Getting the Most Out of My China Trip

It has been a while since I wrote my first post on international expansion of Chinese Internet companies and my experiences here in China. I wrote the post during a train ride from Guangzhou to Shanghai. A lot has happened after that. I have met so many interesting people, visited companies, and when there was time I also tried to be tourist. In this post I will tell something about the people and companies I visited in Shanghai. Furthermore I will make an effort to summarize what I have been up to in Beijing so far!

Shanghai

The first company that I visited in Shanghai was JL McGregor & Company, an American research company that keeps track of most companies that I am doing research on. Lucky as I am I was able to make use of their extensive database; two days in their office gathering reports and information! Ofcourse my stay in Shanghai could not be complete without visiting two of the most prominent Chinese online gaming companies; Giant Interactive (GI) and Shanda.

But this is not all, the list goes on: I dropped by the Dutch casual gaming company Spill Group Asia where I spoke with Thijs Bosma. Also at Spill Group I met Marc van der Chijs with whom I talked about one of the biggest Chinese video sharing sites Tudou. Furthermore I visited the leading Chinese social networking site 51.com just 1 day before they moved to a bigger building in Zhangjiang sofware park. Finally, last but certainly not least, I met Gang Lu, to who I am very gratefull for sharing his insights with me.

As I mentioned in my previous post on Tencent the International expansion of Chinese Internet companies will most likely start in the gaming market. The outcomes of my meetings in Shanghai confirmed this finding; both Shanda and GI, market leaders of the so called ‘Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games’ market, take te lead in succesfully expanding their operations abroad. Read more about it at MObinoDE where I am guestblogging.

Beijing: the city where it’s at

I am in Beijing for nearly a week now but it feels like I have been here for months; I encountered so many interesting persons and companies! Since most of the Chinese web companies are based here I really tried to fill up my schedule as much as I can to gather as much information and learn as much as possible during my stay here. This is a simplified list of the most interesting people and everything that I have encountered so far (companies, events, etc)!

Monday:

– Benjamin Joffe – Managing Director – Plus8star (Japan, South Korea and China: research, incubator, & consultancy)
– Porter Erisman – VP Corporate Affairs – Alibaba (The worlds leading B2B e-commerce company)

Tuesday:

– Patrick Zha – Chairman & CEO – NOVOking (Virtual World)
– Kaiser Kuo – Group Director, Digital Strategy – Ogilvy & Mather China (Advertising) Kaiser has introduced me to a million people, really nice guy, lucky that I met him!
– William Bean – Partner – Softbank, China & India Holdings (VC, investor in an interesting global Chinese web company italki)

Wednesday:

– Paul Denlinger – Blogger, Consultant – ChinaVortex (interesting blog with a more macro-economic pov)
– Lonne Hodge – Entrepeneur – Culturefish (Baidu partner, SEO, Marketing etc) I met Lonnie before in Guangzhou.

Thursday:

Attended a WPP meeting through Kaiser Kuo. WPP is one of the worlds leading communications group. The meeting was about the future of video sharing and p2p video streaming in China. Market leaders in this market such as PPLive, HDT, and Youku all gave presentations about their views on the future of rich online media, their businessmodel, strategy, and the future of online advertising in China. After the presentations and mouthwatering lunch I joined Youku’s CEO Viktor Koo and WPP Strategy Director Scott Spirit on their way to the airport for an interview. We had an interesting discussion on why Baidu went overseas, what will be the biggest SN in China and when+why, and the battle of the video sharing websites; who will win when and why?!

After this I had to rush back to attend a monthly web entrepeneur gathering near the Silicon Valley of Beijing (where, among others, Oracle, Google, and Microsoft are located). It was organised, by Bjorn Lee, who I had already set up a meeting with coming monday. Bjorn currently works at Hipihi, another Chinese virtual world. Interesting to speak to some of the younger entrepeneurs on their views on the future of the Chinese Internet market.

Friday (today):

Today I spoke with Zhang Tao, International Sales Manager at Baidu (China’s no.1 Search engine) in the morning, after an interesting interview we had lunch together and discussed the educational problems China is facing. In the afternoon I had a meeting with Cathy Peng, Investor Relations Manager, Sina (China’s biggest portal). Sina is located in the same building as Baidu, which was convenient, especially in Beijing where the average speed of a car is around 15 km per hour because of a constant traffic jam!

I just returned to my hotel in a Hutong close to Tiananmen sq, and I’m glad that it is weekend. After meeting so many people and hearing so much new stuff it is now time to process, and maybe squeeze in a visit to the Great Wall!

Saturday:

I will meet with Ned Rossiter who can hopefully learn me more about the Beijing Zhongguancun Software park and about creative industries in general, it will be very helpfull for my thesis to hear his views on the current situation! I think I will also visit some random Internet cafes and find out what the kids are doing in there.

Next week I have planned several more meetings (Perfect World, Tangos Chan, Jeremy Goldkorn, Douban, etc) which I will blog about later, I just hope I have enough time for my meetings before I head back home on the 15th! Now its time for a cold Tsingtao!

Holiday is over in Zambia. After a couple of weeks in which Zambian teachers had the chance to join in on a variety of different ICT workshops throughout the country it is now time to go back to their pupils and overwhelm them with all the new knowledge and skills they have learned. The last couple of weeks I have been so fortunate to be invited at a couple of computer workshops from different organisations for teachers living in different regions in the country. In this post I want to share my observations so far. Sorry for the long post….When you have fast internet….use it.

IICD WORKSHOP

The first Workshop I visited was a IICD (international Institute of Comunication and Development) workshop at Mplembe Secondary School in the Copperbelt in Kitwe. This school is the “headquarter” for the ENEDCO (Enhancing the visual presentation of education content) project so it is no surprise that the workshops where about how to enrich your teaching with visuals. The workshops where organized by IICD and IT specialists from Atos Origin. The two main topics of the workshops were movie-editing and creating your own animations. Although I missed out on the first day of the workshop in which all the teachers were introduced and on the last day in which most of the final products where presented by the teachers I still had the chance to work with the participants on their projects for 4 days. A couple of weeks before the workshop started participants where already given the opportunity to exchange information or present themselves online in a specially designed d-group. The participants joining the workgroup mostly came from the Schools joining the Enedco project, although there where also people from Esnet, CYP (Chawama Youth Project) and other schools.

The workshop on animation was given by Atos Origin’s Berno van Soest who taught the 23 Zambian teachers all about using the animation tool Scratch. Scratch is a animation tool by MIT and although it’s fairly basic to use it is a great introduction into the world of animation. After Berno showed a rain animation he has made himself most of the participants were really anxious to get at it themselves. One of the main things I have seen during my observations is that the will to learn and the enthusiasm is enormous. Half an hour into the workshop the teachers are already trying out all the different options. From the way the teachers are looking at and using the examples it becomes clear that most of them don’t have a lot of experience using a computer. A game of Pong, (that serves as a scratch example) was being closely examined by a group of teachers for at least 15 minutes. Four of them where watching while one was playing the game.(pong linkje voor de liefhebber) However, what began as a game of clicking laughing and looking at the examples is slowly moving towards an interest in the possibilities to create their own animations. The different skill levels however are really obvious during this workshops. Some of the teachers are picking up the material pretty quick while others are still figuring out the precise way a scroll-bar works. Some of the participants are running in to some basic problems while for instance running the installation wizard and they tend to stop trying to figure it out on their own quite quick. They are expecting Berno or me to figure it out for them. Although Berno is trying to encourage and trigger own initiative from the participants some of them are still so unfamiliar with the computer that they tend to keep a safe distance. Although some have their difficulties and are progressing slowly others really start exploring the possibilities together: “You can make your own adjustments you see”…”yes, I see it, now it makes sence”…”can you also drag this”…”now,what about this stuff?”…”Can you make him do that”….”look, this makes it move around”…”Now…let’s get into, remember, where did you get them”.

Apart from practical hands on teaching there is also room reserved in the workshop for some basic explanations on storyboarding. Atos Origin’s Fabiana De Boer is doing a presentation about the importance of having a good storyboard. During the presentation she asks the teachers for tips and tricks of presenting and making a movie or animation. The things the participants come up with vary from: “if you want stability during filming you can use one hand butt maybe you can use the other to hold the stability. I don’t know how to phrase it” to “You should choose appropriate scenes for your film. You should choose a scene that is appropriate to what you say” Although these tips al seem pretty obvious to me personally the group is discussing them exhaustively. I think this pretty much shows the basic levels on which the participants are starting. One of the participants, in a part of the workshop about moviemaking asked:

“The digestive system, how do I film that?”

After a short explanation that this would pretty hard to film Fabiana explained that it would be possible “reconstructing” the system by using an animation.

At the end of the workshops most people had learned the basics of either Scratch or moviemaker and presented what they had made. Although some of the teachers had made some fairly simple movies with low educational value other have made beautiful animations of the spreading of the HIV virus or movies about the computer basics of hardware for their computer studies class. I personally was most impressed by the work of Douglas Mazimba, a Biology teacher from Ibenga Girls High School who made impressive and educational animations of biological processes. Within a couple of days he had really mastered Scratch and made usable and educational animations. After the presentations all the teachers where rewarded with a certificate.
(observation report)

COMPUTERS FOR ZAMBIAN SCHOOLS WORKSHOP

After the workshop with IICD I also visited a Computers for Zambian Schools workshop. Com4Zam Schools is an NGO that hands out second hand computers to schools in Zambia and also provides basic training in the use of computers. Their aim is to provide the schools that receive the computers with a beginner and later on an advanced course in the use of IT’s. Since 2002 6000 computers have been given away to more then 800 teachers. The workshop I observed in Kitwe was a beginner course and took 5 days. In these five days the participants where invited to discover basic Microsoft programs such as Word, Powerpoint and Excel as well as learning looking at hardware, doing some problem shooting and getting a basic explanation in browsing the internet. Most of the participant where from the Central Province (around Kabwe) in Zambia.

Compared to the IICD workshop I’ve visited last week this one is at a an even more beginner level, when presenter Chester asked what the teachers know about computers half of them state that they have “no computer knowledge”. The other half “knows” programs like word, “Microsoft” and excel. The workshop therefore starts of with the basic question: “What is a computer?” After giving basic definitions of terms such as: Computer, Hardware, windows, microsoft and Software one of the participant comes up with the following question:

“I have a question…The windows itself, it comes into an environment. It is software that is planted in. What is the name of that environment? I mean: Windows is a system that requires a system….What is that system?”

Poor Chester struggles to explain and is relieved when he finally managed to get everyone behind a keyboard. For some of the teachers this is a new experience. This is really strange to see. It seems like such a huge gap between on the one hand being confronted with all these big stories about importance of Computers in their teaching, the huge possibilities, the “new worlds” it will open for their students and so on…and on the other having to listen to Chester who is explaining that “The long key is the space key. It allows you to move one space”.

Throughout the first 3 days word, excel and powerpoint basics are being explained to the teachers. The instructors try to keep everybody in the same pace by constantly asking: “Are we together?” A problem with this kind of basic beginner workshop is that there are a lot of participants who already know the basics and are ready for some more advanced training. This group seems to be bored a little bit. Instead of trying new things they are just follow the instructions that they already seem to know. An important part of organizing workshops such as this one is to make sure that the groups you material you are teaching is in line with the hopes, expectations and needs of the invited target group. Although this (once again) might sound pretty logical this seems to be a big organisational issue in a country like Zambia.

The last day of workshop to most teachers is like the icing on the cake. The last day will be about using the internet. Although most teachers heard stories about the Internet and have a vague idea about what it can do half of them has never used it before. Some of the participants have brought out business cards or other material on which it shows website names or e-mail addresses. They have been carrying them around for quite a while and seem anxious to finally check out what the fuzz is all about. Two participants where really disappointed about the fact that the e-mail addresses they have been carrying along where no addresses to a website. “You can not see anything there when you type it into the browser, You can just send a message or information yourself…sorry.” I think this is one of the many examples that show how sincerely interested and intrigued by the Internet most teachers are. They see websites/e-mail addresses all around but just don’t really know what it is exactly and how they can use it…They seem anxious to learn.

To explain some features of the Internet Chester often uses compares it to a mobile telephone or mobile telephone network. In Zambia there is a big mobile hype going on at the moment. (Everywhere you look you see huge advertisements of providers Celltell, CellZ or MTN and almost everybody (even in the more rural areas) have/has access to a mobile telephone. Ringtones are a big thing and people tend to show off wit their phones in public.) Chester compares mobile phones to the Internet a couple of times for instance by saying that “your e-mail address is like your celtell number. Typing www is the same as 0976, (the beginning code of all celtell numbers).

During the workshop I got the chance to hand out some questionnaires to the teachers. In these short questionnaires I asked them to explain how they personally looked at the use of computers in Zambian education. I also asked them about what kind of users they themselves are and how they envision the role of computers in their own classes in the near future. At the end of the workshop when all the participants get their certificate handed out by Mr. Makondo (the vice principle) one of the instructors called Mapache stated that: “the bal has been thrown in the court now…you can play now.”
(observation report)

SCHOOLNET WORKSHOP

For my last workshop visit I traveled to a little town in the Eastern Province of Zambia called Sinda. The Eastern Province is a more rural and poor area of Zambia. The workshop was supposed to be about administrational tools in Zambian Education but after I arrived I discovered that it would basically go into the same Microsoft programs that the Workshop I visited last week was about. A little bit of a disappointment. This is one of the hardest parts about doing research here. Most of the communication is really bad so it’s hard to know what to expect sometimes. I for instance would send a lot of e-mails to ask if it would be alright for me to visit this workshop and what exactly it would be about but I never got an e-mail back from anyone. After deciding just to show up they where welcoming me with open arms. “Yes, we heard that you where coming…thanks for the e-mail messages…” pfffffff

The workshop was organized by Schoolnet Zambia and the readers where provided from other Schoolnet projects from around Africa. Although the readers all looked good I was surprised that in their workshops the presenters themselves didn’t use the computer or projector a lot. They didn’t use any PowerPoint presentations and used a large chalkboard to draw out certain things. During this workshop we experienced a lot of power blackouts. This is a big problem in huge parts of Zambia. Here in the Eastern Provence we would have around 3 blackouts with a duration of at least 2 hours each every day. Because of a lack of power there was a lot of time for wrecking apart computers and looking at the internal hardware. The participants seem to be especially interested in this ‘hands on training’. One of the teachers stated that: “We need to know how to handle the machines that are there. Otherwise every three months you have to get this guy from Lusaka to fix it and give him a lot of money.” The participants really want to learn to be able to fix the machines. This is something I have seen in all the different workshops. The participants, especially in the rural areas, are well aware of the fact that when something breaks there is not always a technician around to fix it.
(observation report)

During this workshop there was no Internet connection. This is a big problem in most parts of Zambia. Internet connection is expensive and a lot of school heads are not convinced about the importance of having an Internet connection. Chassa Secondary School is one of the most ‘ICT-fixated’ schools in the Eastern Province. When there are conferences are workshops about the ICT’s for the Eastern Province these are often held at this school. That was the main reason I was surprised by the lack of Internet connection. Making people ICT literate in the most basic sense (learning them how to type and use a computer) is seen as a first important step but this is still miles away from actually being ‘connected’. Even within the Enedco project, which is based on sharing content, there are a lot of problems with connectivity. Although all the workshops I have visited have put big emphasis on getting connected and the teachers seem really interested in the possibilities the Internet has to offer it still seems a long road to getting everybody connected.

