy of Social Media and Informational Capitalism* Graham Murdock (Loughborough University, UK): The Peculiarities of Media Commodities: Consumer Labour, Ideology, and Exploitation Today* Gunilla Bradley (KTH, Sweden): Social Informatics and Ethics: Towards a Good Information Society* Mark Andrejevic (University of Queensland, Australia): Social Media: Surveillance and Exploitation 2.0* Nick Dyer-Witheford (University of Western Ontario, Canada): Cybermarxism Today: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in 21st Century Capitalism* Peter Dahlgren (Lund University, Sweden): Social Media and the Civic Sphere: Perspectives for the Future of Democracy* Tobias Olsson (Jönköping University, Sweden): Social Media Participation and the Organized Production of Net Culture* Trebor Scholz (New School, USA): The Internet as Playground and Factory* Ursula Huws (University of Hertfordshire, UK): Virtual Work and the Cybertariat in Contemporary Capitalism* Vincent Mosco (Queen’s University, Canada): Marx is Back, but Will Knowledge Workers of the World Unite? On the Critical Study of Labour, Media, and Communication Today* Wolfgang Hofkirchner (Vienna University of Technology, Austria): Potentials and Risks for Creating a Global Sustainable Information SocietyConference TopicThis conference provides a forum for the discussion of how to critically study social media and their relevance for critique, democracy, politics and philosophy in 21st century information society.We are living in times of global capitalist crisis. In this situation, we are witnessing a return of critique in the form of a surging interest in critical theories (such as the critical political economy of Karl Marx, critical theory, etc) and revolutions, rebellions, and political movements against neoliberalism that are reactions to the commodification and instrumentalization of everything. On the one hand there are overdrawn claims that social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, mobile Internet, etc) have caused rebellions and uproars in countries like Tunisia and Egypt, which brings up the question to which extent these are claims are ideological or not. On the other hand, the question arises what actual role social media play in contemporary capitalism, power structures, crisis, rebellions, uproar, revolutions, the strengthening of the commons, and the potential creation of participatory democracy. The commodification of everything has resulted also in a commodification of the communication commons, including Internet communication that is today largely commercial in character. The question is how to make sense of a world in crisis, how a different future can look like, and how we can create Internet commons and a commons-based participatory democracy.This conference deals with the question of what kind of society and what kind of Internet are desirable, what steps need to be taken for advancing a good Internet in a sustainable information society, how capitalism, power structures and social media are connected, what the main problems, risks, opportunities and challenges are for the current and future development of Internet and society, how struggles are connected to social media, what the role, problems and opportunities of social media, web 2.0, the mobile Internet and the ubiquitous Internet are today and in the future, what current developments of the Internet and society tell us about potential futures, how an alternative Internet can look like, and how a participatory, commons-based Internet and a co-operative, participatory, sustainable information society can be achieved.Questions to be addressed include, but are not limited to:* What does it mean to study the Internet, social media and society in a critical way? What are Critical Internet Studies and Critical Theories of Social Media? What does it mean to study the media and communication critically?* What is the role of the Internet and social media in contemporary capitalism?* How do power structures, exploitation, domination, class, digital labour, commodification of the communication commons, ideology, and audience/user commodification, and surveillance shape the Internet and social media?* How do these phenomena shape concrete platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc?* How does contemporary capitalism look like? What is the role of the Internet and social media in contemporary capitalism?* In what society do we live? What is the actual role of information, ICTs, and knowledge in contemporary society? Are concepts like network society, information society, informational capitalism, etc adequate characterizations of contemporary society or overdrawn claims? What are the fundamental characteristics of contemporary society and which concept(s) should be used for describing this society?* What is digital labour and how do exploitation and surplus value generation work on the Internet? Which forms of exploitation and class structuration do we find on the Internet, how do they work, what are their commonalities and differences? How does the relation between toil and play change in a digital world? How do classes and class struggles look like in 21st century informational capitalism?* What are ideologies of the Internet, web 2.0, and social media? How can they be deconstructed and criticized? How does ideology critique work as an empirical method and theory that is applied to the Internet and social media?* Which philosophies, ethics and which philosophers are needed today in order to understand the Internet, democracy and society and to achieve a global sustainable information society and a participatory Internet? What are perspectives for political philosophy and social theory in 21st century information society?* What contradictions, conflicts, ambiguities, and dialectics shape 21st century information society and social media?* What theories are needed for studying the Internet, social media, web 2.0, or certain platforms or applications in a critical way?* What is the role of counter-power, resistance, struggles, social movements, civil society, rebellions, uproars, riots, revolutions, and political transformations in 21st century information society and how (if at all) are they connected to social media?* What is the actual role of social media and social networking sites in political revolutions, uproars, and rebellions (like the recent Maghrebian revolutions, contemporary protests in Europe and the world, the Occupy movement, etc)?* How can an alternative Internet look like and what are the conditions for creating such an Internet? What are the opportunities and challenges posed by projects like Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, Diaspora, IndyMedia, Democracy Now! and other alternative media? What is a commons-based Internet and how can it be created?* What is the role of ethics, politics, and activism for Critical Internet Studies?* What is the role of critical theories in studying the information society, social media, and the Internet?* What is a critical methodology in Critical Internet Studies? Which research methods are needed on how need existing research methods be adapted for studying the Internet and society in a critical way?* What are ethical problems, opportunities, and challenges of social media? How are they framed by the complex contradictions of contemporary capitalism?* Who and what and where are we in 21st century capitalist information society? How have different identities changed in the global world, what conflicts relate to it, and what is the role of class and class identity in informational capitalism?