Twelve Theses on WikiLeaks 

Thesis 0

"What do I think of WikiLeaks? I think it would be a good idea!"
(after Mahatma Gandhi's famous quip on "Western Civilization")

• infopolitics,
• wikileaks

Dictionary of War - Bolzano Edition 

Bolzano Edition: September 20th and 21st 2008

First organized in 2006, Dictionary of War is a collaborative platform for creating concepts on the topic of "war", to be invented, arranged and presented at a public, two-day event. The aim is to introduce a series of concepts that either play an important role in the contemporary discourse of war, have so far been neglected, or have yet to be created.

• war,
• theory,
• dictionary of war

Dictionary of War - Gwangju Edition 

The Dictionary of War proceeds with a 6th edition at the opening of the Gwangju Biennale, in Gwangju, Korea. For the first time outside of Europe this edition takes place in the city of the Gwangju civil uprising of May 18, 1980, and in a country that is still in state of war.

• war,
• theory,
• dictionary of war

At Frontiers 

Frequently at frontiers we are asked, "Anything to declare?"

The wisest thing to do when faced with the scrutiny of a border official is to say that you have "nothing to declare", and quickly move on. Crossing borders usually entails an effort not to say too much, or at least to get by with saying very little. A degree of reticence is the mark of the wise and experienced traveller.

• no border,
• borders

The Network of Waves 

Public Agency in Hybrid Space

Lead-essay for the theme issue "Hybrid Space" of OPEN, Journal for Art and the Public Domain, #11, (Amsterdam / Rotterdam, 2006).

• public space,
• infopolitics,
• media theory,
• hybrid space,
• street protest

Willing Slave 

It's almost spring in Tokyo-

to pick up the dialogue between David and DeeDee as moderated by Geert on activist vs artist, corporation vs independent--

The revolution WILL be broadcast - at least locally 

This essay provides a short and insightful overview of alternative television projects in the Italy of Berlusconi.

• tactical television,
• telestreet,
• Italy

Zeynep Tufekci

Zeynep Tufekci is  a fellow at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University (and a "visiting assistant professor" at the Woodrow Wilson school at Princeton University.) She is also an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel.  For the 2012-2013 academic year, she is residing in Princeton, NJ.

• diy media,
• infopolitics,
• media theory,
• info-activism,
• media criticism

From the Blogosphere to the Street: The Role of Social Media in the Egyptian Uprising 

While the uprising in Egypt caught most observers of the Middle East off guard, it did not come out of the blue. The seeds of this spectacular mobilization had been sown as far back as the early 2000s and had been carefully cultivated by activists from across the political spectrum, many of these working online via Facebook, twitter, and within the Egyptian blogosphere. Working within these media, activists began to forge a new political language, one that cut across the institutional barriers that had until then polarized Egypt's political terrain, between more Islamicly-oriented currents (most prominent among them, the Muslim Brotherhood) and secular-liberal ones.

• middle east,
• blogosphere,
• street protest

make world paper 2 

The World Social Forum, organized twice in Porto Alegre 2001 and 2002, not only prompted a flurry of autonomous self-organization, crossborder organization, and creative media interventions. It also initiated an intense process of analysis and reflection on the tricky question of a 'global' dynamic of self-organization.

• net.activism,
• net criticism,
• social justice,
• labour

Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths 

WIKILEAKS deserves protection, not threats and attacks.

• infopolitics,
• info-activism,
• wikileaks

Sarai Reader 08: Fear 

Modernity's great promise - the freedom from fear, now lies in ruins. One can argue that this vision was always compromised - modernity (especially in the form that emerged in the West, under Capitalism) always hid its own fears, and hid from its own fears - the fear of epidemics, of urban panic, of the homeless multitude and of criminal activity. This led to a drive for transparency: for separating the civic from the criminal, the civilised and the barbaric peoples, the human from the non human, life from the machine.

• theory,
• social justice,
• fear

The Seropositive Ball Reader added to Tactical Media Files 

The reader of The Seropositive Ball has been added to the Tactical Media Files as a freely downloadable pdf. The Seropostive Ball was a 69-hour 'networked event' staged at Amsterdam's Paradiso June 21-24, 1990, and  a shadow conference to the World AIDS Conference in San Francisco. The event was an important precursor for the first Next 5 Minutes festival on Tactical Television (1993). This exceptional document deserves special attention, hence this non-standard announcement.  (TMF editors)

• tactical media,
• activism,
• AIDS,
• aids activism,
• act up

Notes on the Politics of Software Culture 

Software has, over the last few years, increasingly come into view as a cultural technique whose social and political impact ought to be studied carefully. To the extent that social processes rely on software for their execution - from systems of e-government and net-based education, online banking and shopping, to the organisation of social groups and movements -, it is necessary to understand the procedural specificities of the computer programmes employed, and the cultural and political 'rules' coded into them.