Now that the Schools are starting again I will try to get some visits to different schools done. I will also try to get some more interviews with people from different organisations. I already had an interview with Mr. Mwale from the examinations council in Lusaka that was pretty interesting and I hope to get to talk to more “big-fish” in the near future. Last but not least there is also a big project in the copperbelt where the mines are contributing almost 400 computers to the mining schools that I would like to get some more information about. Lot of observing and interviewing ahead but first meeting up with Piet’s girlfriend tomorrow and trying to convince her to do the bungee jump with me at Vic Falls….

Amsterdam, May 2008

By Michael Stevenson, Rosa Menkman, Jasper Moes, Erinc Salor and Esther Weltevrede (MA mediastudies, University of Amsterdam) with Geert Lovink

Bruce Sterling’s Dead Media Project, now expired, was on to something. In the rush to discover and define the new, there is never patience for what is being replaced. A pet project still sporadically referenced on Sterling’s blog, the idea was to document the ‘spiritual ancestors’ of today’s media.

It’s telling, though, that the Webby version of media archeology takes paleontology as its reference point. Sterling and co. stood ready with shovel in hand to deal with the ‘centralized, dinosaurian one-to-many media that roared and trampled through the 20th century’. The basic conviction underlying the new media frenzy around Virtual Reality and Cyberspace (and now Web 2.0) – one of violent dislocation from Before, on to an unknowable After – remained intact. Pre-history means no history.

If there is room for lament today, perhaps attention should turn to the new media entrepreneur, always gearing up for another revolution. The weight of the dot.com burst lingers in the knowing Youtube favorite, Here Comes Another Bubble, and in the rants of Andrew Keen. But are the media theorists any better off? Continually pressed to explain the ‘new’ in new media – something the entrepreneurs do well enough on their own – it is hard to avoid radical stalemate. Inherent in the term new media is a contradiction: the new is registered in the future tense – new media are always what will happen, whether it is replacing ‘mainstream media’ or each other – but will also one day be old, obsolete. New media theories easily suffer from the same flaws as their object of study, outdated while simultaneously framed in the future. The solution is not to avoid Google, blogs or whatever comes next, but to reconsider the role of media theory when its object of study is always on the verge of another transformation.

Coordinates include media archeology and mass psychology, as outlined below. Things to avoid are classical historicism and the cult of the new. The aim is to investigate the foundation of new media without recycling ordinary chronologies. In the age of cross media it is no longer useful to know that radio came before film and television before photography. This is the problem of the media archeology approach. Whereas knowledge of ancient (and superior) models and concepts existed, and unlikely futures were sketched, there is a great danger of misusing history to compensate for the all too fluid present.

What critical new media practitioners need is displacement. We do not necessarily need a general Web 2.0 or YouTube theory. In many cases it is too early for that. Nor do we need general philosophy classes that teach Marx, Deleuze and Freud, which are then applied to the object in need of theorization. This is an old school approach with which new media studies have suffered too long. Instead of mechanically utilizing general concepts from the field of theory and implanting them into Web 2.0, games, social networking sites and so on, we propose another method in which theory disrupts and disconnects the constant cry for new approaches.

Uncontemporary Media Theory is the outcome of a tutorial, taught by Geert Lovink. The aim was to bring us out of a comfort zone and force untimely perspectives on the present. It was a Dead Media Theory Project, but different. The alternative offered is a canon that mixes media archeology with sore-thumb themes, putting new media in an old light.

Themes

Memory
Store. Search. Digg. Increased awareness of the technological conditions for archiving comes at a time when these over-determine our capacity to remember. What we can still rescue, Friedrich Kittler writes, are stories of what has become. From McLuhan we know that a new technology inscribes itself in those that came before it. Kittler adds to this a sense of what is at stake: media dominate, and make their presence felt, lest they fall to the wayside. Archeology is not so much concerned with history as it is with the ‘site’, a place of occupation and the ‘where’ of traces and past events. Archeology focuses on the mess of media, critiquing linear histories while examining technical conditions governing what is sayable, knowable.

War
No war without representation. This is the key lesson of the development of media in the 20th century and today. Visual technologies, from searchlights to aerial photography, were deployed to construct and ultimately capture the enemy. Illusion, misinformation and simulation feature prominently in what Paul Virilio calls the logistics of perception, and in the “the deadly harmony that always establishes itself between the functions of eye and weapon” (Virilio, 1984: 69). War remains embedded in new media, whether glaringly – as in the recruitment game America’s Army – or under the surface, as with the tracking and tracing technologies that make up locative media. Today’s networked communications were brandished during the Cold War (Edwards, 1996) and its fallout (Turner, 2006). Genealogies of new media may also take their cue from studies of war sciences (Galison,1994; Hayles, 1999). The liberating potential of new technologies is well-known, their shady pasts less so. How can we learn from these and forge alternative understandings of the present?

Mass
Against theories of technological dissemination we could place theories of mass accumulation. New media are still defined in opposition to mass media, both in terms of technical flexibility (speed) and the meanings attributed to this (ideology). The crucial project for new media is to rid itself of the old, but attempts to imagine new forms of the mass – networks and mobs – have only led back to an uncomfortable maxim: the repressed always reboots. It’s hard to move on. One problem, dealt with by Canetti and later Marshall McLuhan, is to see media not just as channels for information but more importantly as substitutes for crowd sensations – differently translated functions of touch, release, seize and incorporate. What can a crowd perspective tell us about the desire to break with the old, about the ongoing mass production of ‘newness’?

Course Description

The course that produced this text, along with a few earlier posts, centers on three core works on media, mass psychology and war. Crowds and Power (1960) is Elias Canetti’s magnum opus, a study of the human condition from the perspective of crowd behavior. For Canetti, the fundamental drive guiding human behavior is to become more, while surviving all the others. In Male Fantasies (1987-1989 [1977- 1978]) Klaus Theweleit draws on Canetti and post-Freudian psychoanalysis to understand how collective trauma, gender relations and a fear of the unruly mass formed essential characteristics of fascism. Theweleit’s former colleague Friedrich Kittler has established the discipline of media archeology. His book Gramophone, Film, Typewriter (1999 [1986]) combines technological histories with contemporaneous reactions by ‘so-called Man’, chronicling the technical severance of acoustics, vision and writing from the body.

Readings

Primary Literature

Canetti, Elias. Crowds and Power. New York: Viking Press, 1962.

Kittler, Friedrich. Gramophone, Film, Typewriter. Trans. Geoffrey Winthrop-Young and Michael Wutz. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999 [1986].

Theweleit, Klaus. Male Fantasies. Volume 1: Women, Floods, Bodies, History. Trans. Stephen Conway et al. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987 [1977]

Theweleit, Klaus. Male Fantasies Volume 2: Male Bodies: Psychoanalyzing the White Terror. Trans. Erica Carter and Chris Turner. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989 [1978]

Secondary Literature

Cramer, Florian. Words Made Flesh – Code, Culture, Imagination. Piet Zwart Institute: Rotterdam, 2006. (pdf)

Cramer, Florian. Various Essays and Articles. (link)

Edwards, Paul N. The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996.

Ernst, Wolfgang. Art of the Archive. Künstler.Archiv – Neue Werke zu historischen Beständen, hg. v. HelenAdkins, Köln (Walter König) 2005, 93-101 (pdf)

Erns, Wolfgang. Various texts. http://www.medienwissenschaft.hu-berlin.de/ (Medientheorien=>Publikationen Ernst=>Ernst on Media (in English))

Galison, Peter. “Ontology of the Enemy: Norbert Wiener and the Cybernetic Vision,” Critical Inquiry. 21, 1: 228-266.

Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999

Liu, Alan. The Laws of Cool. Chicago, UCP: 2004

Lovink, Geert. Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Reich, Wilhelm. The Mass Psychology of Fascism. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980.

Sloterdijk, Peter. Sferen. Trans. Hans Driessen. Amsterdam: Boom, 2003 [1998/1999].

Theweleit, Klaus. Buch der Könige. Orpheus und Euridike. Frankfurt: Stroemfeld, 1988.

Turner, Fred. From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Virilio, Paul. War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception. London: Verso, 1984.

The video-images are constructed out of nothing but the image that feedback created [I focused a high end camera to my screen that showed, in real time, what I was filming, which created a feedback loop]. Then I glitched the video by changing its format and subsequently I exported the video into animated gifs. I [minimalistically] edited the video in Quicktime. Then I send the file to Extraboy, who composed music for the video.

The composing process started with a hand held world radio. Extraboy scanned through frequencies and experimented with holding the radio in different parts of the room while touching different objects. Eventually he got the radio to oscillate noise in the tempo that he perceived the video to have. The synthesizer sounds that were added were played live to further build on a non-digital sound and rhythm. This was later contrasted with drums which were digitally synthesized and processed through effects with a very digital sound to them. Just like the video, the music is a mix of digital and analogue.

rosa-menkman.blogspot.com
internet2008.se

Finally, after a 24 hour delay due to an annual trade fair in Guangzhou I am on my way to Shanghai. While listening to the snoring of my opposite bunk bed neighbor, smelling the noodles of the next door restaurant compartment and watching the rice fields blended with factories pass by, I will summarize some of my experiences and findings so far.

My research started in Hong Kong where I stayed for 4 days. Back home I had arranged a meeting with some legal experts that have been consulting prominent foreign IT companies operating in China. During an extensive dim sum lunch they told me a lot about the current possibilities or rather restrictions that Chinese companies with international ambitions have. It is difficult especially for the smaller companies to expand overseas because it is rather hard to get money out of the country unless you are in a joint venture or listed in a different country. An interesting remark that one of the legal experts made, was:

“The Chinese government is only capable of making restrictions, it is simply too busy to encourage companies to go international”

The 3rd day of my stay in Hong Kong after meeting several experts and people that could possibly help me with some relevant guangxi (connections), I realized that I needed to have some business cards made. Naturally this is very easy to arrange in Hong Kong. In a back alley somewhere in Central my cards where finished within a day. The next morning it was time to head off to Shenzhen where I could proudly present myself as being an official ‘New Media Researcher’.

In Shenzhen I had set up appointments with Tencent’s Richard Chang, Technology Strategist U.S.Office, Tristan Han, Sr. Product Manager International Product Center, and Thijs Terlouw, a Dutch developer working at Tencent’s innovation center. Tencent is one of China’s biggest Internet service portals. One of Tencent’s most popular products, QQ, an instant messaging platform, is used by tens of millions of Chinese Internet users. Furthermore Tencent offers community aplications, search services and game oriented products.

After a 1 hour drive from the center of Shenzhen where I was staying, I arrived at the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park (SHIP) where Tencent’s head office is located. After Thijs showed me around on his department and blew me away with some of the new applications he is currently working on, it was time to start my interview with Richard and Tristan.

Tristan started by providing me with a brief overview of all international activities of Tencent till now. This was all very interesting, but the reason for my visit was to find out more about the future international developments of Tencent! After enquiring about this, Triston was surprisingly open and told me among others, that Tencent is planning on expanding its activities in Vietnam, India, Thailand, HK, Macau, South Afrika, Japan, Indonesia, the U.S., and in the near future also Eastern Europe. To avoid possible cultural differences for certain applications Tencent makes use of a distinct strategy for every single country it is planning on entering.

Because of the length of this post, but also because I don’t want to disclose too much information of my thesis results I will sum up a few of the more general findings I did during my visit.

– There seems to be a gap or indifference in the amount of people that play games in Asia and in Western countries.
– This gap is resonating through into the culture of applications: Asian applications are heavily influenced by gaming culture, such as collecting icons, dressing avatars, or earning activity points. In the West this is only starting to catch on.
– In general online entertainment is more advanced in Asian countries when compared to the West. In China this is probably due to the relatively low age of Internet users. Western Internet use tends to be more focussed on obtaining information.
– Since the US and European IM market is already mature, Tencent will use a strategy that is primarely focussed on cooperation with local companies and mainly focussed to gaming.
– Tencent will unlikely go international with its mobile services – very popular and in China – because the Chinese technology differs too much compared to other countries; “it is a unique technology” developed by the government (China Mobile).
– Richard Chang has launched internal innovation contests; employees can send all their ideas and win money. Thijs told me that in general the management is very open to new innovative ideas, creativity is encouraged.

These are only a few outcomes of the very interesing interview and tour. An interview that ended with Tristan showing me a roadmap of all Tencent’s international innitiatives, unfortunately I was not allowed to take a picture of this!

Before saying goodbye Tristan showed off one final application: QQ Pet and during loading he tells me

“I haven’t started QQ Pet because in our meeting it will die!”