* What is democracy? What is the future of democracy in the global information society? And what is or should democracy be today? What is the relation of democracy and social media? How do the public sphere and the colonization of the public sphere look like today? What is the role of social media in the public sphere and its colonization?The conference is the fourth in the ICTs and Society-Conference Series (http://www.icts-and-society.net). The ICTs and Society-Network is an international forum that networks scholars in the interdisciplinary areas of Critical Internet Studies, digital media studies, Internet & society studies and information society studies. The ICTs and Society Conference series was in previous years organized at the University of Salzburg (Austria, June 2008), the University of Trento (Italy, June 2009) and the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (Spain, July 2010).About Uppsala, Uppsala University and the Department of Informatics and Media:Uppsala University (http://www.uu.se) was founded in 1477 and is the oldest university in the Nordic countries. Every year 45 000 undergraduate and graduate students enroll for classes. Uppsala is an academic and students-oriented city with old academic tradition. The Department of Informatics and Media (http://www.im.uu.se) is a newly established institution at Uppsala University. Its research focuses on understanding and designing digital media in the information society. Among its educational programmes is a new master’s programme in Digital Media & Society that will start in August 2012.Early May is a particularly nice time to come and visit Uppsala. It is the time of spring festivities and the awakening of nature and the city. The end of April has since medieval times been a time of celebrating the spring, especially in Eastern Sweden. Uppsala and especially Uppsala’s students have participated in this tradition, especially on the last of April (“sista april”, Valborg, http://www.valborgiuppsala.se/en) that features various celebrations and special activities all over the town.Time Plan:February 29th, 2012, 17:00, Central European Time (CET): Abstract Submission DeadlineUntil March 11th, 2012: information about acceptance or rejection of presentationsMarch 30th, 2012, 17:00, CET: registration deadlineMay 2nd-4th, 2012: Conference, Ekonomikum, University of Uppsala, Kyrkogårdsgatan 10, UppsalaAbstract Submission:a) For submission, please first register your profile on the ICTs and Society platform:http://www.icts-and-society.net/register/b) Please download the abstract submission form:http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/ASF.doc ,insert your presentation title, contact data, and an abstract of 200-500 words. The abstract should clearly set out goals, questions, the way taken for answering the questions, main results, the importance of the topic for critically studying the information society and/or social media and for the conference.Please submit your abstract until February 29th, 2012, per e-mail to Marisol Sandoval: marisol.sandoval< at >uti.atOrganizer:Uppsala University, Department of Informatics and Media, Kyrkogårdsgatan 10, Box 513, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden http://www.im.uu.seContact for academic questions in respect to the conference:Prof. Christian Fuchs, christian.fuchs< at >im.uu.se , Tel +46 18 471 1019Contact for questions concerning conference organization and administration:Marisol Sandoval, marisol.sandoval< at >uti.atCo-organizers:* ICTs and Society Network* European Sociological Association – Research Network 18: Sociology of Communications and Media Research* tripleC – Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society* Unified Theory of Information Research Group (UTI), Austria* Department of Information and Media Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark* Institute for Design & Assessment of Technology, Vienna University of Technology, Austria* Jönköping University, School of Education and Communication, SwedenConference Board and Organization Committee:Charles Ess, Aarhus UniversityChristian Christensen, Uppsala UniversityChristian Fuchs, Uppsala University + UTI Research GroupGöran Svensson, Uppsala UniversityMarisol Sandoval, Unified Theory of Information Research GroupSebastian Sevignani, Unified Theory of Information Research GroupSylvain Firer-Blaess, Uppsala UniversityThomas Allmer, Unified Theory of Information (UTI) Research GroupTobias Olsson, Jönköping UniversityVerena Kreilinger, Unified Theory of Information Research GroupWolfgang Hofkirchner, Vienna University of Technology + UTI Research GroupWelcome to Uppsala in Spring 2012!# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets# more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime< at >kein.org

Folks, I found out a few days ago that there is a new reality show onChannel 4 called "Go Greek for a Week" apparently mocking the wayGreek society operates [1], [2].The first thing that needs to be said, without a doubt many things inGreece need fixing, but then again same thing can be said about prettymuch any other country--with the exception perhaps of [put your prefhere].Also we should mentioned that reality shows seem something of a crazeon British TV [3]. These vary from the mildly useful to the ridiculus[4], [5], [6].One way to explain this proliferation is the cost of the shows whichinvolves in many cases a camera and a commentator following theaction. Seems to me that is a serious consideration given the move ofaudience towards the Web.But the cost alone is not enough imo. We need to situate reality showswithin the general strategy of the elite to educate, influence, andcontrol the British people.This strategy does not involve only reality shows but media ingeneral. Films are interesting because there was heavy Britishinvolvement in Hollywood from early on and continues to this day. Itis very instructive for the students of propaganda how modern dayBritain is represented on Hollywood films as the place for Americansto go and find something real / clean / pure, a place where they candiscover their origins.There are a number of films that follow this idea and perhaps studentsof film theory can research this idea further, but let me mention avery famous example: Notting Hill [7]. Any student of propagandashould watch this film again from this angle.What I am suggesting in no uncertain terms is that the 'educative'aspect of the reality shows and the 'Britain as a pure place oforigins' pattern are two aspects of the same elitist strategy toinfluence, manipulate and ultimately control their own people.So in conclusion, my Greek compatriots should not be feel offended toomuch from British reality shows because the we are not really thetarget here, rather Greece is used as a mechanism by which Britishpeople are trained towards 'acceptable' behavior.So despite the problems in Greece we still have a chance to make amore egalitarian society, in contrast to Britain where there is somuch well organized and efficient control and manipulation.my 0.02 (bits)RegardsS. (Sam) Kritikos__________________________________Resources[1] Go Greek for a Week - Channel 4http://www.channel4.com/programmes/go-greek-for-a-week[2] Now British Reality TV Is Mocking The Way Greek People Live Their Liveshttp://www.businessinsider.com/go-greek-for-a-week-2011-11[3] Category:British reality television serieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:British_reality_television_series[4] How Clean Is Your House?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Clean_Is_Your_House%3F[5] Don't Get Done, Get Domhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Get_Done,_Get_Dom"helps consumers get good deals when purchasing goods"[6] How to Get Luckyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Get_Lucky[7] Notting Hill (1999)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125439/

Dear nettimers,below I am sending you the report about our conference LEARNING FROM FUKUSHIMA --- please read and forward. The contents are:1. Report2. Further Info on the Internet3. CreditsBest wishes,Krystian----------------------------------1. ReportMarch 11th, 2011: earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown. The tripledisaster in Japan shocked the world community, particularly Germany.It was detected via real-time Internet and prompted the disturbingquestion: can an advanced G8 country actually be forced to its knees?A short time later paradigm shifts in Germany's (nuclear) policy wereinitiated. In Japan itself a critical public started to emerge, tryingto influence politicians to reconsider public policy. Against thisbackgrop the conference "Learning from Fukushima" asked the followingquestions:How does a critical public emerge in times of crisis? How can citizensparticipate in this process? Which role does the Internet play? Atthe conference experts from Atlanta, Berlin, Compiègne, Los Angeles,Munich, New York, Prague, Tokyo and Vienna were looking for answers.They provided best-practice examples, thereby establishing a rich basefor discussions."All humans are sensors."Someone in the audience said: "All humans are sensors. They absorb data - whether it concerns the supply situation in a conflict zone or radiation levels." The Internet can help to organize such data. The mechanisms for this are still immature. People still need to learn many things. A major crisis may accelerate this process. Tomomi Sasaki elaborated upon this in her presentation. As a speaker in the conference slot "State of Emergency in Japan – also in the Field of Media?" Sasaki observed that her country completed a "crash course in social media" after the triple catastrophe from 11th March 2011. Like other speakers, she addressed the question: What are the offline-consequences of this process?Thorsten Schilling had already touched upon