Hello, CACIM, and Sarai, CSDS, are organising a discussion session on the culture of openness around the Internet, how it can be benefically used in other areas, and the current threats to it. It will be held at the Sarai seminar room from 2-5pm on the coming Thu., the 2nd of March. There will be a short introduction to the topics by a group of panelists, followed by what will hopefully be a lively discussion session. Please see the appended invitation letter for details, and refer to the list of related links at http://indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/OpenSociety.
Regards, Gora ######################################################################## CACIM and Sarai/CSDS invites you to a discussion on "Internet and the culture of openness" Theme: Internet and the culture of openness Date : March 2, 2006, Thursday Time : 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm Venue: Sarai, CSDS, 29, Rajpur Road, New Delhi 110 054 ######################################################################### In recent years, the idea and practices of openness seem to have become very popular, especially on the Internet. That this is not restricted to the electronic realm is evident from one of the popular concepts of the World Social Forum (WSF) -- while the WSF means many things to many people, one of the more prominent conceptions of the WSF is as an 'open space' where individuals, organizations, and movements come together, share, exchange, build bridges, relationships, strategize, etc. Today, various trends and practices of "openness" are prevalent on the Internet -- the free/open-source movement has in turn spurred various other endeavours from open access journals, open maps, open knowledge, open content, open design, open publishing, open encyclopedias (wikipedia), open politics, open democracy, and so on. Clearly, most of these endeavours in "openness" appear rooted in the potential and promise of the Internet -- as an interactive communication medium where everyone can potentially reach out to anyone in the wide open world. Yet, in the course of the last year or so, there have been developments that raise several questions about how true this really is, and how long will it reamin to be true. There was the struggle over control of Internet's root servers, then the case of Yahoo! enabling the Chinese Government to convict a journalist, and recently, Google's capitulation to Chinese demands for content censorship. The question here is more about the robustness of openness of the Internet rather than about Yahoo or Google. With this extremely brief background and context, we invite you to a discussion to take a critical look on the theme "Internet and the culture of openness", the promise, potential, and practicality of it. Theme: Internet and the culture of openness Date : March 2, 2006, Thursday Time : 2:00 pm Venue: Sarai, CSDS, 29, Rajpur Road, New Delhi 110 054 We encourage submissions from you before the meeting (at least an idea or a question that you would like to bring up during the meeting) so that it can help us facilitate a logical flow during the discussion. Even if you are not from Delhi, and/or cannot be part of the discussion, we encourage you to write in -- your contribution will be shared with the group. We also hope to put up some of this material on a website (open to, participation of course!). Here are some questions to consider: - Is the underlying idea of openness particularly new to the Internet era? Or, what is the history of this value of openness? What can we say of its appeal in the future? - Are we now entering a world losing control over our commons in the real world and getting enraptured by the commons of the electronic world? - How much of this practice of "openness", so prevalent in the domain of the Internet, carries over to the domain of interactions in the world of flesh-and-blood? Seen another way, if found desirable, how does one translate the practice and culture of openness from the electronic world to the "real" world? - How stable and robust are these practices of openness in the electronic world, dependent as strongly as they are on technological enablers that, atleast on the surface, seem easily subverted? Seen another way, what are the weaknesses of the Internet-driven cultures of openness? Write to Subbu ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), Seby ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), Madhuresh ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), Shuddhabrata ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), or Gora ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). Note on CACIM ------------- CACIM, the India Institute for Critical Action : Centre in Movement, aims to create spaces for cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural reflection and action in relation to movement in its broader sense, of motion, expression, and change as a fundamental fact of life and society. Our goal is to support and encourage all those involved in different ways with 'movement' - activists, researchers, professionals, artistes, and thinkers, both the more mature and young, and both from 'civil' and 'incivil' worlds - in our respective work as individuals and organisations and also in networks. Our present focus is on cultures of politics in movement, the exploration of open space as a political-cultural concept, and exploring through actions, cyberspace as open space. CACIM sees itself not as an independent organisation but interlinked and interdependent, plugged into and learning from the world around us. With this vision, we presently conceive CACIM as evolving into a hub within networks among individuals and organisations located in different parts of India and the world. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Note on Sarai ------------- Sarai: the new media initiative is a space for research, practice, and conversation about contemporary media, especially in the urban context. Its areas of interests include media research and theory, the urban experience in South Asia: history, environment, culture, architecture and politics, new and established media practices, media history, cinema, contemporary art, digital culture, the history and politics of technology, visual/technological cultures, free and open-source software, social usage of software, the politics of information and communication, online communities, and web-based practices. __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. 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