Laboratory n.
1 a facility for experiment, research and learning.
2 a space where small quantities of hazardous materials can have an effect greater than the sum of their parts.
One day seminar and public evening debate on social media activism in the Arab World and China, organised by the Centre for Globalisation Studies of the University of Amsterdam, Monday 21 January 2013.
ReadEvery so often, a technology or protocol emerges that is touted as a ?magic bullet? either by the company or consortium promoting it or a core group of enthusiasts using it. Examples of this are WAP, OS/2, ISDN etc? The technology is initially promoted as having ?earth-changing? significance that will revolutionize the way things are done. Eventually most of these either fall by the wayside or take their rightful place as effective [but less hyped] mainstream tools in a much larger toolbox of solutions. The problem with the magic bullet approach is that it over-promotes particular technologies and often obfuscating the real benefits they could provide if evaluated and positioned in a more realistic context. For the for-profit community investing in failed magic bullets, the fallout is typically nothing more than an unfortunate R&D decision which can be expensed before moving on to the next IT investment.
ReadMathematician and open-source developer Drazen Pantic was deeply involved with Serbian Radio B92 in Pozarevac, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's home town.
ReadThe avant-garde never gives up. And tactical media has produced (at least) three different theaters of operation to wage its struggle: media activism, pure tactical aesthetics, and net conceptualism. The first allows for "formal" net.art tactics (materialist, structural), the latter two allow for "real" net.art tactics (native presence, site-specificity).
ReadConference on Information Politics, Digital Culture & Global Protest Movements April 4th 2014 - King's College London
ReadDave Oswald Mitchell is a writer, editor and researcher camped out at the intersection of the economic and ecological crises.
ReadAndrew Boyd is an author, humorist and veteran of creative campaigns for social change.
ReadSami Ben Gharbia is a Tunisian human rights campaigner, blogger, writer and freedom of expression advocate. He was a political refugee living in the Netherlands between 1998 and 2011. Sami is the author of the first Tunisian e-book (in French) Borj Erroumi XL.