this issue in hiswelcoming speech. The director of the Multimedia Department at theFederal Agency for Civic Education stressed that a long breathis necessary if a social movement is to emerge from an eventfulexperience of community like after march 11th. A really long breath,because various processes of questioning the foundations of societyemerge on so many different levels simultaneously.While similar processes are on the way in other regions of theindustrialized world as well, in Japan the ruptures are manifestin a particularly strong way due to the consequences of the tripledisaster. The following questions pop up almost everywhere: "Howsustainable is our economic system? What is our stance on theenvironment? How do we want to supply us with energy? Do our mediafunction sufficiently?" Hardly any of those questions can be answeredindividually. Everything is connected. But what does this mean inpractice? The radiation mappers Andreas Schneider (IIDJ) and SeanBonner (Safecast.rog) dwelled upon this issue. "In Los Angeles, theradiation is higher than in Tokyo," Bonner said. "Radioactivity ispart of everyday life," Schneider confirmed. While quite accurateradiation data can be aquired, the risks are usually relative. Sothe Post-Fukushima radiation in the metropolis of Tokyo cannot beunderstood out of context. Its risk can only be assessed in a dialogueconducted by society as a whole."The First Online Contact with Readers was a Shock."Japan's society is weakened by the triple disaster and its aftermath.The transformation taking place on parallel planes leads to aperceived paralysis. At the same time there is a desire for the"old normal". Therefore, things change very slowly and almostimperceptibly. The more important it is to make these changes visibleas a whole. Only a critical public can fulfill this important task.The means of traditional mass media to go about this are limitedbecause they are part of the change itself - and in many ways at oddswith the inherent challenges.Frank Patalong made an interesting point in this context. As a speakerof the conference slot "The Online-Disaster – Business as Usual?" helooked back at the first decade of online journalism. In the late1990s Patalong began to build the department "Netzwelt" (NetworkWorld) at Spiegel Online and was its director for ten years. Atthe conference, he remembered the first direct online contact withreaders: "It was a shock. A positive shock that is."For an veterane onliner like Patalong the positive aspect of thisexperience with the "sensors" seems natural by now. For many otherjournalists it isn't. So many in this industry have not overcome theshock to this day. Or they have not even made the experience at all.Symptomatic of this: The major media companies in Germany are afraidto supply the masses with collaborative news platforms. They stilllag behind developments that have become part of the media everday incountries like Great Britain, South Korea and the US.The speakers of the conference slot "Scenarios of AudienceParticipation – what is seminal?" illuminated the potenial ofcollaborative platforms. Lila King presented iReport. People whotraditionally have been allocated to the audience are reporters here.The digital platform gives them the opportunity to contribute text,audio and video. This is how they can become part of the global newsof CNN.The Ushahidi field representative in Port-au-Prince coordinated thecrisis response after the last major earthquake in Haiti. Valuch'steam consisted of a handful of Internet activists organizing SMSmessages sent by people affected in the disaster area as well asnumerous volunteers from around the world, who helped translating andfiltering the data making it available on a crisis map that also madepossible the humanitarian mission of the United Nations.After this spontaneous action the activists around Valuch have becomea tightly organized band of volunteers. Working under the name TheStandby Task Force, they demonstrate that citizens in a heavy crisisdo not have to limit themselves to the role of victims. One caninfluence the crisis management actively – using the Internet as atool. The motto being: You have to engage upon new alliances and youhave to collaborate with people with whom you previously have not beenworking together.Looking ahead"Learning from Fukushima" has tried to reflect critically this newculture of collaboration. However the conference also tried topractice it. Interpreting the overwhelmingly positive reactions of theaudience, it can be said, that this ambitious gole has been achievedto a certain degree. About 200 participants were on site throughoutthe day, about 50 in the Internet via live stream and Twitter. Alively exchange that will continue – in discussions and projects.In the noise of the here and now it is not easy to get an idea forsustainable values. In times of crisis this is even more difficult. In"Learning from Fukushima" the participants gained such a notion - atleast with respect to the new culture of collaboration. This expansionof consciousness does not help only in crisis management on our owndoorstep - whether facing the civil uprisings in London or in Athens.It can also be transported to Japan.A translation of this report about "Learning from Fukushima" isplanned into Japanese with the intention to circulate it – not onlyin citizen media but also in the realms of official governmentpublications.2. Further Info on the Internet* The conference in the press* Photos of the conference* Video-Interviews (70% English)* Report in GermanURL: http://berlinergazette.de/learning-from-fukushima* Live-Video-Recording (80% English)http://vimeo.com/album/1736345* Archive of Twitter-Postings (#LFF2910)URL: http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23LFF2910* English programmeURL: https://plus.google.com/107214655315602744984/posts/hoS1TXxTGgA3. CreditsThe all-day symposium „Learning from Fukushima“ was a project ofthe Berlin Gazette (berlinergazette.de) and was supported by theFederal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politischeBildung/bpb). The cooperation partners were: Institue for InformationDesign Japan, Institute of Communication in Social Media, Youth PressGermany, iq consult, Sapporo City University, TAB ticket broker andGeneral Public.Contact person | author of this report:Krystian WoznickiBerliner GazetteDanzigerstr. 3110435 BerlinTel: 030-60947246kw-AoVDVRgAZK+HOgEwjOSpYoQuADTiUCJX< at >public.gmane.orghttp://berlinergazette.de

<http://distributioninsensible.tumblr.com/post/12867650744/five-theses-on-privatization-and-the-uc-struggle>1. Five Theses on Privatization and the UC Struggle Nathan Brown November 15, 2011 UC system-wide strike-------------------------------------------------------Hello Everyone!It's beautiful to see so many of you here today. On four days' notice, thisis an incredible turnout. Let's remember how much we can do in so littletime.I'm an English professor, and as some of you know, English professors spenda lot of our time talking about how to construct a "thesis" and how todefend it through argument. So today I'm going to model this way ofthinking and writing by using it to discuss the university struggle. Myremarks will consist of five theses, and I will defend these by presentingarguments.THESES1. Tuition increases are the problem, not the solution.2. Police brutality is an administrative tool to enforce tuition increases.3. What we are struggling against is not the California legislature, butthe upper administration of the UC system.4. The university is the real world.5. We are winning.THESIS ONETuition increases are the problem, not the solution. In 2005 tuition was$6,312. Tuition is currently $13,218. What the Regents were supposed to beconsidering this week--before their meeting was cancelled due to studentprotest--was UC President Yudof's plan to increase tuition by a further 81%over the next four years. On that plan, tuition would be over $23,000 by2015-2016. If that plan goes forward, in ten years tuition would have risenfrom around $6000 to $23,000.What happened?The administration tells us that tuition increases are necessary because ofcuts to state funding. According to this argument, cuts to state fundingare the problem, and tuition increases are the solution. We have heard thisargument from the administration and from others many times.To argue against this administrative logic, I'm going to rely on the workof my colleague Bob Meister, a professor at UC Santa Cruz and the Presidentof the UC Council of Faculty Associations. Professor Meister has written aseries of important open letters to UC students, explaining why tuitionincreases are in fact the problem, not the solution to the budget crisis.What Meister explains is that