Talking about increasing the engagement level…… Feeding a QQ Pet will cost special QQ coins that can be obtained through special QQ cards. You can buy these cards almost everywhere including post offices, kiosks, software stores, Internet cafes, supermarkets, convenience stores, and so on. Read more about it here.

In general I was truly blown away by the level of innovation, the emphasis on employee created innovation, but also the determination of Tencent’s employees. Also the company culture an atmosphere came across as relax, with stuffed QQ animals and ping pong tables everywhere. After the tour and interview I had lunch with Thijs and his girlfriend (who also works for Tencent). We talked about the companies culture and how Thijs likes working in Shenzhen for a much lower wage than most developers in the Netherlands.

At 14:00 I had set up a meeting with a government official in charge of international relations of SHIP. After the lunch I headed off to the Virtual University that was located just 15 minutes down the road. I will not discuss this meeting too extensively. All I can say is that it felt as if I was an important international investor; a huge boardroom was prepared with luxurious sofa sized chairs and plenty of drinks and snacks.

After being overloaded with a bag filled with 2 kilos of background information (unfortunately most of it in Chinese), and the usual exchange of business cards (two hands!) I was able to briefly interview, Li Xiaodong, SHIP’s international spokesperson, only an hour before a big Korean delegation was expected in an even bigger boardroom next door.

We mainly talked about the international future of the park, encouraging innovation domestically and some other relevant topics. When the Koreans started pouring in it was time for me to leave. I had to catch a train to Guangzhou where I had set up a dinner meeting with an American entrepreneur that consults foreign companies on SEO (for Baidu) and Internet marketing in China.

Un till now my research trip has been very satisfying and I have already gained a deep insight in the situation. I am looking forward to visit more Chinese web companies in Shanghai and Beijing to find out how they are taking on the future!

I would like to conclude this post with a typical remark that Li made:

“in technology we have to follow for now, but we will dominate”

Unfortunately for some very mysterious reason I am not able to access my thesis blog in China. But not to worry, I have been invited by Gang Lu to write about my experiences on his MObinoDE blog, expect some posts there soon!

<update> Please read more about my Tencent visit at MobinoDE! – Pieter-Paul (added: 22/04/08) </update>

efashion-day @ mediamatic. 17th of april, 2008.

After an introduction on Elfriendo, Leah Buechley gave a presentation on computational textiles or e-textiles. Buechley defines these as handcrafted, personal computers.
She starts with showing the work of Nikki S Lee , an artist who tries to blend in with different subcultures, mainly by wearing their clothing style. After this Buechley shows some random images about fashion. This as an introduction on changing fashion styles over the years. With Leah Buechley, a new style is born.
She shows the listeners her bracelet that lights up when she shakes her arm. And when she puts her hands on the figures of her sweater, it starts to make a beeping sound. This wasn’t really working like it was suppost to be because, ‘her battery was running low’.
When Buechley started experimenting with wearables, not much had been done in this field. The electronics that she used were big and unflexible. They were also hard to attach to fabrics. This is why Buechley came up with the idea of making the e-textile contruction kit. This is a little computer chip with some input and output devices. This made it easier for other people to experiment with wearables. Buechley also posts the descriptions of how she works on her blog. With this she tries to ‘spread the word’. But she found out that her tutorials were to hard for other people to follow. So, after the contruction kit, she invented the Lillypad Arduino. A round piece of fabric with all the electronics in is already. She used the existing Arduino software to make it easier for people to program the application.

Buechley is now teaching young adults in making wearables. She also looks at things beyond the work that the participants make. It is surprising to see that often girls do the workshop and not boys. They also find it really nice to work with electronics, which brings it more out in the open in stead of staying a niche with a bit of a nerdy feel to it.
Buechley concludes her reading with the remark that electrinics and programming should be mixed with the more arty and popular side. This to make it more accessible for all people.

For my Master Thesis I travelled to Kitwe, a town in the Copperbelt area in Zambia to study the use of ICT’s in Zambian Secondary school education. After a horrible first week of research in which my two laptops where stolen and a really fine second week in which I retrieved my stolen items I now finally have the time and technical resources to blog my experiences so far and explain what my research will be about. In this post I will briefly introduce the current situation of ICT’s in Zambian education and I will also explain something about the ENEDCO project. A project in which Zambian teachers are encouraged to visually enhance their teaching materials and educational content by using ICT’s.

Zambia has a population of 11.5 million people and is one of the poorest countries in the world; more than three-quarters of the population live on less than USD$1 per day. HIV/AIDS is a big problem in Zambia with 16% of Zambians age 15 to 49 years being HIV positive and an estimated 1.1 million children orphaned, many themselves HIV positive. There is chronic food insecurity and weak governance with devastating social and economic consequences. The economy is vulnerable to natural disasters such as flood, drought, and animal disease which impacts food security.

In a country that has so many health insecurity and economic instability the Zambian Educational system is trying to provide it’s students with the best possible learning environments. In 2005 Zambia had 6,962 basic schools with 2.8 million learners and 463 high schools with more than 136,000 learners. The Zambian Government is putting emphasis on ensuring that all Zambian children can follow primary education. Of all these children who are enrolled in primary education less than 20% is entering secondary school and only 2% or the 20 to 24 age group enters a university or some other form of higher education.

The Zambian Government is putting more and more emphasis on using ICT’s in education. The political lobby of organisations like e-brain has been pressuring the Zambian Government in being more open towards the use of ICT in Education. So far this has resulted in the formulation of a National ICT Policy and a draft version of the ICT Implementation Framework. In Zambia, more and more schools are acknowledging computer science as a school study subject and the current policy environment is promoting access and use of ICT’s in Education management, administration, teaching and learning.

Although there are a lot of positive changes in the ICT4E sector in the recent years there are also a lot of issues that still have to be overcome. One can think of constraining features like Gender inequalities within the use of ICT’s, the lacking of fiscal resources and insufficient human resource capacity. A lot of the good IT professionals have moved away from Zambia to make more money. As one of the people from e-brain mentioned to me last week: “All of our good IT people are gone to help build the World Cup in South Africa”.

Last but not least an important constraining feature is that there is little digital educational content based on the local curriculum framework available. This last constraint is one of the things I will mainly focus on in my research. Throughout Zambia there are schools, organisations, projects and lobby groups that are busy with different kinds of programs to stimulate teachers to create content that is based on the local socio-cultural curriculum. One of these projects is the ENEDCO (enhancing the visual presentation of education content) project that is active in the Copperbelt in Northern Zambia. For my research I will stay at the Mplembe Secondary School in Kitwe, one of the 7 schools that is participating in the Enedco project and the main ‘headquarter’ from where the content will be distributed. From here I will try to analyze the content that is made and the way ICT’s are influencing education.

My research will (most likely) contain two different main layers. I want to look at the Enedco project as a case study. I will observe the workshops given to the teachers and will analyze the materials that these teachers produce after following these workshops. My focus in these observations and analyses will be on the specific Zambian Socio-cultural elements within the educational content. Throughout the first week of my research I was fortunate enough to observe workshops that where given to teachers by IICD and AtosOrigin on how to use video-editing and animation software to enrich the teachers educational materials. In the coming months I’m hoping to see how these workshops have paid off and in what way the teachers are using new visual presentations in their classes. During this fieldwork, I hope that I will be able to place my observations within the case study and the material I’m collecting from interviews with teachers into the broader perspective of ICT4E in Zambia at the moment.

This broader perspective will be the second main layer of my research. At the moment there is a lot of activity in Zambia in the field of ICT4E. Both at an NGO as well as at a cooperate and Ministerial level there are initiatives concerning the future of ICT’s in Education. I will try to map out the different stakeholders and involved party’s to get a good overview of the current situation of ICT4E in Zambia. At the moment there seem to be a lot of organisations playing the field and most of the time they seem unaware of what the other is doing. By mapping out the different ICT4E initiatives within Zambia I hope to be able to create a clear overview of the different movements within ICT4E within Zambia.

This coming week I will be joining “computers for Zambian schools” during their “beginners” workshops. In these workshops they train Zambian teachers in computer basics. I will also (hopefully) be attending to the first meeting between different stakeholders and organisations in the field and people from the Ministry of Education. Next to these workshops and meetings I will also try to make appointments with teachers from the ENEDCO schools to visit their classes.

To make a long story short: After a harsh first week in which I lost both of my laptops I was really lucky to get them back. With all the contact I’ve maid in the last week and the appointments in the coming weeks, it will be an interesting time ahead of me.

Today I went and saw a new opera from the hands of Lars Boom (who also writes for Endemol), Marcel Sijm and Caroline Ansink, conducted by Jussi Jaatinen. Now, I don’t consider myself an opera person, but I was lured to this opera by the promise of extensive use of digital projections. As the picture below shows: I got what I was promised. (more…)

[this post is in Dutch, as the entire conference was held in Dutch, dealing with e-culture in the Netherlands]
opening session

Cultuur 3.0 conferentie,
8 april, Club 11, amsterdam.
Virtueel Platvorm.

Introductie
De conferentie cultuur 3.0 wordt geopend door de nieuwe directeur van Virtueel Platform, Floor van Spaendonck, Dick Rijken en Paul Keller (Digitale Pioniers). De openingsboodschap is een trieste: na het nieuws dat Steim, Mediamatic en Waag Society niet meer in aanmerking komen voor subsidie vanuit de gemeente Amsterdam, wordt de Cultuur 3.0 conferentie welhaast en noodkreet naar bestaansrecht.

Waar het thema zich focussed rond de demystificatie van e-cultuur zal er worden gekeken naar vooral de breedte waarin deze term zich bezigd en hoe er in verschillende sectoren wordt omgegaan met e-cultuur. Het doel van een dergelijke doorsnede is het vergaren van inzicht in alle processing van expressie en reflectie in dit domein. In alle lagen van de samenleving wordt er massaal gedaan aan e-cultuur. In elke huiskamer staat minstens een computer; de Time-person of the year is “you”. Hier gaat e-cultuur over. Naast het bieden van inzicht in de breedte van het veld, is het even relevant ‘onze’ eigen labs en doelen van deze labs te laten zien. Dit vakgebied begint bij de labs en zij zullen door moeten gaan in het vernieuwen en onderzoeken van het internet; het is nu niet afgelopen, het internet is nog niet af.

Conferentie
De dag is ruwweg op te delen in twee delen:
opleidingen en ontwikkelingen binnen e-cultuur en economie plus fondsen binnen e-cultuur, met Paul Keller en Floor van Spaendonck als hosts. Elke spreker krijgt vijf minuten om zijn of haar verhaal te doen.

Over Virtueel Platform
VP is klaar voor een nieuwe start waar het vroeger begon als lobby tussen politiek en media is VP nu een kenniscentrum van formaat, met plannen om verder te groeien naar sectorinstituut. VP wil zich richten op profesionalisering van de sector (zie nieuw beleidsplan vp) Met een nieuw team gaat hier aan gewerkt worden. nogmaals, de aanleiding van cultuur 3.0 is noodkreet. Iedereen wil digitaliseren, maar toch heerst er nog veel ongebrip. Demystificatie van de sector: er zou geen expertise zijn. Die is er natuurlijk wel, alleen nog niet helder verwoord. Nieuwe taak van VP.
overview conference
eerste panel: kunst & labs: wat zijn de innovatieve kunstvormen?
Susuan Jasco
is curator bij Montevideo. De functie van Montevideo is het conserveren en onderzoek doen naar open source, database, art production, preservation of media art. Naast ‘artist in residence’ zijn er ook artiesten die in het veld van nieuwe media actief zijn. Via bijvoorbeeld de dyne.org foundation, zijn er middelen beschikbaar. met als doel “to provide time and means to work in professional context”. Innovatie in de kunst in lijn staan met de innovatie binnen technologie. Er worden projecten gescreend.

Lucas van der Velden.
In Eindhoven is er vanuit de gemeente een ‘nieuw’ initiatief : Strp S. Dit is een plek met veel ruimte en veel nieuwe creatieve industrie, gevestigd in oude Philips fabrieken. Van der Velden e.a. hebben het idee dat er behoefte is aan een culturele kant bij deze creatieve industrie in Eindhoven in de vorm van een Medialab. Het doel is om praktijk- onderzoek te doen naar de haalbaarheid van een Medialab via het realiseren van projecten. Deze projecten moeten zich gaan richten op de integratie van meerdere media. Vooral de relatie tussen media en architectuur bestaat er nog een gat, volgens van der Velden. Hij doelt hier op navigatie, tracking etc. De plek is interessant omdat o.a. Philips’ NatLab daar zat. Tot in de jaren 60 zorgde Philips voor een kunst-elan. Moet er een nieuw poem komen en moet dat in Eindhoven?

Waag society
Heeft in de afgelopen jaren aardig wat projecten opgeleverd en interventies gemaakt. De Waag wil haar activiteiten typeren als “creative research”. Waar in de academische wereld het dogma ‘publish or perish’ bestaat, gaat het Waag Society om maken, waar het dogma ‘demo or die’ van kracht is.
De methode is een iteratief ontwerpproces, waar samen werken met kunstenaars, academici en bedrijven een standaard is. Binnen de projecten staat de gebruiker centraal. Op zoek naar innovaties door middel van een grid van domeinen, waarbinnen de Waag actief wil zijn.
Een ander doel is het bieden van faciliteiten en ‘testbeds’ zoals fablab. Een groot probleem binnen innovatieplatforms en creatieve industrie is: hoe blijf je relevant? “IPP creative” is opgestart om ruimte te maken om onderzoek te doen en een soort neutrale plek te zijn om dit uit te zoeken.

tweede panel: onderzoek & ontwikkeling, opvallende modellen

Arie Altena, Frank Mohr Instituut
Rapporteerd vanuit Groningen en begint met de vraag: wat is nieuwe media kunst? Zijn doel is om studenten op te leiden om op een betekenisvolle manier kunst te maken die nu de cultuur vormen. Hierbij staat nieuwe technologie en de invloed van deze technologie op cultuur centraal. Wat is het om nu te leven? Hoe kan het anders? Belangrijk in dit veld is dat je als kunstenaar je eigen plek en mix van technologie maakt en toe-eigend. Het gaat om dingen maken. Het is zelden zo dat je alle facetten van een project als kunstenaar kunt doen. Vanuit de wereld van de kunst die dingen wil maken, zul je moeten samenwerken. Er is binnen nieuwe media kunst behoefte aan samenwerkingen tussen kunst en technologie. Het gaat om opnieuw leren denken – in reflectie en estethiek.

