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. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com
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