the privatization of the university--theincreasing reliance on tuition payments (your money) rather than statefunding--is not a defensive measure on the part of the UC administration tomake up for state cuts. Rather, it is an aggressive strategy of revenuegrowth: a way for the university to increase its revenue more than it wouldbe able to through state funding.This is the basic argument: privatization, through increased enrollmentsand constantly increasing tuition, is first and foremost an administrativestrategy to bring in more revenue. It is not just a way to keep theuniversity going during a time of state defunding. What is crucial to thisargument is the way that different sources of funding can be used.State funds are restricted funds. This means that a certain portion ofthose funds has to be used to fund the instructional budget of theuniversity. The more money there is in the instructional budget, the moremoney is invested in student instruction: money that is actually spent onyour education. But private funds, tuition payments, are unrestrictedfunds. This means there are no restrictions on whether those funds arespent on student instruction, or administrative pay, or anything else.What Meister uncovered through his research into the operations ofuniversity funding is that student tuition (your money) is being pledged ascollateral to guarantee the university's credit rating. What this allowsthe university to do is borrow money for lucrative investments, likebuilding contracts or "capital projects" as they are called. These have norelation to the instructional quality of your university education. And thestrong credit rating of the university is based on its pledge to continueraising tuition indefinitely, since that tuition can be used as collateral.Restricted state funds cannot be used for such purposes. Their use isrestricted in such a way as to guarantee funding for the instructionalbudget. This restriction is a problem for any university administrationwhose main priority is not to sustain its instructional budget, but ratherto increase its revenues and secure its credit rating for investmentprojects with private contractors.So for an administration that wants to increase UC revenues and to investin capital projects (rather than maintaining quality of instruction) it isnot cuts to public funding that are the problem; it is public fundingitself that is the problem, because public funding is restricted.What is happening as tuition increases is that money is being shifted outof instructional budgets and into private credit markets, as collateral foruniversity investments. Because of this, and because of increasedenrollment, as university revenue increases the amount of money spent oninstruction, per student, decreases. Meanwhile, students go deeper anddeeper into debt to pay for their education. Using tuition payments, theuniversity secures credit for capital projects. In order to pay theirtuition, students borrow money in the form of student loans. The UC systemthus makes a crucial wager: that students will be willing to borrow moreand more money to paying higher and higher tuition.Why would students do so? Because, the argument goes, a universityeducation is an investment in your future--because it will "pay off" downthe line. This logic entails an implicit social threat: if you do not takeon massive debt to pay for a university degree, you will "fall behind"--youwill be at a disadvantage on the job market, and you will ultimately makeless money. The fear of "falling behind," in the future, results in awillingness to pay more in the present, which is essentially a willingnessto borrow more, to go further into debt in order to make more money later.But is it actually true that a university degree continues to give studentsa substantial advantage on the job market? It is now the case that 50% ofuniversity students, after graduating, take jobs that do not require auniversity degree. It used to be the case that there was a substantialincome gap between the top twenty percent of earners, who had universitydegrees, and the bottom 80 percent of earners, who did not. But since 1998,nearly all income growth has occurred in the top 1% of the population,while income has been stagnant for the bottom 99%. This is what it means tobe "part of the 99%": the wealth of a very small segment of the populationincreases, and you're not in it.What this means is that the advantage of a university degree is far lesssubstantial than it used to be, though you pay far more for that degree.The harsh reality is that whether or not you have a university degree, youwill probably still "fall behind." We are all falling behind together. Theconsequence is that students have recently become less willing to take outmore and more debt to pay tuition. It is no longer at all clear that thelogic of privatization will work, that it is sustainable. And what thismeans is that the very logic upon which the growth of the university is nowbased, the logic of privatization, is in crisis, or it will be. Studentloan debt is a financial "bubble," like the mortgage bubble, and it cannotcontinue to grow indefinitely.To return to my thesis: what this means for our university--not just forstudents, but especially for students--is that increasing tuition is theproblem, not the solution.What we have to fight, then, is the logic of privatization. And that meansfighting the upper administration of the UC system, which hasenthusiastically taken up this logic, not as a defensive measure, but as anaggressive program for increasing revenue while decreasing spending oninstruction.THESIS TWOPolice brutality is an administrative tool to enforce tuition increases.What happened at UC Berkeley on November 9? Students, workers, and facultyshowed up en masse to protest tuition increases. In solidarity with thenational occupation movement, they set up tents on the grass beside SproulHall, the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. The administration wouldnot tolerate the establishment of an encampment on the Berkeley campus. Sothe Berkeley administration, as it has done so many times over the past twoyears, sent in UC police, in this case to clear these tents. Faculty,workers, and students linked arms between the police and the tents, andthey held their ground. They did so in the tradition of the mostdisciplined civil disobedience.What happened?Without provocation, UC police bludgeoned faculty, workers, and students.They drove their batons into stomachs and ribcages, they beat people withoverhand blows, they grabbed students and faculty by their hair, threw themon the ground, and arrested them. Numerous people were injured. A graduatestudent was rushed to the hospital and put into urgent care.Why did this happen? Because tuition increases have to be enforced. It isnow registered in the internal papers of the Regents that student protestsare an obstacle to further tuition increases, to the program ofprivatization. This obstacle has to be removed by force. Students arestarting to realize that they can no longer afford to pay for an"educational premium" by taking on more and more debt to pay ever-highertuition. So when they say: we refuse to pay more, we refuse to fall furtherinto debt, they have to be disciplined. The form this discipline takes ispolice brutality, continually invited and sanctioned by UC Chancellors andsenior administrators over the past two years.Police brutality against students, workers, and faculty is not anaccident--just like it has not been an accident for decades in black andbrown communities. Like privatization, and as an essential part ofprivatization, police brutality is a program, an implicit policy. It is amethod used by UC administrators to discipline students into paying more,to beat them into taking on more debt, to crush dissent and to suppressfree speech. Police brutality is the essence of the administrative logic ofprivatization.THESIS THREEWhat we are struggling against is not the California legislature, but theupper administration of the UC system. It is not the legislature, but theOffice of the President, which increases tuition in excess of what would benecessary to offset state cuts. Again, tuition increases are an aggressivestrategy of privatization, not a defensive compensation for state cuts.When we protest those tuition increases, it is the Chancellors of ourcampuses, not the state legislature, who authorize the police to crush ourdissent through physical force. This is why our struggle, immediately, isagainst the upper administration of the UC system, not against"Sacramento."This struggle against the administration is not about attackingindividuals--or not primarily. It is about the administrative logic ofprivatization, and the manner