Alex Verkade
Is werkzaam bij buro ‘de praktijk”, waar methodes worden ontwikkeld voor regulier voortgezet onderwijs. Er wordt ook gekeken naar mogelijke toepassingen van cultuur en nieuwe media, maar ook bijvoorbeeld werkzaam voor de Nationale Wetenschapsquiz en wetenschapscommunicatie. Een recentelijk interessante reeks projecten gaan over afstandsonderwijs. Hoe kun je dit verbeteren? Er wordt geprobeerd onderwijsverbeteringen en leergedrag via e-cultuur aan te pakken door gebruik van data mining etc. Niet alleen de technische kant van onderwijs maar ook distributie speelt hier een belangrijke rol, waarin nederland een beetje achter loopt in vergelijking tot andere Europese landen. Er wordt druk gezocht naar partners die hierin kunnen helpen (oproep).

Anne Nigten
Is werkzaam voor V2. Ze bespreekt het model van de “Patching zone”, een nieuw initiatief vanuit v2. Dit is voortgekomen vanuit v2 lab onderzoek en het gaat over electronische kunst, waarbij projecten in samenwerking met wetenschappers en technici worden uitgevoerd. Ideale kunstvorming voor samenwerking op het gebied van onderzoek en ontwikkeling. V2 lab is daar een geruime tijd mee bezig geweest. Leerpuntje is dat de eigenheid van een onderzoek en de werkwijze/methode sterk afwijkt van r&d in bijvoorbeeld het bedrijfsleven of de wetenschap (open deur?).
De term Art&D is in het leven geroepen door Nigten (in plaats van R&D). Onderscheid zich omdat het geen reflectie is op theory, maar reflectie op zichzelf. It’s about remixing and patching. Kunstenaars putten vanuit verschillende gebieden en “patchen” dit tot iets nieuws, waarbij het vaak gaat om interactieve kunstwerken en het gedrag van gebruiker. Uitkomsten art en d. vaak werkende prototypes als uitkomst. Proof of concepts maar dan stapje verder.
Opleidingen vertonen vaak een gat omtrent samenwerking (ID Eindhoven is hier een tegenvoorbeeld) Complexe vraagstukken kunnen vaak niet anders dan transdisciplinair worden aangepakt. Behoefte aan ruimte om dit te doen is sterk: een aanvulling voor opleidingen = de patching zone. Gericht op hedendaagse complexe problemen, bijvoorbeeld rol van publieke ruimte, sociale interactie. Ook bijdrage leveren aan cultuurlokaal. Zie patchingwork.net.

derde panel: de gebruikers: eCultuur, wat is de meerwaarde?

Jan van der Sluis Stimulanz – live events.
Over informatie en organisatie van informatie in de zorg – crossmedialiteit. Laat een moeilijk leesbaar ontwerp zien van het in elkaar schuiven van verschillende dimensies in informatie. Van der Sluis brengt de term ‘life events’, wat er op neer komt dat er evenmenten zijn waarbij zorg noodzakelijk is, door wie dan ook. In hoeverre kun je deze live events gaan delen en invullen door middel van e-cultuur middelen? Er heerst in de zorgsector nog een grote achterstand als het neerkomt op de mogelijkheden die e-cultuur kan bieden. Implementatie en overtuiging is moeilijker dan het lijkt in de zorg.

Macha Roesink.
Verteld over het Museum De Paviljoens in Almere. De tentoonstelling ‘at random- netwerken en kruisbestuivingen’ staat centraal. Waarom ze hier nu staat is vogens haar omdat het woord “netwerken” in de titel van de tentoonstelling staat. Bij het Museumpaviljoen gebeurd echter nog veel meer zoals bemiddeling tussen actuele e-cultuur en onderwijs, maar ook het ontwikkelen van lesprogrammas bij tentoonstellingen. Het project Skybrowser van Luna Maurer wordt besproken als voorbeeld. (meer info hier).

museumgoudA – Ranti Tjan
Tjan is directeur van het museum Gouda, dat zich bezighoudt met kunstgeschiedenis en beeldende kunst. Als voorbeeld voor het integreren van museu met e-cultuur geeft Tjan een voorbeeld van 40.000 objecten -goudse beelden – die door middel van een per ongeluk meegenomen erfenis in Australie is beland. De eigenaar is op zoek gegaan naar de herkomst en makelij van deze beelden door brieven te schrijven. Met de komst van het internet is zijn informatiezoektocht extreem uitgebreid, vooral via internet verzamelaars en kenners. Dit geeft materiaal voor meerdere collecties. De vraag hierbij is hoe kun je opnieuw, met deze middelen, kunt verzamelen en hoe je de amateur-expert verzamelaar in dit proces betrekt.
Over de “patching zone” van v2, die ook hier is toegepast, zegt Tjan dat het een poging is om medewerkers opnieuw te laten kijken naar media, vooral op het gebied van de rol van conservator.

vierde panel: Internationale samenwerking: grenzelose projecten
SICA – Beate Gerlings
Internationale samenwerking, oke, maar wat is de ‘state of the union’ in e-cultuur, vraagt Gerlings zich af. E-cultuur is erg breed; er is nog geen duidelijk beeld.
Bij SICA gebeurd er vanalles, zoals de “dag vd grenseloze nieuwsgierigheid”, met daarbij de vraag hoe je echt kunt samenwerken in een interantionale context. Hoe zorg je voor echte crosspolonation in een tijd van een verschuivend wereldbeeld en een verschuiving van machtscentra. Door ander kanten op te kijken dan bijvoorbeeld New York en Berlijn, maar naar plekken als Shanghai Sao Paulo en Delhi krijgen we meer inzicht in wat er in de kunst allemaal te doen is. Maar is dit wel voor de nieuwe media sector? Ja, zegt Gerlings. Naast het hele digital divide verhaal is er vooral in het opzetten van e-cultuur erg veel te doen. Internationalisering ondersteunen is ook een doel van bijvoorbeeld VP. Virtueel en zintuigelijk volgen van internationale trends. Sica heeft als taak om interessante trends te spotten. Veel naar China en India om contacten te leggen, vooral om de link vanuit beeldscherm naar echt wereld te maken. Ook is er toegang tot europese subsidies voor dit soort projecten (oproep).

Alex Adriaansens, V2
Begint zijn presentatie met een foto van Mao die het werk van Duchamp onderzoekt. Dit is een voorbeeld van het doel van internationalisering; uitdaging en exploratie. Het onderzoeken en vormgeven van onszelf en onze omgeving; trial and error, DIY en methode. De inzet van technologie om onszelf te begrijpen is er altijd al geweest, waarbij media en technologie extenties van ons lichaam zijn (McLuhan). Internationale uitwisselingen zijn onderdeel van onze dagelijkse praktijk. Connectiviteit, verbondenheid en verantwoordelijkheid. Kunst, NGO’s, Copyright etcetera gaan allemaal over internationalisering. Dit wordt daarmee dan ook een belangrijk beleidspunt. Niet te verwarren met globalisering – internationalisering gaat over kennis delen.
Nederlandse e-cultuur instellingen zijn klein, wat kenmerkend is. Deze schaal heeft voor- en nadelen. Innovatie en onderzoek is gericht in fijnmazige netwerken waardoor het heel moeilijk is om een kritische massa te bereiken. Wel zijn deze netwerken dynamisch en flexibel en goed vernetwerkt. Kunst, vormgeving en e-cultuur zijn discipline-overschrijdend. Daarom zijn deze instellingen zeer geschikte partners voor buitenlandse projecten, vooral door hun unieke aanpak. In nieuwe economische regios werkt men vaak vanuit andere (hierarchische) achtergronden. Internationaal samenwerken gaat over delen van manieren van samenwerking. E-cultuur in nl is eigenzinnig en helder, experiment als basis voor praktijk. Tweewegverkeer, geen export. Residencies, workshops, presentaties… nl e-cultuur is hier al goed mee op weg. Belangrijk thema. E- cultuur houdt niet op aan de grens.

nimk, Gaby Wijers
Wijers begint, zegt ze zelf, met een aantal open deuren als statements. E-cultuur is vluchtig. Technieken zijn vluchting. Archieven, collecties en beheer zijn zijn het enige geheugen, het enige middel tegen vluchtigheid.
Bij het NIMk, lopen verschillende onderszoeks projecten over het archiveren van mediakunst en daarmee zijn ze pioniers. Het ontwikkelen van technieken en modellen om die kunst weer te presenteren is het doel, bijna altijd in samenwerking.
In 2010gaat het “inside installation project” getoond worden, mede mogelijk gemaakt door het culture 2000 fonds. NIMk in dit soort projecten het voortouw. Wijers laat nog een project zien; het Gama project. Gama is een e-content + project, waar 19 partijen bij participeren, waaronder onder andere Ars Electronica. Het doel is om archieven te bouwen; in november zullen de eerste resultaten zichtbaar zijn. NIMk heeft op dit moment een hele grote collectie mediakunst, ook voor distributie. Op 215 locaties in 36 landen.

vijfde panel: Creatieve industrie: tussen cultuur, economie en maatschappij

Picnic – Monique van Dusseldorp
Van Dusseldorp begint haar verhaal over kennismaken en conferenties. Zijn er mensen al actief aan het netwerken? Want daar gaat het om.
In amsterdam is er een grote mate van creatieve industrie en allerlei bedrijvigheid rond e-cultuur.
Er is nog geen blauwdruk over hoe hier mee om te gaan. Nu en hier op het punt van wat het hier en nu. Het PICNIC event is een grote bijeenkomst over e-cultuur en amsterdam als “creative capitol” – gematched voor industrie. Wat is een congres? Het brengt mensen bij elkaar om mee verder samen te werken en contacten te onderhouden. PICNIC is een platvorm, waar dit jaar ook “specials” worden geintroduceerd: themas binnen het gehel spectrum waar nog intensiever op wordt ingegaan. Er zijn nog mogelijkheden om voor de aankomende PICNIC en special aan te dragen (oproep).

Willem Velthoven, Mediamatic
Vertelt over “social rfid” en mediamatic als het eerste sociaal netwerk binnen en cultureel kader. De Kate Bush party wordt genoemd (kate komt niet) maar ook het El Hema project, een samenwerkinsproject waar mensen uit 17 landen elkaar vonden via eigen netwerken en dat van Mediamatic. Je sociale todo-lijst via netwerk is de badge die je gekregen hebt aan het begin van de conferentie. De fotos zijnop basis van je meta-datauitgezocht. Wat heb je met deze mensen gemeen? Ga het uitvinden! Ook kun je via je RFID badge bellen op twe plekken in 11; waarom? Hygienisch netwerken (dus wel praten, niet ontmoeten). Ook het friend-drinkstation wordt genoemd, dat vorig jaar op PICNIC erg succesvol bleek. Ook het iTea – en phototbooth project worden genoemd. Ook is er een dating service binnen het cultureel netwerk. Mocht je het allemaal teveel vinden, dan kun je gelukkig op de Mediamatic site bij je profiel, alle ‘social’ events uitzetten.

submarine channel, Bruno Felix
in 2000 begonnen als alternatief voor de publieke omroepen. Online festival met 1 keer per jaar een fysiek festival. Estetische kant wordt bekeken, maar ook de kanten als marketing en distributie: hoe bereik je mensen online. Over de eigen producties die submarine maakt, zegt Felix dat het risicovol is. Bijvoorbeeld het Minimovies project. Dit zjjn documentaires in serievorm in afleveringen van 5 minuten. Je krijgt 2 afleveringen en een trailer. Daarna kun je de rest van de serie kopen voor 1 dollar (iTunes model) hoe kun je online maken en distribueren?De documentaire My SeCondLife is van Submarine. Deze is via youTube bekend geworden en pas daarna via de normale omroepen uitgezonden.

Een discussiepunt is: er is veel te doen in Amsterdam rond nieuwe media ; hoe is dat ontstaan, terwijl er geen beleid voor bestond? Mensen willen graag hier, in amsterdam, bezig zijn met nieuwe media, De stad trekt het aan. We (amsterdam) deden altijd al illegale dingen voor de rest van europa, misschien komt het daar vandaan?

Financiering/fondsen: eCultuur, een vak apart?

Mondriaan Stichting – Gitta Luiten
Ontwikkelingen in e-cultuur hebben veel invloed op projecten en hoe daar nu mee wordt omgegaan binnen Musea. Het kruipt overal in. Nadeel is dat het wel meer kost. Voordeel is dat er zo weinig mogelijk criteria worden gesteld. Veel regels afschaffen. Er zijn veel ideen maar vaak geen tijd/ geld om het goed voor te bereiden. De kwaliteit moet ondersteund worden en de programmering wordt belangrijker.Er zijn 3 peilers voor het versterken en ontwikkelen van professionele cultuursector.
Over de interregeling: hoe gaat het geld verdeeld worden? Het is duidelijk dat er vooral meer geld moet komen. In Den Haag moet het door gaan dringen dat dit soort projecten kostbaar zijn.

Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds – Hans van Straten
De eerste kunst/media ervaring van van Straten was het Deaf festival. Binnen het Prins Berhard Cultuurfonds zijn er 5 sectoren en themas. Echter, er is nog geen apart speerpunt voor e-cultuur, binnen het Fonds. Maar aanvragen kan altijd (oproep)! Bijvoorbeeld de Waag krijgt steun vanuit het Fonds. Als je echt wilt weten of je project in aanmerking komt, ga naar www. cultuurfonds.nl. Ook zijn er regionale afdelingen en projecten.

