Hi There are a couple of talks coming up at Access Space in Sheffield which might interest list members. Both events are free and there's no need to book.
Show & Tell Friday 24th Sept 2-4pm Steve Corbett “The public sphere, Access Space and the hacker work ethic” He'll be presenting his recently completed Masters dissertation in Sociological Research at the University of Sheffield. The research is based on his experiences of participating at Access Space this summer. The paper looks at the recent history of technological change and is broadly concerned with the form of society that is being invoked by the advent of the Internet. Central to this is the role that ICTs and the Internet are playing in contemporary society. He spent a month conducting research at Access Space in order to understand how free/libre and open source software can be utilised in creative and active ways, with social benefits. Using the public sphere perspective of Jurgen Habermas, the paper asks in what ways ICTs can be empowering or disempowering, passive or active, exclusionary or inclusionary, consumerist or prosumerist, dominating or liberating. The talk will also discuss the hacker work ethic and argue that the way in which Access Space incorporates the principles of hacker culture as social practice can challenge the dominant cult of commodified ICT use. In conclusion, the ways in which these principles can effect wider social changes will be discussed. Hopefully, this will provide a stimulating and critical discussion about the importance of ICTs and the Internet in everyday life and the possibility of wider social changes. Contact for info: [email protected] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Artist Talk Saturday 9th October 2-4pm Dominic Smith “As above, so below” Dominic will be talking about the nature of free/open source practice amongst the arts. When artists choose to engage with FLOSS tools, development environments and processes there is the inevitable consequence that freedom and openness becomes reflected in their work. As artists engage with the microcosmos of openly accessible code we find that this exerts and influence upon macrocosmos of galleries, festivals and related groups. He will be investigating what factors are necessary for this parallel action, looking at examples and discussing the motivating factors for artists when engaging with this process. http://dominicsmith.info/ Dominic is a founder of the Polytechnic in Newcastle, an organisation working with a hands-on, open and distributed approach to art & technology. http://ptechnic.org/ Contact for info: [email protected] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<< Jake Harries Digital Arts Programme Manager ACCESS SPACE Unit 1, AVEC Building 3-7 Sidney St Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK t: +44 (0) 114 249 5522 w: www.access-space.org Reg. Charity 1103837 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< http://loss.access-space.org/ http://audiotools.lowtech.org http://www.furtherfield.org/zerodollarlaptop
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