in which that logic is enforced. We need tohold administrators accountable for this logic--and especially for sendingpolice to brutalize students, workers, and faculty. But more importantly weneed to understand and intervene against the logic of privatization itself:a logic which requires tuition increases, which requires police brutality,in order to function.This is why the point is not to talk to administrators. When we occupyuniversity buildings, when we disrupt university business as usual, theadministration attempts to defer and displace our direct action by invitingus into "dialogue"--usually the next day, or just...some other time. Whatthese invitations mean, and all they mean, is that the administration wantsto get us out of the place where we are now and put us in a situation wherewe have to speak on their terms, rather than ours. It is the job of theupper administration to push through tuition increases by deferring,displacing, and, if necessary, brutally repressing dissent. The program ofprivatization depends upon this.The capacity of administrators to privatize the university depends on itscapacity to keep the university running smoothly while doing so: itscapacity to suppress any dissent that disrupts its operations. The task,then, of students, faculty, and workers, is to challenge this logicdirectly. The task is to make it clear that the university will not runsmoothly if privatization does not stop. In many different ways, since thefall of 2009, we have been making this clear.THESIS FOURThe university is the real world.The university is not a place "cut off" from the rest of the world or fromother political situations. The university is one situation among many inwhich we struggle against debt, exploitation, and austerity. The universitystruggle is part of this larger struggle. And as part of this largerstruggle, the university struggle is also an anti-capitalist struggle.Within the university struggle, this has been a controversial position.Rather than linking the university struggle to other, larger struggles,many have argued that we need to focus only on university reform withoutaddressing the larger economic and social structures in which theuniversity is included--in which the logic of privatization and austerityis included, and in which the student struggle is included. But to say thatthe university struggle is an anti-capitalist struggle should now be muchless controversial, and it should now be much easier to insist on linkingthe struggle against the privatization of the university to otheranti-capitalist struggles.The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has become a national occupationmovement, makes this clear. All across the country, from New York toOakland to Davis, in hundreds of cities and towns, people who have beencrushed by debt are rising up against austerity measures that impoverishthem further. The national occupation movement and the UC student struggleare parts of the same struggle, which is global. It is articulated acrosspolitical movements in Greece, in Spain, in Chile, in the UK, in Tunisia,in Egypt, etc. This is a struggle against the destruction of our future, inthe present, by an economic system that can only survive by creatingfinancial bubbles (the housing bubble, the student loan bubble) thateventually have to pop.Two years ago, positioning the university as an anti-capitalist strugglewas seen as divisive. The argument was that such a position was alienatingand that it would inhibit mass participation. But now we see that there isa mass, national movement which is explicitly anti-capitalist, whichpositions itself explicitly as a class struggle, and, in doing so,struggles against debt and austerity as the interlinking financial logicsof a collapsing American economy. Given this context: the only way theuniversity struggle can isolate itself is by failing or refusing toacknowledge that it is also an anti-capitalist struggle, that it is also aclass struggle.This struggle concerns all of us, faculty as well as students, because theeconomic logic of privatization, the logic of capitalism, destroys the verytexture of social life in our country and around the world, just as itdestroys our public universities. "We are all debtors," said a student atBerkeley as she called for this strike. That is a powerful basis ofsolidarityTHESIS FIVEWe are winning.Yes, it is true that tuition continues to rise. I am not saying that wehave won. But it is also the case that last year state funding waspartially restored. This was due to student resistance on our campuses, notin Sacramento. It was due to our struggle against the administrative logicof privatization. Meanwhile, privatization is becoming more and moreunsustainable, less and less viable. In the fall of 2009, studentresistance became a powerful obstacle to perpetually increasing tuition. Itis because of that obstacle that the Regents meeting was cancelled thisweek. But even more important than these immediate gains is the fact thatwe have built the largest and most significant student movement in thiscountry since the 1960s. UC Davis has played an important role in buildingthat movement. The 2009 student/faculty walkout was initiated by people onthis campus. The occupations of Mrak Hall in November 2009 and thecourageous march on the freeway on March 4 2010 have been tremendouslyinspirational to students struggling on other campuses. Actions like theseare the very material of which the student movement consists. Without themit would not exist.So we have built a historically important student movement, and now thatmovement is linked to the largest anti-capitalist movement in the UnitedStates since the 1930s. Students now have the support of a struggle thatcan be waged on two fronts, on and off campus. To put it mildly, we havemany more allies than we did two years ago. At the same time, the UCstudent movement has made a global impact.The tactic of occupation that was crucial to the movement in the fall of2009, which spread from campus to campus that November, has now also spreadacross the country. The occupation of university buildings is atime-honored tactic in student struggles. But by many it was also viewed asa "divisive" or "vanguardist" tactic two years ago. Now, thanks largely tothe example of the Egyptian revolution, the occupation of public space hasbecome the primary tactic in a national protest movement supported by some60% of the American people. The mass adoption of this tactic, the manner inwhich it has grown beyond the university struggle, is a huge victory forour movement.Here is a passage from an influential student pamphlet written in 2009,Communique from an Absent Future: On the Terminus of Student Life, whichwas read by people around the US and translated into six differentlanguages: "Occupation will be a critical tactic in our struggle...and we intend to use this tactic until it becomes generalized. In 2001 the Argentine piqueteros suggested the form the people's struggle there should take: road blockades which brought to a halt the circulation of goods from place to place. Within months this tactic spread across the country without any formal coordination between groups. In the same way repetition can establish occupation as an instinctive and immediate method of revolt taken up both inside and outside the university."People at Adbusters, the Canadian magazine which initially organized theOccupy Wall Street protests, read that student pamphlet and wrote about itin 2009. The tactic that pamphlet called for was put into practice acrossthe UC system, under the slogan "Occupy Everything," and the goal ofspreading that tactic has been unequivocally achieved. Its achievement hashad huge political implications for the whole country. So this is also away in which we are winning.Occupation has been and continues to be such an important tactic because itis not limited to the university, but linked to occupations of squares andplazas in cities, and linked to struggles to begin occupying foreclosedproperties on a mass scale. The resonance of university occupations withthe national occupation movement means that our struggle is growing andexpanding. That means we are winning. And the fact that the universitystruggle can no longer plausibly be considered in isolation from fromanti-capitalist struggle broadly conceived is itself a huge victory.We cannot simply change "the university" while leaving "the world" thesame, because the university is the real world. By changing the university,we change the world. And we have to change the world in order to change theuniversity.