Kunstfonds – mediaproducties
Het gaat om maken in plaats van regelingen en beleid. Toch is er een beleid gemaakt, war het speerpunt ligt bij het leggen van verbinding tussen de electronische wereld en kunst. Toen (20jr geleden) radio en tv, nu ook internet. Deze drie media zijn aan het convergeren. Veel zelf initiatief om projecten op gang te brengen. De workshop stifo@sandberg wordt ook door het Kunstfonds gedaan. Er is net een boek verschenen met de resultaten (new cultural networks). Hoe nu verder?
Tradionele media naar steeds meer mengvormen; tegelijkertijd meer aanvragen over e-cultuur. bestaat dat wel? Jeugd 2.0 om te kijken wat e-cultuur is. Vooral jong publiek zit al in hele andere distributiekanalen. Belangrijk om over na te denken. Beleid of niet? Wat moet je hier doen? Al doende leren, iets minder beleid, meer richting cratieve industrie. Het grote geweld in deze sector zit in gaming, niet in kunst. Toch een brug slaan. Moeten dit vekennen, vooral serious gaming. Samen met VP conferenties en projectn formuleren om iets te laten zien + moeite waard. Ondersteuen van concrete plannen en de mensen die ze maken. Vergroten van publieksbereik. Zoeken naar nieuwe wegen om kunst en nieuwe wegen te verbinden.

Nederland fonds voor film
Begonnen met experimentele film. Interregeling . Fondsen nagedacht over prioriteiten. Bij het filmfonds bezinnen over wat we moeten nu met die e-cultuur. Loopt teveel via de experimentele kant. Besloten om speciaal loket in te ramen voor e-cultuur. De grens ligt bij het narratieve. binnen dat kan alles. beleidsplan op filmfonds.nl

Een discussiepunt is: alle sprekers zijn enthousiast over e-cultuur, maar wel allemaal aparte gedachtes en projecten van e-cultuur.
De Digitale Pioniers (Keller) Er is een statement/regeling – je moet naar een bepaald kunststroming. De Digitale Pioniers doen dat niet en zien toch e cultuur als iets op zichzelf en zijn maatschappelijke relevantie als op zichzelf staand. Veel jonge makers willen juist niet via fondsen of een bepaalde kunst werken. Daarvoor zijn de Digitale Pioniers.

Performance van STEIM: begonnen als lab voor electronische life performance. Performance by dj sniff.
steim performance

Wrap-up door Floor van Spaendonck
Dit was een korte doorsnede/scan van wat er aan e-cultuur gaande is binnen Nederland. Op het scherm zien we een start van een mapping- project gedaan door Govcom.org voor VP. Het eerste screenshot wordt aangeboden aan de wethouder van Amsterdam, Carolien Gehrels.
Wethouder Gehrels zegt afsluitend:
Ingewikkeld verhaal vanuit de Gemeente. Er is een groot belang aan cultuur, en er is een wens bij de wereldklasse te horen. E-culture en kunst in cultuur, Amsterdam als laboratorium functie. Dit is een belangrijk deel van het beleid als college. Atelierbeleid en broedplaatsen. Wij, bestuurders, zijn beleidsmakers, geloven wel in beleid. Je moet aanvoelen wat er gaande is en wat de passies zijn van de stad. Dat zijnde mensen die iets neer kunnen gaan zetten. De creatieve industrie groeit in Amsterdam. Belangrijk dat amsterdamse talenten zich thuis voelen. toekomst is aan u.

A youtube clip:

Victorian Circus, one of the most prominent new media festivals, thinks it is high time to explore THE FUTURE. Besides interesting lectures, brainstorms and debates you will be surprised by futuristic installations and films. As the cherry on the cake there will be an exclusive Dutch première of the documentary/film TechnoCalyps by Frank Theys. Come, the future is yours! But for how long?

READ THE COMPLETE PROGRAMME: WWW.BRAKKEGROND.NL

In a tutorial by Geert Lovink on German Media Theory we read German uncontemporary media theorists. Klaus Theweleit’s Male Fantasies Volume I and Male Fantasies Volume II, Elias Canetti’s Crowds and Power and Friedrich Kittler’s Gramophone, Film, Typewriter was the shared basis we started with. I read Spheres I: Bubbles by Peter Sloterdijk and gave a presentation about it. Bubbles is part of a trilogy where the German Philosopher develops a theory of Spheres. This post is derived from the presentation I gave in class.

Sloterdijk studied philosophy, Germanistics and history at the University of Munich. He received his PhD from the University of Hamburg. Since 1980 he has published many philosophical works, including the Critique of Cynical Reason. The trilogy Spheres is the philosopher’s magnum opus. The trilogy has not yet been translated in English. Sferen, the book I have read is a Dutch translation of a large part of volume I and II. Some parts are omitted. Volume III is not translated into Dutch.

The trilogy of spheres

Spheres are the spaces where people actually live. I would like to show that human beings have, till today, been misunderstood, because the space where they exist has always been taken for granted, without ever being made conscious and explicit.

And this lieu or space I call a sphere in order to indicate that we are never in fact naked in totality, in a physical or biological environment of some kind, but that we are ourselves space-creating beings, and that we cannot exist otherwise than in these self-animated spaces.

Peter Sloterdijk

Peter Sloterdijk rewrites the history of mankind from a philosophical perspective rather than a scientific one. This philosophical perspective has its roots in metaphysics and religious thought and counters the materialistic approach that has dominated thinking for centuries. The philosophical question Sloterdijk starts of with is: where is man? Instead of addressing ontological questions of the being of man, he addresses the places of human beings. The theory of the Spheres can be viewed as a Grand Narrative, which combines new sociology, psychology, world history and philosophy. In taking this approach he aims to renew psychology from a philosophical perspective, and also renew media theory from a philosophical perspective. He uses a divers range of sources such as religious paintings from the middle ages, Odysseus and the Sirens to an autobiography of Andy Warhol. His style can be characterized by metaphorical transitions, associations with a combination of text types instead of rational arguments. The argument is build up rather unconventional yet the plausibility of his theory is compelling.

It is useful to consider the general structure of the trilogy. The first volume was published in Germany in 1998, the second in 1999, and the last in 2004. Spheres is about spaces of coexistence, spaces commonly overlooked or taken for granted that conceal information crucial to developing an understanding of the human. Sphären I: Blasen (Spheres I: Bubbles) makes up the first part of a Sphere-trilogy in which Sloterdijk rewrites the history of mankind by understanding humans as sphere-producing and sphere-dependent beings. There are small and large spheres. Bubbles deals with the small spheres that form between individuals. In the second volume he moves to the macrospheres of the community, the state. Politics enters the argument in Sphären II: Kosmen, Globen, Reiche (Spheres II: Worlds, Globes, Empires). It contains a criticism of totalitarianism, expanded to include the entire history of advanced civilization. It demonstrates that empire-spheres are false attempts to project small familial spheres onto the social plane. Sphären III: Schaum (Spheres III: Foam) presents a postmodern plan, with which the German Philosopher wants to show how small and large spheres can combine to form a non-repressive, pluralistic whole.

Microspheres

In Spheres I: Bubbles the question “where is man?” is answered by approaching it from a micro level. A human being starts existence within another person, the mother. Sloterdijk argues this first condition of life defines us as human beings: always looking for new microspheres to protect us and resonate with, form relations with. sloterdijk therefore sees the subjects not as individuals, something which can not be divided, or as Deleuze sees subjects as “dividuals”, rather the subject is defined as something that is already divided to begin with and is always looking for a two-oneness.

Leonardo Da Vinci ca. 1510, detail

Chapter 5 is crucial in the argument, following his tendency to do away with mythological and religious narratives by secularizing them, Sloterdijk finds a material correlative to the intuition of an original human wholeness as it is expressed in numerous documents and artifacts in many cultures. The placenta, which nourishes the embryo and is connected to the mother through the umbilical cord, can neither be unambiguously interpreted as the organ of the mother, nor of the child. For Sloterdijk, this placenta presents evidence of a lost wholeness that was constituted dyadically. Using gynealogical terms such as placenta is however something Sloterdijk wants to avoid. It objectifies. It is a separation of subject (fetus) and object (placenta). Sloterdijk therefore employs the term Mit (With) to designate this state, which is hard to describe because of its pre-linguistic origin. The fetus and its placenta are connected to each other, like Orpheus and Eurydice. Together they form a two-oneness. The problem of the history of mankind begins with the excommunication of this first companion. The newborn subject is the mutilated half of an originally rounded being which is whole. At this point, modern individualism enters. The gynecological cutting the umbilical cord brings forth the lonely modern subject. This condition in turn facilitates the formation of totalitarian nations, which is addressed in Spheres II where macrospheres are theorized.

Media theory

On parting, the subject has a new space in which substitutions are possible. The vacant space that the lost primal companion leaves behind in man becomes the starting point for a consistently renewed search for new companions and new substitute spheres. New companions and spheres are constructed through media and can be regarded as substitutions for Mit. Approaching media from this perspective makes media part of the two-oneness instead of an extension of man or a tool. When considering the Web as such, it is a space that is real yet not tangible similar to how Sloterdijk defines spheres in the first place. This view counters material approaches to the Web such as Kittler’s argues in “There Is No Software” that every piece of information on the Web is in the end stored on material hardware. Looking at the Web as a space created by humans from the perspective of Spheres, Web space should not be materially objectified. Media are one form of substitution for Mit and part of the sphere to resonate with and form relations with others. Developing a media theory from a Sphere perspective provides ways to clarify the how and which of the consistency of different existences in shared ether. The challenge might therefore be the operationalization of a method to analyze the object of study from such perspective.

In her thesis Blogging for Engines Anne Helmond argues the blogosphere is constructed through a variety of technically enabled relations between blog software, search engines as well as bloggers. The sphere is not only created with other beings as well as with technology. The blogosphere is a sphere or a substitution of the Mit, that is enabled by technology such as the trackback, pingback and comments and resonates between bloggers as well as engines and blog software. The “I Am Sorry Blog Excuses” is one striking example where it becomes clear that for the blogger, the blog is not an object separated from the subject, rather part of the two-oneness similar to how Sloterdijk has described the placenta not as a separate object but as a state of Mit.

Interfacial spheres

In Bubbles, Sloterdijk contextualizes and develops his theory by looking how spheres can be perceived through history by analyzing a variety of sources such as art works and mythological stories. In chapter 2 on interfacial spheres of intimacy, Sloterdijk replaces the term intersubjectivity with interfacial greenhouse effects that form the human species. Eye contact is not seen as a vacuum or neutral “in-between” but rather following Plato, the interfacial space is viewed as a force field filled with turbulent tension that constructs the face as being-for-the-other-face. He analyzes two sacral frescos by Giotto where he studied interfacial constellations.

Giotto Di Bondone, The Meeting at the Golden Gate ca. 1305, detail

The first one depicts the moment where Joachim and Anna meet after they had a vision they were going to be parents of holy Mary. This moment where they are partners in the shared secret of the other is a moment where an interfacial sphere is created. Giotto represents this by placing both faces in a two-poled aureole. With a nice optical trick a third face appears in this two-poled sphere. The visible-invisible face that emerges refers to the new life that will be in Anna’s body. It is however not the face of a child that emerges from the faces of the future parents and resembles grandchild Jesus rather than their child, Mary.

Giotto Di Bondone, Betrayal of Christ ca. 1304-06, detail

The second fresco of Judas’kiss represents a very different interfacial constellation. It presents an antithetical spherical tension. The antagonism between the two is depicted on three levels. The first is metaphysical, distinguishing between god-man and man by using one single aureole. The second is physiognomic, depicting the distinguished versus the vulgar. The third is the spherological gap between the faces. There is an open sphere-creating force in the eyes of Jesus while Judas is unable to enter the sphere. Instead he selfishly tries to steal entrance. The kiss represents the gesture of someone who wants to enter the love space with the attitude of an outsider. There is no possibility for a shared life in their eyes.

In this chapter Sloterdijk provides a method how to analyze facial expressions as either sphere-producing or anti-spherical. When employed to the to the digital Mit, the interface as Sloterdijk describes it should be distinguished from the interface in interaction design. The sphere-related interface is not a surface. Spheres are the invisible bubbles of relations between individuals that form when information is exchanged and communication. Interfacial analysis from a sphere approach would rather be investigating the depiction of different constellations of the software that enable and constrain certain forms of information exchange and communication. An application like Skype provides ways to create small intimate spheres between two or a small number of people. In an interfacial analysis the possible constellations build into the software such as the use of online status ranging from the Skype Me to the Do Not Disturb can be looked into, as well as the use of emoticons and text employed to create spheres.

For me Sloterdijk’s Bubbles inspired me to look at the medium I am studying for a while now from a novel perspective. I am looking forward to reading volume II and hope that when I finish Boom/SUN decides to translate volume III in Dutch as well.

This Friday it is finally happening; I will head off to China for my research! After months of stalking people with interview requests and reading everything I could about Internet in China, I am going to visit some of the most innovative and prominent Chinese Internet companies. I am really looking forward to traveling through China, finally meeting all the people I have corresponded with, and discussing my research with them! The focus of my trip to China for my Masters Thesis research will be on the international ambitions and strategy of Chinese Internet market leaders.

During my stay in China I will visit the following companies to talk about their international strategy and ambitions:

Baidu (search engine market leader)
Sina (online media company for China and Chinese communities around the world)
Giant Interactive Group Inc. (online role-playing game developer )
Hipihi (Virtual world developer)
Netease (one of China’s leading Internet and online game services providers)
Perfect World (online game company specializing in MMORPGs)
Sohu (Internet Portal operator)
Tudou (online video site)
Tencent (Internet service portal)

Besides speaking with representatives from these companies I have corresponded and set up meetings with prominent bloggers, research companies, foreign companies in China, intellectual property legal experts, and everybody that could help me create a better insight in future developments of the Chinese Internet market and the Chinese creative industry as a whole.