Fifteen Ways to Leave BadiouBook Launch Program: Talks & Live Interviews - Alexandria Launch at ACAF: Saturday 19 November, 2011, Time: 6 ??? 8.30 pm- Cairo Launch at the Gezira Art Center: Wednesday 23 November, 2011,Time: 5??? 7 pm- Free Arabic/English Publication Available on Attending LaunchACAF cordially invites you to attend the launch program (in both Alexandria andCairo) for its new Arabic/English publication Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou. Thepublication invites fifteen artists, based in Egypt and the Middle-East, tointeract with Alain Badiou???s Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art. Each artistwas asked to develop an artwork in response to one specific thesis that waspre-selected based on conjectured relevance to the artist???s work. The resultingpublication brings to light the cross-struggles between hegemonic orders, art,philosophy, and universality. Artists contributing to the publication are:Mohamed Abdelkarim ??? Mohamed Allam ??? Doa Aly ??? Hamdi Attia ??? Hazem El Mestikawy??? Adel El Siwi ??? Iman Issa ??? Mahmoud Khaled - Hassan Khan ??? Basim Magdy ??? MonaMarzouk - STANCE ??? Oraib Toukan ??? Akram Zaatari ??? Tarek ZakiThe publication also includes an essay by theorist and Goldsmiths lecturerSuhail Malik in which he uses almost teacherly didactics, lucidly making uscome to terms with the pros and cons of Badiou???s theses on contemporary art.Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou is a project that wishes to make a fresh andinteresting contribution to the current proliferation of discussions on theorder of contemporary art. Order, as the eloquently spoken Uruguayan artist andwriter Luis Camnitzer points out is "??? codified in laws, decrees, andprotocols, or is simply expressed through abuse of power." Alain Badiou???sFifteen Theses on Contemporary Art is the closest manifestation of ideas inwhich a living philosopher attempts to outline the laws, decrees, and protocolsof contemporary artistic practice. From thesis one to thesis eight Badiou rollsout a descriptive blueprint for contemporary art in which he clearly describesits general characteristics and the codified protocols it usually abides by inorder to be merited with the tag of ???contemporary???. From thesis nine to thesisfifteen Badiou changes the blueprint and his mission shifts from that ofdescription and identification to that of the improvement and regulation ofcontemporary art and the advancement of a new order within the current order ofthings. This new order is what Badiou dubs "non-imperial art", contemporaryart which is not in the service of empire.The publication attempts to create a junction where Badiou???s rendition of whatcontemporary art is and what it can or should be meets with the variouspositions, criticisms, and representations of contemporary art contributed bythe artists. Badiou has stated that "philosophy should always think asclosely as possible to antiphilosophy", we hope that this publication canbring art closer to philosophy and philosophy closer to antiphilosophy, makingboth philosophy and art more incisive and provoking along the way.The 'Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou' publication is designed is by the St. Gallen(Switzerland) based designer J??rg Waidelich with Arabic typesetting by EngyAly, the project is supported by Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland inCairo in collaboration with Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF).ProgramAlexandria: 19 November at ACAF 6 ??? 8 pm??? 6 pm: Brief Introduction on Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou by Bassam El Baroni,Language: Arabic??? 6.15 ??? 7.15 pm: Talk by Suhail Malik Art and Universality Conflict: ADidactic Exposition of Badiou???s ???Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art???, Language:English ??? Refreshment Break??? 7.30 ??? 8 pm: Contributing Artist Mohamed Allam interviewed by Bassam ElBaroni taking his contribution to the publication as a starting point,Language: Arabic??? 8 pm: Open Q & A with Suhail Malik and Mohamed AllamCairo: 23 November at the Gezira Art Center 5 ??? 7 pm??? 5 pm: Brief Introduction on Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou by Bassam El Baroni,Language: Arabic??? 5.10 ??? 6 pm: Talk by Suhail Malik Ape Says No: The Problem of Critical Virtuein Contemporary Art, Language: English??? Brief Q & A??? 6.10 ??? 7 pm: Contributing Artist Hassan Khan interviewed by Bassam El Baroni takinghis contribution to the publication as a starting point, Language: Arabic??? Brief Q & ABios for Participants in the Book Launch ProgramSuhail Malik is a writer and teaches in the Department of Art, GoldsmithsUniversity where he is Reader in Critical Studies and Co-Director of the MFAFine Art. Recent writings include: ???The Politics of Neutrality: Constructing aGlobal Civility??? at ???The Human Snapshot???, Luma Foundation, Arles(2011); ???Why Art? The Primacy of Audience???, Global Art Forum, Dubai, and ArtTomorrow (2011), ???The Wrong of Contemporary Art: Aesthetics and PoliticalIndeterminacy??? (with Andrea Phillips) in ???Reading Ranci??re??? (2011); ???EducationsSentimental and Unsentimental: Repositioning the Politics of Art and Education???for Taipei Biennial (2010);???Screw (Down) The Debt: Neoliberalism and thePolitics of Austerity??? in Mute (2010); ???You Are Here??? for Manifesta 8 (2010);???Civil Society Must Be, Like, Totally Destroyed??? in ???Sanity Assassin??? (2010). Mohamed Allam (b.1984) in Assiut/Asyut, Egyptlives and works in Cairo.Allam studied at the Arts Education Faculty of Helwan University in Cairo. He uses differentmediums such as video, performance and sound in his work where usually thesurrounding environment ??? with its social and political constituents ??? providesthe context and framework from which he derives a decisive irony. He hasparticipated as an artist in numerous events and exhibitions since 2003. Allamis also concerned with arts management and has participated in organizing severalart events in Cairo.He established the young Cairo-based artist initiative ???Medrar for ContemporaryArt??? which aims to promote the contemporary artistic practices of young artistsin Egypt.Hassan Khan (b. 1975) is an artist, musician and writer who lives and works in Cairo. He has had soloshows at, amongst others, The Queens Museum (New York,2011), Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris 2011), Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (2010),Le Plateau (Paris, 2007), and Gasworks (London, 2006). Khan hasalso participated in Manifesta 8 (Murcia, 2010), Yokohama Triennale (2008),Gwangju Biennale (2008), Thessaloniki Biennale(2007), Sidney Biennale (2006),Seville Biennale (2006), Torino Triennale (2005) and other internationalexhibitions. His album ???tabla dubb??? is available on the 100copies label, and heis also widely published in Arabic and English. His text ???Nine Lessons Learnedfrom Sherif El-Azma??? was published by the Contemporary Image Collective (2009),and his artist book ???17 and in AUC ??? the transcriptions??? was published by Merzand Crousel (2004).Bassam El Baroni is a curator and art critic from Alexandria, Egypt.He is the co-founder and director of Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF).Addresses:Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF)10 Hussein Hassab Street, Flat 6, Azarita, Alexandria, Egypt www.acafspace.orgGezira Art Center1 Marsafi Street, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt??

Via Telepolishttp://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/35/35887/1.htmlHegel is deadAxel Roch 17.11.2011Miscellanea on Friedrich A. Kittler (1943-2011)Recently, on the 18th of October 2011, one of our most prolific thinkers inart, media, and culture died: Friedrich A. Kittler. You might have read thissome time ago in some sort of news. Today, on the 17th of November, he wasburied. His final place to rest is a well known graveyard: Dorotheenstadtcemetery in Berlin with prominent neighbours, such as Bertolt Brecht, HeinerMüller, Georg W.F. Hegel, Johann G. Fichte, Herbert Marcuse, amongst others.The sudden but expected death of Kittler - after a long and severe illness -allows us to take a break and think a bit about his possible contributions tothe academic landscape, as he considered universities to be his larger orextended "kind of" family. In doing so, we need to neglect for a while thepermanent and all-round dispute and criticism of him as a person, as ascientist, as a cultural thinker, or as a media philosopher. I would like togive a few miscellaneous comments or subjective impressions, as I couldcollect some while being one of his students some time ago. ...

November 18th – WebJs performanceNida Art Colony, Taikos str. 43, LT-93121 Neringa/LThttp://webjs.website43.com21:00-23:00 EET (19:00-21:00 GMT)[ACCIfied Image: "JODI folksomy mix 2011 / VJTubedaddy"] From tackling boring politicians to celebrating fishing trophies, a two month long project has given Lithuanian artists a much-needed boost in net-based art.WebJs, a mix of eight weeks research, internet folklore and an endless stream of internet data, is the result of a residency programme in Nida Art Colony, supported by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artist's Association. Dirk Paesmans from the JODI.org collective (Dirk Paesmans & Joan Heemskerk) was joined by Lithuanian artists Darius Miksys, Irma Stanaityte, Andrius Kviliunas, Robertas Narkus, and Linas Ramanauskas.“Lithuanian art hasn’t yet gained a strong presence on the internet, so this set of residencies has been organised for Lithuanian artists to work with the internet both as a tool and as source material,” said Mindaugas Gapsevicius, software artist and curator of the project. “I hope that the newly produced interactive art pieces will help local artistic practices to really raise their game.”Over the course of the two month residency, Miksys explored hyperactivity without no hyperlinks, Stanaityte celebrated fishing trophies, Kviliunas was amazed by boring politicians on Youtube, while Narkus researched animated clichés and Ramanauskas considered delayed broadcasts.The Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association (LTMKS) is Lithuania’s largest artist-run organisation in Lithuania, with more than 70 members. Established in 1998, it continues the activities of “Metastudija”, an artist-run-initiatve which began in 1994.WebJs is supported by the Lithuanian Cultural foundation, the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Nida Art Colony, the >top Association supporting cultural practices and NeringaFM.lt, Nida’s popular online radio station.Project website: http://webjs.website43.comNida Art Colony: http://www.nidacolony.ltArtists:Dirk Paesmans & Joan Heemskerk (http://www.jodi.org),Darius Miksys, http://www.dariusmiksys.comRobertas Narkus, http://www.rnarkus.ltAndrius Kviliunas, http://www.kviliunas.comLinas Ramanauskas, http://www.neringafm.ltMindaugas Gapsevicius, http://www.triple-double-u.com+J+J++ggggmKWWNNMNNNMHVpWMNNNMkyppypWMNQkyVVVWXVpHM#ZyyWfIdMH+?1dWHMN#JY77???7???77CWWkWHNMMMMNWWMMNMWyyyyyyUUUUuXVyyyWWbkqqkqmNpHHyWb..JgWWMNHM....^......JWWXMMMMHWWVVVWMNMMNWXXUXUXX0dVyyyXWkkqmNMHqMqMMNHA+gMNmWHmQQ.JJ&&++++++JkXXyyfpppppkbHWNMMMgNfVWWWUWXfyWkHqmHMNMMMkMHHMbkypHM#MMM< at >M< at >dMM8UUWHZOOdWY4HHkWWmQggQkWNMMMHVyyZXHWfWHgggg< at >H#HNHMMbMpWkfWMWkQHHHMMMNHWkwzwOOrrzwWwJHMMWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM< at >M< at >< at >HMgH< at >< at >#HNHMHfMqrjuWHHNdM#N####dWWuzZvwvzuZ"TSXHYWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMgM< at >gMHkHg< at >MMHWMHy#?udNmWWHHHQWMMMMWUyXwzZuZZX$.?XVX+XMMMMMM#dMMMMMMMMMWMmMgmMHpWqgMHHWWHyNQWMMMHHWWfWHHNMHgmggggggmmNR`+T90?uMMMMMMRlWMMMMMMMMbMqNmkMHyWkgMMHWWHZN&dXWpbHyfWWHH#HHll=???;;;;O.Js+;uJOMMMMMMNN< at >MMMMMMMMWNbHHbMHZXpqM< at >HXdHZMWVfWWpWyyVfMMMMMwOOzztzzz1jpppWGdW< at >MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMfHNNMMHHHHqHHWVWWWZWHppfXUWbHMNNNNdJuwuuzvrtOdppbkWkQkHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMU9MMHHMgmqkWWWZZuuuXXWVVXXHHHHH#NMMMZZZXUVIzOfpHHqqmgggMHHMUCvHmMMMM##HNMN#HH< at >gmqkWyZXuzwwwwuZZXZVUmg< at >< at >HNHWWyZXWHNdWdHWHgqqkHmqgHHIdXdHqkmgMH#MdMN#H< at >HmqbpWuXuZ!`zOOzuuXXZwWUH< at >H#HXwzWRWMMHXWHMH< at >HmbHHMHHfWVXXkqqqmqHM#OW< at >MH< at >gqkHWVyyuI` jOVwZ..Z+XwwWHMHWkHkHdyXW< at >MMMgMHHHMH< at >< at >HVWWH0HkmgmH0zOOWNMWkdWkfXkmA&&+J...Ja&++JezywXHMHWHHVXHdSuWHMHHbHMMMM< at >HHWH9OdWWHgggK+`0UMMHMkkXWmmqkkbpfpWbbkWbmHHHKQHHMRWHWRX#XHzXUy4< at >HWHHHMHMMMWC?XHkqHHqHv?$XWMMHHHXWHHHpWWyXVWyWfWXkqHHXWHHHkXHWHqkHNRXWHwHMMHWWHMMMH01jkkkbbqHkHwJdWMH< at >< at >gHMHy+J++JJ..JJJ++dWkHHMMNMHWMkHHVWHKHXkHVvHHWHMNMHHZdkHHHqHHgHgHdpWMHH< at >gHHMNmWWWkkWWkkkHHHMHNH< at >MMMHM< at >WWWWHHMKKSdR0XWH9VOOv1dqqHHgH< at >MHqmHkXH#HH< at >MHHHHMMMMNMMMNMMMMMMMMHHHHMM< at >HqqmHMHHMWWM8O+1zzOXAqHMqkmH< at >< at >HHH< at >< at >MDjHMMMHHHHHWHHHXWHWXWHHWpHHHgMMMHMH< at >HMMMNHMJMMMMMMMMMMMHMHW9HWHXJWMHWHMVOWBWMNHNNstOwAAgAQgggggjgmQmmmwwXwAge

http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics02/naicod02.htm52 Finance and Insurance521 Monetary Authorities - Central Bank5211 Monetary Authorities - Central Bank52111 Monetary Authorities - Central Bank521110 Monetary Authorities - Central Bank522 Credit Intermediation and Related Activities5221 Depository Credit Intermediation52211 Commercial Banking522110 Commercial Banking52212 Savings Institutions522120 Savings Institutions52213 Credit Unions522130 Credit Unions52219 Other Depository Credit Intermediation522190 Other Depository Credit Intermediation5222 Nondepository Credit Intermediation52221 Credit Card Issuing522210 Credit Card Issuing52222 Sales Financing522220 Sales Financing52229 Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation522291 Consumer Lending522292 Real Estate Credit522293 International Trade Financing522294 Secondary Market Financing522298 All Other Nondepository Credit Intermediation5223 Activities Related to Credit Intermediation52231 Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers522310 Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers52232 Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities522320 Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities52239 Other Activities Related to Credit Intermediation522390 Other Activities Related to Credit Intermediation523 Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities5231 Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage52311 Investment Banking and Securities Dealing523110 Investment Banking and Securities Dealing52312 Securities Brokerage523120 Securities Brokerage52313 Commodity Contracts Dealing523130 Commodity Contracts Dealing52314 Commodity Contracts Brokerage523140 Commodity Contracts Brokerage5232 Securities and Commodity Exchanges52321 Securities and Commodity Exchanges523210 Securities and Commodity Exchanges5239 Other Financial Investment Activities52391 Miscellaneous Intermediation523910 Miscellaneous Intermediation52392 Portfolio Management523920 Portfolio Management52393 Investment Advice523930 Investment Advice52399 All Other Financial Investment Activities523991 Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities523999 Miscellaneous Financial Investment Activities524 Insurance Carriers and Related Activities5241 Insurance Carriers52411 Direct Life, Health, and Medical Insurance Carriers524113 Direct Life Insurance Carriers524114 Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers52412 Direct Insurance (except Life, Health, and Medical) Carriers524126 Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers524127 Direct Title Insurance Carriers524128 Other Direct Insurance (except Life, Health, and Medical) Carriers52413 Reinsurance Carriers524130 Reinsurance Carriers5242 Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities52421 Insurance Agencies and Brokerages524210 Insurance Agencies and Brokerages52429 Other Insurance Related Activities524291 Claims Adjusting524292 Third Party Administration of Insurance and Pension Funds524298 All Other Insurance Related Activities525 Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles5251 Insurance and Employee Benefit Funds52511 Pension Funds525110 Pension Funds52512 Health and Welfare Funds525120 Health and Welfare Funds52519 Other Insurance Funds525190 Other Insurance Funds5259 Other Investment Pools and Funds52591 Open-End Investment Funds525910 Open-End Investment Funds52592 Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts525920 Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts52593 Real Estate Investment Trusts525930 Real Estate Investment Trusts52599 Other Financial Vehicles525990 Other Financial Vehicles