These are most of the other companies or persons I am visiting:

Danwei (Chinese media, advertising, and urban life)
DLA Piper (International law firm)
JL Mc Gregor and Company (research and consulting services focused on China)
Ogilvy China (communication experts)
+8* (Mobile and Internet business consulting)
Spill Group Asia (casual gaming websites)
Springtime (PR and communications company)
Thomas Crampton (blogger: ‘Internet, media, and new ideas seen from Asia’)

Also I am planning on visiting Shenzhen High Tech Industrial Park (SHIP), Shanghai Pudong Software Park (SPSP) , and ZhongGuanCun Science Park. When on sight I hope to be able to arrange meetings with English speaking officials concerned with these designated innovation, and self-owned intellectual property boosting parks.

After five weeks of research in China, where I will pass through Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai and finally Beijing, I will hopefully be able to answer the following questions: which companies have global ambitions and what are they, how do companies see the near and far future, how are they trying to fulfill their international ambitions, do they stimulate creativity and innovation, and what does their strategy look like, also how will they be able to differentiate themselves from international competitors?

Theories on the development of Chinese cultural and creative industries – from made to created in China – will play an important role in my research. Other elements that will be taken into account are: intellectual property rights, the pro-active role of the government and international political and economic influences.

During my stay in China I will keep track of the interviews, lost in translations, proceedings, multiple 20 hour train rides, interesting cultural experiences, dim sum breakfasts, chicken feet dinners, etc. on my blog ‘Pieter-Paul’s Masters Thesis: Chinese Internet Companies Expanding Overseas’.

For further reading on my Ma Thesis subject I recommend the following books, articles, blogs, websites, and articles:

Readings:
From made in China to created in China – Andrew Keane
My Creativity Reader: A Critique of Creative Industries – edited by Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter
Fast Boat to China – Andrew Ross
Silicon Dragon – Rebecca Fannin
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc. – Willem van Kemenade (Dutch)
The Internet an Etnographic approach – Miller and Slater
The World is Flat – Thomas Friedman
Catching Up Fast: PR and Marketing in a Web 2.0 China – Björkstén, Lockne, Spännar, and Thorstenson
China’s Emerging New Economy:The Internet and e-Commerce – Wong and Nah
The Search for Modern China – Pei-kai Cheng and Michael Lestz
CHINA Contemporary
ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age – Andre Gunder Frank

Blogs and websites:
The China Dreamblogue
OneManBandwidth
Ogilvy China Digital Watch
Ich Bin Ein Beijinger
China Web 2.0 Review
China Blogging
China: Tech news from CNET News.com
Danwei – Media, Advertising, and Urban Life in China
Marc van der Chijs’ Shanghaied Weblog
The MOBINODE – Tracking Dragon’s Web – Best China Tech Blog
Community Blogs: Little Red Blog
Shanghai China Snippets
WangR English
SHANGHAI – HONG KONG
Travelers’ Tales – The FEER Blog
All Roads Lead to China
Thomas Crampton
Web Marketing China
The China Vortex
ING Asia/Pacific’s Blog
BDL Media
Online Marketing in China. SEO.

This Thursday Anne Helmond will be giving a lecture on ‘The Widgetized Self‘ a term coined by Nancy Baym. Blogs are increasingly connected to search engines such as Google and Technorati through the blog software. This leads to practices that focus on identity building through the engines. What does the increasing popularity of widgets mean for the identity of the blog and the blogger? What role do blog software and blog templates play in identity construction?

The lecture is part of the Mediamatic Beauty Parlour lecture series which deals with self presentation on the net.

I will present our MacBook Reading Club. Digital camera technology advanced ego-photography and ways for self presentation. The web cam advanced camera technology as medium of selfpresentation further. The camera is always directed at the self. The image where the face is shot from a slightly upper angle is known as the “Youtube angle” or “MySpace angle”. With the built-in cam and Photobooth software, the first thing one does when installing a new mac is taking a snapshot of the self. MacBook Reading Club takes advantage of Photobooth and the build-in camera. MacBook Reading Club is a new phenomenon in ego-photography, and introduces the “MacBook Reading Club angle”.

Reading together

Admission is free and the presentations will be in English. Hope to see you there!

General information:

Place: Mediamatic, Amsterdam
Date: Thursday the 27th of March
Time: 18:00 hours
Admission: FREE
Language: English

More info on the Mediamatic page.

READ: ARTICLE AT CUT-UP.MEDIA.MAGAZINE

When Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries announced he solved the Holloway-case and put together his findings, facts, and answers in a two hour film, he did so three days before airing the actual program. For 72 hours the Dutch public was held captive in front of their newspapers and screens. News was primarily dominated by talk shows and articles speculating about the films content prior to its broadcast. In the end the massive media hype resulted in seven million Dutch people staying home on a Sunday evening to watch a Cheech & Chong movie, with all the jokes cut out, being interrupted by commercials. Now the question is: what happens if, instead of three days, you announce a film three months before airing it?

As I am writing this article it is almost four months since Geert Wilders announced that he is preparing a film which elaborates on verses from the Quran, showing they are still being used today, accompanied by documentary footage from the world of Islam, in a 15 minute “call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamization”. In the meantime the Dutch government has expressed great concern about the upcoming film release and has made emergency evacuation plans available to all its consulates and embassies worldwide. Also, Dutch Minister-President Balkenende initiated hardening security measurements around military installations abroad. It is feared that the film will lead to violent extremist Muslim protest such as previous protests against the Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoons in 2005. Some critics argue that this governmental involvement adds to the publicity of the film and possibly is the cause of its negative association. Wilders accuses Balkenende of succumbing to professional cowardice for capitulating to Islam.

Nonetheless, on March 6th 2008, the Dutch government raised its national terrorist threat level from the status ‘limited terrorist threat’ to ‘substantial terrorist threat’ because it fears Muslim terrorists will launch attacks against European targets, with the film as one of the causes. Also Wilders received a substantial terrorist threat: a fatwa by Al-Qaeda, calling all Muslims around the world to assassinate Wilders in the name of Islam. In addition, various international relations have threatened to review its diplomatic stance with The Netherlands, should the film be aired. Leading to an investigation of the Dutch ministry of Justice to find out whether publication could be prevented, but this could not be done. Dutch law avoids censorship unless the content is discriminating. At this stage Fitna’s content is unknown.

Yet, Pakistani regulators banned YouTube for several days due to a “blasphemous” video clip believed to be a trailer for Fitna. Google eventually complied with the Pakistani protest and the material was removed. In their attempt to censor, Pakistan accidentally caused the YouTube site to be unavailable worldwide for hours. Moreover, on March 20th 2008, the American internet hosting provider Network Solutions took down Fitna’s website, replacing a placeholder image containing a picture of the Koran and the text, “Geert Wilders presents Fitna”, with a message asserting that complaints had prompted an investigation into whether its contents violated Network Solutions’ acceptable use policy. Notions of the Internet being a ‘free for all’, ‘revolutionary’ and ‘antigovernment’ distributed global network, should be reevaluated. Both YouTube and Network Solutions exemplify the hierarchical authority of control that exists in its decentralized design and the political pressure and power that allow manipulation.

Authority and control are even more evident in old media. Wilders negotiated about a possible broadcast of the film on the Dutch television. At this stage however it appears that no Dutch broadcaster wants to show the film in its entirety without interruptions and editing. Wilders has said that he would “Rather have the film entirely on the Internet, than half on television”. Fitna is a telling example of the conformist practice in Dutch television. The only tolerant Dutch broadcaster turned out to be the Dutch Muslim broadcasting network: the Nederlandse Moslim Omroep (NMO) offered to air the film, but insisted on an assessment prior to its broadcast, which Wilders turned down. I was enthuses when I read that the NMO proposed to show Fitna in its entirety. This could solve all problems. Not only are all bases – from a political perspective – covered; it would have been a beautiful gesture from both sides, hinting at compassion and forgiveness.

Perhaps one could say the conservative structure of television represents contemporary bureaucracy. On the other hand, Fitna demonstrates the emancipating and mobilizing quality of media. Numerous petitions are distributed via Internet channels, various artists have created ‘counter-films’, and the widespread critique of the (unseen) film has spawned protest actions including a protest of 1,000 people in Dam Square in Amsterdam. People gather together allowing the streets and media to become a platform for their neglected voice. Whilst governments are repressing masses by elaborating on increase of threat, religious conflict and censorship; there actually are people who consider Fitna to be an inappropriate political expression for a politician in a country with a multi-cultural population.

When searching for Geert Wilders Fitna on YouTube, you will have a difficult time missing hundreds of unique clips with the word “Sorry”. Inspired by an apology project done in America (concerning their President), Amsterdam-based Mediamatic mobilized professional and amateur film makers on YouTube in an attempt to show the world Holland is not solely inhabited by bitter angry Wilders clones, but flooded with artistic lovable people. And they are sorry. Sorry for the commotion, confusion, and it will never happen again….

But, should we really be sorry? I mean isn’t Fitna a brilliant new media case-study? The announcement to make a film for television and Internet has resulted in a multi-media hype, a demonstration of online and offline mobilization, and has spiced up contemporary debates concerning distribution laws, internet freedom, security, global politics and ‘impactology’. No doubt in the near future Fitna will be a cuisine for many hungry scholars (in domains of media, law, politics, sociology, cultural anthropology, religion studies) allowing them to obtain their Master and Phd degrees…… thanks to Wilders.

(Thank you?)

On February 28th 2008, the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) organized The Mobile City conference, in collaboration with the research programs ‘Mew Media, Public Sphere and Urban Culture’ (University of Groningen) and ‘Playful Identities’ (Erasmus University Rotterdam). The conference concerned the interplay of physical and digital spaces, and the influence of locative and mobile media on urban culture and identities.

As I entered the spacious hall of the NAi, the first thing that caught my eye was a table filled with Lego. The colorful interlocking plastic bricks and accompanying array of gear, figurines and other parts stand for imaginatively exploring scenarios and possibilities in a serious form of play. Contemporary cities are the realization of a vision that was once upon a time played with, perhaps even on a table filled with Lego. Similarly, Locative Media could be seen as a modern form of serious play, fostering creative thinking, as users build metaphors of their identities and experiences using new media technologies within a presented scenario. On the one hand, Locative Media offers new tools for designers to envision future planning; on the other hand designers will have to think differently about cities as the technology implicates mobility, practices of everyday life, politics and aesthetics.

Continue reading at INC Weblog

This is a summary of Virilio’s book, War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception. I read this for a class on German Media Theory – alongside Elias Canetti’s Crowds and Power, Klaus Theweleit’s Male Fantasies and Friedrich Kittler’s Gramophone, Film, Typewriter. I guess it is strange to ‘relocate’ Virilio (a French theorist) like this, but his study of “the deadly harmony that always establishes itself between the functions of eye and weapon” fits in well with the mass psychology and focus on war in Canetti’s and Theweleit’s books, and with Kittler’s media archeology.

There seem to be a number of critical assessments of War and Cinema on the Web; here I pick out some of the key points in Virilio’s argument and use examples to show how his work (written more than 20 years ago) is still relevant today.

Virilio traces a co-production of military and cinematic techniques and technologies, from the mass production of aerial photography and cinematic propaganda to modern flight simulators and weapons that “open their eyes” (e.g. laser guided missiles). All of this falls under the logistics of perception – more than just prosthetic or removed from the body, vision is the result of a detailed coordination of complex operations, a technological exercise that requires planning, material support, engineering, and so on.

Shock and Awe: no war without representation

The first rule or principle Virilio outlines is that there is no war without representation. As scientific and meticulous as war becomes, it never breaks from the ‘pre-technical’ ideas of war as deception and illusion, spectacle and captivation. So in addition to maps and planning (representations of the battlefield) there are mediations such as the piercing sound of swooping planes and missiles, designed to paralyze their soon-to-be victims. What was previously called the “theatre of operations” has been replaced by the “theatre weapon” (7).

Looking to cultural and economic ties between the industries, Virilio argues that cinema fits perfectly within the war machine: he cites, for example, arms industry funding of the German film company UFA in the 1930s, and the role of cinema stars and directors during the two World Wars (in propoganda, but also selling war bonds, etc.). Conversely, he writes that the war machine – with its focus on mass-management over diverse locales, logistics and planning – fits with cinema, and points to the scaling-up of production for films like Birth of a Nation.

What defines cinema, Virilio writes, is not the production of images but their manipulation: pans and tracking shots, zooming in and out, editing, etc. Cinema is the manipulation of dimensions, producing depth through movement. As has been noted by artists and writers before Virilio, this aligns the experience of watching movies with that of flying. And while pioneer directors were coming to terms with this unique aspect of cinema, he argues, aviation in the early 20th century became less about breaking speed records and more about a new way of seeing.

Aerial photography was introduced during the American Civil War (via hot air balloons), but came into its own during the first World War. It epitomizes Virilio’s logistics of perception, in that it requires a large-scale operation, including planning and post-production.

In light of Virilio’s argument, it is fitting that Google Earth (which uses satellite imagery rather than aerial photography) now includes a flight simulator. As if the experience of hovering over a 3-D image of the earth was not cinematic enough, there are now plenty of Google Earth ‘movies’ on YouTube, complete with soundtracks.

The cinematic manipulation of dimensions has its precedent in the rifle scope. “In his pencil-like embrasure, the look-out and later the gunner realized long before the easel painter, the photographer or the filmmaker how necessary is a preliminary sizing-up. This action, like the seductive wink so fashionable in the thirties, increased the depth of the visual field while reducing its own compass” (49).

Such negation or elimination of distance, for Virilio, continues into cinema and on to simulation: writing about Disneyland’s City of Tomorrow and one of its signature films, ‘Around the World in Eighty Minutes’, he says that “in the thirties, it was already clear that film was superimposing itself on a geostrategy which for a century or more had inexorably been leading to the direct substitution, and thus sooner or later the disintegration, of things and places” (47).

The substitution of places of war goes hand in hand with shifts in technologies of perception: in order to escape the look-out’s view and that of aerial photography, “the army began to bury its strongholds and outworks in a third dimension, throwing the enemy into a frenzy of interpretation. Invisible in its sunken depths, the camera obscura also became deaf and blind, its relations with the rest of the country now depending entirely on the logistics of perception, with its technology of subterranean, aerial and electrical communication”. Virilio writes that the “fortress-tombs, dungeons and bunkers are first and foremost camera obscurae … Their hollowed windows, narrow apertures and loopholes are designed to light up the outside while leaving the inside in semi-darkness” (49).