The Hipster Cop: An Occupy Wall Street Conversation.Read More http://www.gq.com/style/profiles/201110/hipster-cop-rick-lee-interview-occupy-wall-street#ixzz1e69hsaZgThe Ralph Lauren-obsessed plainclothes police officer spotted at the Occupy Wall Street protests has become an Internet sensation. We tracked him down to talk to the man about his personal style, how the protesters are dressing, and what exactly he's doing down thereBY LAUREN BANSPHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN FERRARIOctober 21, 2011He was dubbed "The Hipster Cop" a little over a week ago, a few days after pictures trickled online of a plainclothes detective—dressed more like an actor from Dead Poet's Society than NYPD Blue—patrolling the Occupy Wall Street protest. Then the Hipster Cop Twitter jokes started: "He only uses pepper spray ironically." "Sure I have a nightstick...I bought it on svpply.com." And just yesterday, The New York Times ran the first interview with Rick Lee, a 45-year-old community affairs detective with an addiction to Ralph Lauren, a.k.a. The Hipster Cop. Or rather, a.k.a. The Country Gentleman. (You'll understand after you read this interview.)GQ: Tell me about what you're wearing today. Rick Lee: This is pretty average for me. For work anyway. The jacket and cardigan are Ralph Lauren. The tie is Burberry. The shirt is Ralph Lauren, too. These are J.Crew pants. And Ralph Lauren shoes. Lot of Ralph Lauren. My best friend works for Ralph Lauren.GQ: Since you've become meme-ified, has there been pressure each morning to step up your game? Rick Lee: Nah, not really. I'm just me. I am who I am. This is how I always dress. I've always been into fashion. Since high school. Since I got my first job and was able to buy my own clothes. Though maybe I'll wear a top hat to work tomorrow. [laughs]GQ: How would you describe your style? Rick Lee: I describe it as "traditional English country." I love traditional English country clothes.GQ: It's funny because you've been anointed "Hipster Cop" now, but looking at all your pictures—I'm not sure that's the right descriptor. Rick Lee: I agree! I don't have a beard. I don't live in Williamsburg. Though off-duty I may look a little bit more hipster. I'm thin, so when I'm off-duty I like skinny jeans. And, well, I have about five pairs of Converse sneakers, but I've been wearing Converse sneakers since I was in junior high school. I've always worn Converse sneakers, they're not just a fashion trend with me. I've always liked them. So off duty, I throw on skinny jeans, a T-shirt, and a cardigan. I guess you could say I look more hipster on the weekend. Or in the summer, I'll wear my jeans cuffed, with wingtip shoes and a t-shirt and a vest. Unfortunately, I can't wear jeans to work.GQ: So there's a detective dress code? That is not what cop shows would have me believe. Rick Lee: Yes, unfortunately. The police commissioner might get mad if I wear jeans.GQ: If "Hipster Cop" is inaccurate, what new fun cop moniker should we use? Rick Lee: Uh..."Country Gentleman." Or the "Gentleman Police Officer."GQ: Who are your favorite designers? Rick Lee: I like Burberry. I like Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers. A lot of Theory's stuff. What else do I usually wear? I wear Levi's jeans. I wear a lot of J.Crew stuff as far as casual dress goes. A lot of English designers.GQ: So it sounds like you're into nice clothes that even the 99% can afford... Rick Lee: Yeah, yeah. Well I think it's all how you wear it, too. You can take some very conservative traditional clothing and kind of put a little of your own edge on it.GQ: Like a badge? Rick Lee: Sure. But that's an accessory I really couldn't wear to a club, you know?GQ: What are your duties down at Occupy Wall Street? Rick Lee: Just to give you some background: I do Community Affairs down at the First Precinct. There's basically one of me—not as smashingly dressed, in every precinct. It's my job in general to be the liaison between the precinct and the community we serve. We serve, oddly enough, SoHo—big fashion area, TriBeCa, and Battery Park City. Basically from Houston St. down to the Battery. My specific job being down here watching the guys who bang on the drums is to keep the peace. Between not only the police and the protesters, but also the protesters and the community.GQ: Do you think the way you're dressed helps with that? Rick Lee: Yes. Absolutely. I've been doing my job for 12 years and I learned early on that the way I'm dress, or the way anyone dresses affects things. You have to know your audience. The people that I serve in this community are a lot like me. I don't necessarily fit the stereotype of the word "cop." So when they see that I dress kinda cool, wear thin ties, look trendy, it breaks a lot of walls down initially to get the bridge building started. It actually works. People go, "Wow! You wear Burberry. You wear Ralph Lauren. That's cool."GQ: So you've been getting a lot of compliments? Rick Lee: Yes. Not only from my colleagues but from people in the community, too.GQ: Are you sympathetic to the movement? Rick Lee: It's hard to say that because everyone in the Park has their own agenda of why they're here. Like I could talk to a guy and he could be upset that he gets taxed, and I can understand that because I get taxed every two weeks when I get paid. But somebody else might be into, like, Communism or something. Which I'm not really into. I can't relate politically that way. But people have their right to voice their opinion in America. They have a right to demonstrate. It's a good thing. But there's probably 200 people in the park right now and 400 different opinions of why they're here. Though, generally, a lot of well-read, very smart, very articulate people are here. I've become friends with a few people. It's kinda cool.GQ: Do you ever get lightly teased about your fashion back at headquarters? Rick Lee: I get ribbed a bit.GQ: What do they say? Rick Lee: This is confidential territory. I'm sure people bust your chops at your office for something.GQ: Yes, that is true. Have you seen interesting fashion at the protest? Rick Lee: No! I was talking to a photographer, he was looking for fashionistas here, and I said, "Dude, you're in the wrong place." I guess if I had to pigeonhole the look here I'd say it's kind of grunge. You remember the grunge phase. That's kind of it. Very grunge-y. There aren't a lot of men walking around in bow ties and Ralph Lauren. I know some protesters brought some used suits, which was kind of funny. None of them were tailored though, so...[laughs]GQ: What fall trends do you like? Rick Lee: Tweeds! I like traditional English style. I'm glad to see straight ties are coming back into fashion. I like a clean cut preppy look, as opposed to, you know, baggy T-shirts and cargo pants. I'm happy to see a more fitted look coming back into style. It drives me nuts when people wear baggy clothes.GQ: What TV shows do you watch? Rick Lee: As in cop shows? I'll tell you, and this dates me, but the only show I've seen that accurately portrays the NYPD is a show called Barney Miller. From the '70s. I don't know if you've ever watched it, but that's as close as it comes. Otherwise I watch Mad Men, I watch Boardwalk Empire. I watch the History Channel a lot. That's more my thing.GQ: You're aware that you've become sort of a meme. Did you know that one blog posted instructions on how to be "Hipster Cop" for Halloween? Rick Lee: No way! [laughing] Oh man, the parade's going to be interesting this year! Do I get royalties for that? It's funny because I'm online a lot, but mostly shopping, my social life doesn't revolve around blogs and Facebook. It's not my generation. People have been telling me you have to go on! You're everywhere!Read More http://www.gq.com/style/profiles/201110/hipster-cop-rick-lee-interview-occupy-wall-street#ixzz1e69yzQJ9

Occupy Student Debt!National Campaign Launchwww.occupystudentdebtcampaign.orgOn Monday, November 21, Occupy Student Debt is launching a nationalcampaign of student debt refusal. This campaign is a response to thestudent debt crisis and the dependency of U.S. higher education ondebt-financing from the people it is supposed to serve. There is nojustice in a system that openly invites profiteering on the part oflenders. Education is a right and a public good, and it should beproperly funded as such.The campaign will consist of three pledges:-A debtor's pledge to refuse loan payments.The pledge will takeeffect after a million debtors have signed.-A faculty pledge of support for the refusers-A non-debtors' pledge of support for parents and other public sympathizersThe pledges come out of our commitment to four fundamental principles:- Education is not a consumer good and therefore studentloans should not be treated like consumer loans. If they are to exist,student loans should be interest-free.- Tuition at all public colleges and universities should be federally funded.- Private and for-profit colleges and universities should open their books.- The current debt burden should be written off, ending the bondage oftwo generations of student debtors.The launch will take place 1:30 at Zuccotti Park, followed byCUNY/Baruch at Madison Square Park at 3pm. Given the strength ofnational sentiment around this issue, we expect campuses around thecountry will join us in staging events to launch the campaign.The campaign is the work of the student debt subcommittee of theOWS Empowerment and Education working group.The pledges are on this website www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.orgFB facebook.com/pages/OccupyStudentDebtCampaignorg/217129071692202?sk=wall#i