Directors and Dictators

At different points in the book, Virilio draws comparisons between stars and pilots, and between directors and dictators. Cecil B DeMille and others displayed “a charismatic infallibility stemming from foreknowledge of scripts which, as it happened, sometimes did not exist. For a whole generation of cinematic miracle-workers, the process of direction, even if improvised, literally took the form of revelation — that is divine action which makes konwn to men truths that they would not be able to discover by themselves” (52).

“At the same time … a new breed of military and revolutionary leader was beginning to have a similar charismatic effect on the masses. These men were heralds of the trans-political era: since real power was now shared between the logistics of weaponry and of sound and images, (in other words) between war cabinets and propoganda departments … parliamentary power had disappeared” (52-53)

Hitler’s plan for a new German empire required a “transformation of Europe into a cinema screen” (53). He looked “to relaunch the war as an epic” (54). A major factor was propaganda: the conference from Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will was entirely fabricated for the screen – everything was set up and performed with reference to the camera.

A Traveling Shot over 80 years

In the final chapter, Virilio (re)traces what he calls the fusion/confusion of technologies of perception and of warfare. He starts anew, this time with the introduction of searchlights in the Russian-Japanese battle of Port Arthur in 1904.

These searchlights were war’s first projectors – they “illuminated a future where observation and destruction would develop at the same pace. Later the two would merge completely … above all [with] the blinding Hiroshima flash which literally photographed the shadow cast by beings and things, so that every surface immediately became the war’s recording surface, its film” (70).

The searchlight was a reaction, of course, to war being waged from the air. It was an extension of what Virilio calls “the deadly harmony that always establishes itself between the functions of eye and weapon,” a truth ominously expressed years earlier in Etienne-Jules Marey’s chronographic rifle. Meanwhile, the military would develop a range of invisible weapons devoted to making things visible. This included the radar picture, but today we might also think of things like smart dust, used to remotely sense troop movement in the desert.

After Port Arthur, total war inverted conventional strategic planning. Virilio writes: “in the wars of old, strategy mainly consisted in choosing and marking out a theatre of operations, a battlefield, with the best visual conditions and the greatest scope for movement. In the Great War, however, the main task was to grasp the opposite tendency: to narrow down targets and to create a picture of battle for troops blinded by the massive reach of artillery units, themselves firing blind, and by the ceaseless upheaval of their environment” (70).

That is, trenches, shell-shock, moving front lines, the destruction of landmarks and so on, all impeded vision in one way or another. This necessitated the mass production of aerial photographs, of a new logistics of perception.

Virilio writes that the “deadly harmony between the functions of eye and weapon”, or the fusion and confusion of these operations, seems complete now as weapons “open their eyes” – examples include “heat-seeking missiles, infra-red and laser guidance systems, warheads fitted with video cameras” (83). A corollary of this for pilots is that they are trained to distrust their own eyes – Virilio points out that the significant moment has passed, in which flight simulation hours are officially recognized as on par with real flight hours for training.

—

In conclusion, I’ll just say that it is not hard to see how Virilio’s arguments extend to the current War on Terror, where an unseen threat has gone hand in hand with unprecedented levels of U.S. secrecy and spying. Not to mention the nature of terrorism designed with mass media in mind.

Meanwhile, the searchlight with which Virilio began, remains an iconic presence in nearly every major city, and of course in the culture of cinema. Most eerily of all, though, was perhaps the use of 88 high powered search lights for the 9/11 Tribute in Light memorial.

For those of us who thought domain name grabbing went out of style in the 1990s.. The Caucus Blog at the New York Times reports that the Republican National Committee has been parking some choice URLs in preparation for the general election:

The day after Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses, the R.N.C. snapped up at least 20 domains related to his candidacy. Some of them may signal the party’s future strategy: baracknotready.com and norealexperience.com. The party has also begun preemptively registering domains that could be used to attack John McCain, like mccainamigos.com, voteagainstmccain.com, flipflopmccain.com and hatemccain.com (ihatemccain.com was taken.)

The post has a complete list, some of which will annoy supporters of the Democratic candidates. Still, you have to give credit where it is due, and ~~‘fauxbama.com’~~ ‘fauxbama.org’ is actually kind of funny. (update: fauxbama.com is funny too, but it is a satire site definitely not owned by the RNC – my mistake.)

Excerpt from presentation made for the tutorial German Media Theory under supervision by Geert Lovink

Humboldt University (Berlin) professor Wolfgang Ernst is one of the pioneering scholars of media archeology, a branch of inquiry that he defines as “an archeology of the technological conditions of the sayable and thinkable in culture, an excavation of evidence of how techniques direct human or non-human utterances – without reducing techniques to mere apparatuses (encompassing, for example, the ancient rules of rhetoric as well).” (From interview with Geert Lovink)
For the objectives of media archeology archives are naturally of primary importance, they materialize our current discourse on memory by actively participating on the selection process of what will be stored and discarded. In this way, archives functione like a memory machine, transforming the present into storehouses of the past.
Until very recently, the functioning of this machine was predominantly oriented towards time. Storing cultural memory for very long stretches of time was the primary goal, where the retrieval of the stored information was a separate and a somewhat inferior process.
Any archeological inquiry into such a vast collection of information is bound to be a unique montage, something that is not recognized and supported by the archival structure itself.
All these propositions, along with the inherent properties of the archive were first challenged with the invention of film and the completely new ability to capture movement. Movement is a crucial element in the functioning of new media, even so that Ernst defines new media as “coming into being only in movement” and by this definition film was the first new medium, first to shift the focus from time to space. But film still had to be stored and accessed like the old time-oriented media. Because of this shortcoming, Ernst argues, the real rapture that we experience today regarding the archives had to wait the introduction of electric media, and especially the computer.
With the computerization of the archive, the document-centered structure of the old gives way to a mathematicized, operative memory that does not differentiate between aural or visual elements. As with all electric media, the new archive requires constant refreshing to stay active but enables the completely new notion of instant feedback. Any piece of information that has been fed into the archive can be retrieved for reuse almost immediately and such immediate access is not space bound.
This new form of archive represents a new understanding of the dominant memory culture where the processes of memorization have never been so similar between the archive and the human memory. Ernst argues that the structure of computer memory is the closest ever to the corresponding human memory processes. When the immediate feedback and constant movement of the new archives are combined, the emerging memory becomes an interactive extension of the present, rather than a praise of the long-gone past.
Such a transformation would shift the focus from a state of constant storage to constant access and Ernst is suggesting a new name to place these new episteme of archives, which is derived from the way science treats electric currents from the beginning; archival field.

With his comprehensive perspective on the computerization of the archive, Wolfgang Ernst’s work on media archeology proves to be very illuminating on all topics related to computer-based storage and access.

Tim Creswell talks from within a framework of ‘twenty years of thinking about place and mobility.’ His talk at the The Mobile City 2008 conference therefore is less about new technology, but more about political issues and the role power. For this, he outlines three ideas, being the “dromology”, the “social kinetics” and the “kinetic elite”.

The dromology, as discussed by Paul Virilio, is about the power to stop and put into motion, to incarcerate and accelerate objects and people. Social kinetics, mentioned by Norman Bryson, is a field which would chart the history of socially structured movement. The kinetic elite, by Peter Slotendijk, deals with a more or less insulated gorup of people who are able to move around the world at will. Creswell takes up these ideas to think about particularly the politics of moving, and, arguably even more important, the politics of standing still. (Image below by: bgiles1999)

Mobility is experienced differently by many groups. It can be comfortable or free, it can be done by man or woman, by domestic servan or refugee. Creswell takes the example of the Mexican immigrant that is trying to get into the United States. On the other end of the spectrum, there is the world that respects the rich man, the globetrotter, who uses first class cabins and pullman cars.

Consequently, there are certain aspects of mobility. Creswell: ‘It is not just homogenous, but something that has aspects to it to be defined for analytical purposes.’ He defines six aspects. Firstly there is the motive force: Why does a thing move? Creswell: ‘High up, people can choose destinations according to joys they offer, low down people are thrown out of places they would like to stay in.’ Secondly, there is velocity. How fast does a person or thing move? Paul Virilio in this aspect mentioned that the it is the prime engine for historical development. Creswell: The faster we get, the more our freedoms are threatened.Speed doesnt just mean fastness, but also slowness. slowness can be a privelege.’ Thirdly, there is rhythm. With what rhythm does a person or thing move? Rhythm in public space is discussed by Lefebvre. A vivid example of this is gate analysis, for example by individual finger print analysis. Another interesting example of the ministery of silly walks (a reference to the hilarious Monthy Python scene). The mapping of people’s walks, however has been incorporated with cctv, basically to find out who is walking in a funny way.

The fourth is the route, what route does a person or thing take? Creswell mentions Guattari in this aspect. Route is about the channeling of mobility. About producing order and predictability. Highways, highspeed train lines ignore cities in between and routes are turned into dromological space. Fifth: How does it feel? Creswell: ‘Mobility is experienced such as luxury and pampering, think of the economy and business class which gives you more; toilets, internet, movies, etc.’ In earlier ages, walking was for the poor, the criminal, the young and above all the ignorant. Creswell: ‘It was not untill the 19th century that people started to take walking as an end in itself, beyond the confines of the landscaped garden or gallery.’ The sixth aspect of mobility is friction: How does mobility stop? Is stopping a choice, or is it force? New forms are not about the city walls, but about higlhy valued speeds, global interconnections and CCTV. This is also about racial profiling: Blacks are more prone to be stopped by police. And in post 9-11 UK, a man was shot in the head who did not stop in an underground metro station. Creswell: ‘Friction, therefore, is an important component of mobility studies.’

In between all these aspects is the concept of the vagabond: A person with no established home who drifts from place to place without visible or lawful means or support. Creswell takes this back to the origins of the narrative of resistance: In 1599 a Spanish novellist created the picaresque novel which included stories of the vagabond who contradicts with established norms of the homes. A more recent example of the vagabond, Creswell recalls, is the song Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan. An example, also mentioned in Anthony Dunne’s book Hertzian Tales, is that of the homeless vehicle. Creswell: ‘This is an artistic way of bringing to life what would remain invisible. The heroic figure that lives outside of norms and conventions. It is something that challenges expectations within a society.’

Report by Twan Eikelenboom

Christian Nold’s talk on Locative Media Autopsy at the 2008 The Mobile City conference dealt primarily with the question what Locative Media really is. Is it just a techno-fetishistic vision of gadget lovers, or should we perhaps take it more seriously to uncover its hidden uses?

Starting off, Nold talks about an interesting vision: ‘Locative Media is perhaps regarded as a strange other space, which goes beyond the top-down image of the Gods.’ Continuing: ‘I’m curious: Are we comfortable representing our cities like that?’ More specifically, what is represented in technofetishistic visualiations of locative media, and what kind of social relations are generated by this technofestishism?

According to Nold old maps sometimes provide much richer representations of what is going on, exemplary of this is a map Nold shows in which nymfs represent forests. So far, locative media has been predominantly about terms that do not encompass any social community building: gather, share, play, visualise and imagine. Perhaps it is useful to complement these terms with: collaborate, archive, educate, challenge, change behaviour and organise. Of which the latter is perhaps the most important one, with regards to for example smart mobs, Nold: ‘People are doing all sorts of stuff with mobile phones, how does this lead to social interaction?

Oakland Crime Map

Interesting examples of locative media enabling new forms of social relations are the Oakland Crime Spotting map, which reinterprets public data. “Normal” police crime is broken down in terms of different crimes, at different times. There are however, more complicated ways to go through data and make it publically available and usable. As an effect, cops were surprised to see data visualized in new ways, enabling new interpretations of the data. Nold: ‘If this project takes itself seriously and is an intended community project, it can start to go beyond the point of collecting new data. My question is: ‘How much crime is not being reported? Imagine if that could be represented. In order to do this, the extra step of working long-time within an area must be made.’

More examples include the Register your Fruit Tree” and “Fallen Fruit of Silver Lake” maps, which show ways to collect your fruit. Nold: ‘Through these maps you can start to think about social relationships that are caused by these project, and not just about the food. You might actually start talking to people who live in that house.’ Not a map, but very interesting in this aspect is the documentary “The power of community: how Cuba survived peak oil”. This documentary shows essential connections in the time when the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost 50% of its oil imports. Because of Cuba’s agro-chemical background, many of the countries resources were rendered useless. The effects were that the average Cuban lost 30 pounds in body weight, but also the design of a community bus, which was a truck turned into a bus by adding a carrier.

Nold emphasizes that it is important to take locative media seriously, instead of being just a nice techno-fetishistic gadget. Nold: ‘Taking pictures with mobile phones is getting more serious.’ A next step in design could be designing for responsive communities and getting involved with people. An example of this from Nold’s work is his wellknown BioMapping project, but also his communal noise mapping project. For this project, Nold handed out decibel meters, which allowed the community to challenge “official” government numbers. The data so far was based on total noise levels and not on specific individual experience. Therefore the project also included adjective ratings such for sound such as: ‘silent, exetermely quiet, bassy, painful, exhausting, threatening, abrupt.’ In another project, the Silvertown affect map, the question is asked: How do you build maps that really get that local discussion going?’ Nold concludes: ‘For the BioMapping project, we turned the lie detector into something else. The context is not “are you lying”, but the physical environment. The context is very important, and for me that is where this new area of contextual media and responsive communities is going.’

Report by Twan Eikelenboom

I am currently reading a lot for my research and an interesting book I finished a few days ago is Fast Boat to China from Andrew Ross. In Fast Boat to China Andrew approaches the global outsourcing trend in a different way than most other writers on this subject (for example Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat). He has taken a surprisingly fresh look by gathering information not only in the countries that are relocating their factories to elsewhere, but mainly from foreign-invested companies based in China. A year long Andrew has interviewed enterprises in Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta.

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An interesting panel discussion was held during the mobile city conference “Designing for Mobile Media & Urban Spaces: between Theory and Practice”. The goal is to pose different perspectives on locative media – from practical to theory. Get some people from different disciplines to filter out key issues on how to go from here. The following people took part in the discussion:
– Nicolas Nova (user experience & foresight researcher, Media & Design Lab, Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne),
– Rob van Kranenburg (Waag Society Amsterdam)
– Marc Schuilenburg (Free University Amsterdam; Studio Popcorn)
– Joris van Hoytema (BBVH Architects, Baas op Zuid).

As an introduction, one or two slides are presented per person on their vision.
Nicholas: Continuity of experience in locative media. There is an assumption that space is homogeneous. This is not really the case. First slide shows our relation with technology. Technology breaks down, accidents happen and so on Different protocols keep emerging, leaving people clueless about what is happening. Different representations with different level of granularity. Peoples reaction to this is problematic. So, again, visualizations and their impact on perceiving what is happening are of great importance. In a slide about a mapping project wifi antennas, it becomes clear that distribution of antennas is far from homogeneous, so you never have the same access. This affects the experience of media. Holes in networks, in getting content etc.
A solution can be found about teamwork- getting people aware of this behavior of the network.

Rob: Shows a performance artist – picture of somebody driving into the canal with a bike. What about unexpected behavior and poetic autonomy of space. Rob is fearful about strange link between internet and locative media, just mirroring off line and online world. While this space is inherently different. The notion of seemingless-ness is also scary. Do we need screens? Where is the poetry in this space? Hardware vs software – where is the criticisms. There is a huge amount of agency nowadays to the average user. Can he/she handle that?

Joris: How can we use complicated new technology in simple applications where people can really benefit? ‘Baas op zuid’ project is mentioned. This is a platform of meeting and discussing, giving control to the people. Feedback and learning via digital layer. The true challenge is the massive interactiveness – communication both ways. On the other hand, not everyone wants to communicate and be available. He is focussed on the translation of complicated matter to easy-to-use applications.

Nicholas: Participation is very important.
Joris: A huge benefit when you can cater a low-threshold discussion, to re-invent interaction.
Nicholas: It is very problematic to involve large group of people into these kinds of projects.
Joris: We want to reach people in the area online, the bases should be; how can we reach our neighbour digitally? Do you know his ip, his or her email address? Probably not. Why not give every physical space an IP address?
Marc: Wiki-like idea of planning on how to develop a planning. Old ideas of art and design is always the genius. Wisdom of the crowd-argument is mentioned (which is debatable) that we see in smart-mobs and so on. Another aspect is mentioned – no genius anymore, but a senius intelligence and creativity is not bound to an autonomous individual, but via locative media it is mixed.
Rob: it is about agency and hardware and so much about software.

Marc: makes a point about citizenship and locative media. He gives a short intro in what citizenship means? Bound to public space is the original meaning, open-accessible for everyone etc. What consequences does CCTV have? What is still public and how accessible is this space. Public space is losing its coherence archipelago- separated spaces, isolated spaces. These spaces are guarded by locative and fixed media. collapse of this space means we also have to re-think to be a citizen?
Two new notions of citizenship: denizens and marginals. Denizens are people without political rights. Gated communities, own cultural and social rights, no political rights. These right are being replaced by private contracts, guarded by locative media and new media. We have to talk in a more political way about citizens, within encapsulated spaces. What remains out of sight when we undergo this transformation? Then we are left with marginals – digital divides- fallouts. Technology unites, but also divides. In our everyday, it raises questions about control, freedom and citizenship.

Chirstian responds by arguing that these things are not that easily solvable. Communities will evolve in finding a way to solve their social relations and their standards. Now, via property relationships communities are getting social.
Rob: do we still have time for theory and practice in the here and now? We are not in the zone of comfort anymore. There is an urgency.
Marc: the question is not what it is, but rather how does it work?

Joris: as a man of practice is making things rather than theorizing. Addition to the discussion is the consciousness of the technology, and to turn thing towards the good. “Woophy” project is mentioned, which is a feel-good projects. We fill the map of the world with nice pictures. (what do we think is beautiful?). It started when trying to make Google earth. You can travel the world and upload nice pictures, thus filling the world with your vision.
Nicholas: on both points, mobile software and location based services need a kind of serendipity. it is not about people, but again a gated community, with often a techno-geeky vision. There is a paradox between how the services are presented versus only exchange messaging. It shows that there is a problem.

Audience: designers are also not neutral: there was a question of good versus bad in choosing your goals as a designer. Also, is network noise necessarily bad? We (designer red.) constantly make biassed judgment. History of KAI and user studies is mentioned, where 90 % was on students and males. So what does this say about the value of these studies? In locative media, there is a collision between Cartesian versus knowledge traditions – creating participatory actions, re-considering our role as designers is big to-do. Framing the issues.

Rob: lots of experience in interaction design research and teaching. Basically, there is no more interaction, but only residence. How do you design residence. This requires a different mindset. They still design on the last moment. In England, the design council, bringing designers into new processes of technology- development of product-and service companies. Rob thinks we must not overdue the value-thing. For the past ten years, in Holland, the missing link is guts. There is a tendency to disappear into 2.0 and networks. Weiser’s text is really saturated, but we still need people with vision. It is now driven by logistics, control, and functionality, but we miss a vision.
Nicholas: It is sadly the role of designers that HCI started from optimizing functionality work flow etc. and that is boring. People want something else.

Introduction by Ole Bouman:
At the NAI, values of architecture are defended that we are fond of to defend. Most architects and policy makers do belief that architecture is about shelter and enclosure, occupation and representation. Archiving architecture used to be at the core of the NAi, but it has to look at what is happening with architecture now and look beyond the traditional field. New questions arise about how new technologies affect architecture and what this says about the individual? It is not solely about designing and archiving our world anymore, but also about looking at new possibilities. Discussions with other disciplines here are very valuable.
What happens in the merging of physical and digital space? Is locative media a successor of net.art? It is about creating experience in real locations with digital layers. Nowadays GPS phones and ad hoc networks create a new experience of place. This experience of place is no longer only the domain of architecture. Interaction designers, gaming, media makers and artists are now moving into that space. Through architecture, we can define ourselves as human beings. At least, we used to. New technologies are defying these standards, this paradigm. There is fluidity in how we create representation. New, locative technologies empower a nomadic life; new ways to organize our spaces. Is it also affecting the way we look at ourselves? We have to think about our position vis a vis our technologies and societies. Roughly, two kinds of audiences can be distinguished (within the conference); one of curiosity and openness versus one that is procrastinating- hesitating towards technology. This dichotomy is a typical western position. Where modernity may no longer be on our side and technology is at the core of our daily life, we need people to help us conceptualize and define new concepts of urbanity and social interaction.

Lecture
The book ‘Sentient cities: ambient intelligence and the politics of urban space’ by Stephen Graham is a reflection on politics, locative media and ubiquitous computing. Where technology fuses itself into the background of daily life, all sorts of scenes (art-commercial- governmental etc) are utilizing new technologies and seeking combinations, weaving them into certain directions simultaneously. We are moving towards a society of enacted environments. Phenomena like an internet of things, sensor-databases, biometric sensing, ubiquitous computing, machines linked to senses and databases etc are already dawning. All these infrastructures are constantly at work (or will be working) in the background in cities, arranging all kinds of privileges, possibilities and accesses. We don’t know where these servers are located, how it is stored and who keeps watch of them. All this data decides what we can and cannot do in a city, where we have access, where we can move. All is profoundly political. All levels of this infrastructure are politicized.
Computing is becoming everywhere, urban spaces are brought into being that have a computable layer. A critical question posed is: What is exactly new about this? We need to be aware of our history and the continuities and changes in societies and technologies in order to see the real and important developments.

Three starting points are addressed by Graham:
1. We must completely abandon the notion that there is a real and a virtual world, as if the two were opposed. Instead, we must look at how new media is layering over existing spaces, thus reorganizing them. Graham is building on the notion of Bolter and Grusin; remediation. It is constituted (the virtual) on top of our real world. Remediation is taking place constantly. Remediation of painting, film and television, of cities, houses and streets. The old notion of holographic pods, parallel worlds, cyberspace, does not exist. We are far from it.
2. Cities can be seen to emerge as fluid machines. We have to look at cities as processes. intense connections, constantly mixing. distant proximity and proximate distance in all sorts of ways. All sorts of flows are present in a city (data, people, services, all is about movement). These flows of energy, water, people, information, goods etc all are linked and are constantly influencing each other. Seeing cities as processes, we have to think about how new media fits into the process.
3. We must take a look at when and how technology becomes a part of our infrastructure. Everyone is using technology without thinking about it (like electricity). The most profound technologies are those who disappear into daily life (Mark Weiser). Now politics become important, but less visible.

Socially, these technologies become ‘black-boxes’; they become ‘engineers stuff’. So, what is infrastructure precisely? It is embedded, sunk and transparent into daily life. It links times and spaces. We have to learn how to use it. It has to be based on standards. They (technologies of infrastructure) become only visible when they fail. Graham wants to tell three stories about ubiquitous computing and locative media:
1. consumeration
2. militarization/ securitisation
3. urban activism and democratization

1. consumeration
Is there an ideal friction-free capitalism? Within the control revolution, the commercial world wants to take the internet and fix it down to local geography in order to achieve a data-driven mass costumisation. Exploiting of this possibility will occur very soon, based on a database model (like the Amazon recommendation model). Imagine a real time monitoring of consumers, where all your favorites and bookmarks in physical life are tracing and actively drawing your attention constantly. Layering new media onto the city creates a lot of commercial opportunities. Market places are emerging from mobility, where everyone is having a perfectly tailored capitalism.
An example is a RFID and logistics. If this is to work, users have to adopt – windows for instance has an AURA applications- barcode readers on their phone- an augmented consumption. Try to impose markets where these markets were not possible before. More as a commodity than as a public good. One can, for instance, start to commercialize roads (as an example of capitalizing mobility). This is done by controlling access. Building premium options to bypass nasty things (like congestion). Even adds alter along the way dynamically. Summarizing, some basics of the life of the city will be exploited via locative media.
Another example mentioned is the city center of London and the access to it. Lots of infrastructure is needed to make sure access is denied and offending are fined; mass customization in reverse. It demonstrates the difference in possibilities and politics; they are not defined by the technology, but rather by the politics of dealing with that technology. Even internet-traffic use is prioritized rather than everyone (and all data) being equal. An example of this is an imposed new ‘smart’ internet seen by Cisco, where only prioritized data will be able to travel from computer to computer. Some networks and/or routes will be unavailable for the masses. Another example is call-centers – companies realize that congestion is the problem – when you are deemed profitable, you are granted faster access. This is a new politics of technology.
What happens when architecture, new media and rfid are meeting? Lots of politics and privatized spaces. Location-based services arte the first in showing these politics. Consumer- databases are being used to create ins and outs, have and have-nots. Geography of cities are now managed by geo-demographics. Info about social networks, crime-rated, local governments, recommended neighborhoods and so on are already in use.We will see mayor social databases to influence your choice (when you are literate in this info-world). This underpins politics of data.

2 militarisation/ securitisation
Much in this point is around the war on terror. where the city is deemed the problem, with supposed enemies. How can we use our technology! Panicky in addressing risks in western cities within security world. This is a world of targeting, about locating and targeting enemies. Huge recognition and data mining technologies and biometrics. CCTV and face recognition etc even identifying walking styles. It is always about creating an average, in order to pick our the abnormalities. We move towards code-space and software-sorted mobilities. We are already moving into biometric systems. All of this with the argument to limit terror. Lots of commercial gain here.
About cctv, lots of cameras are privately installed. Security companies and military are investigating how they can be linked together, how they can be computerized? The politics of this are enormous. Think about your anonymity on the streets that would be lost.
Also, the oyster-card for example is mentioned and the misuse of this, typifying the link between commercial and surveillance use. Once the system is in place, it can be used for other purposes than intended. How can you make regulation robust enough to prevent misuse?

As an example, Graham mentions the American army admitting they need a new “Manhatten project” in order to allow tracking and locating targets in asymmetric urban warfare. This is the point where everything becomes war-space. The American army uses non-arguments for make the city a warfare-territory and they need locative media. Lots of these developments are moving into civilian space. One example is the DARPA ‘ combat zones that see’ project, where concepts of smart cams etc. are introduced. It is a techno-utopian fantasy, but one that is becoming more real every day.
Jordan Crandall talks about tracking and tracing technologies that are trying to capture and colonize the future. A war on statistical persons is emerging. Locative media is constantly looking for the now thus is constantly ahead of itself. Militarization views collapse identification and turns it into databases.

3. urban activism and democratization
This point is about reanimating and re-politicizing the city. Deeming with the problem of alienation, can we actually bring urban politics back to rigid social and political questions and interaction? Re-appropriating technology is the key. Sources often start military, then commercially exploited. After that, its real or alternative use must be sought. New social performances strive for re-enchantment, more interactive model of participatory democracy. Graham now quotes from Shivanee: “locative media and the viscosity of space”.
Examples mentioned are tagging the city, like click- able environments, graffiti and physical hyperlinks. Lots of digital collective memory and narratives are emerging in physical space. Also, revealing bodily mobilities e.g. urban tapestries example. Also, examples where the yellow-arrow project is mentioned – guerrilla mapping, re-visioning the streets. The main point is that it is all about visualizing politics of planning in new ways. It is a form of relational architecture where digital interaction can mix with local events. Urban screens are mentioned as a link between internet and real-life city urbanism and space. All these projects attempt to render all the network activity visible. This shows a politics of data and geographies of data. We need to reverse engineer data to understand what is happening and to adjust politics of this data.

Conclusions
Multiple visions of all sorts are struggling with these new technologies of locative media. There maybe some different dynamics, but all are efforts of remediation. Graham argues there is a relationship between these multiple pass- ways, overlaps are to be found. Is there a healthy co-existence of, for instance, the artist and the commercial view? And how will this be shaped? It is about an emerging urban and tech politics. The world of temporality is very important in the process of delegating agency top software? What political and social assumptions go into our software. Making these thing possible is very important.