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monday :: march 31, 2003
   
 
skinstrip online

The global digital community are invited to anonymously express their naked identity using visual images of their bodies. Individual net users participate in a collective, live event, confronting social and cultural representations of the body within the net community, by revealing and viewing their previously unknown corporeality via net-based technology.

Skin/Strip Onlineis celebration of difference, expression and liberation from ideas of the 'perfect' body. The general public are invited to create expressive images of their own naked identities, and display them next to others in the context of a live artwork on the web. Individual net users participate in a collective, live event, by revealing and viewing their previously unknown corporeality.

A collaboration between furtherfield.org&completely naked. Skin/Strip Online follows Completely Naked's original project Skin/Strip that portrayed citizens from London and Barcelona. Commissioned by Shooting Live Artists. >from *Skin/Strip Online . Reclaiming the body, our naked identity*

related context
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furtherfield: experimental net art collective . july 1, 2002

imago
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show your naked identities online

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friday :: march 28, 2003
   
 
hackitecture and other data flow' architectures

Times have changed and we need new words for the new realities, and new tools to operate within them. Presentation on some proposals for new concepts related to architecture and urbanism in *straddle3* - friday march 28, 2003 at 20h - by wewearbuildings gang (Pablo de Soto, José Pérez de Lama aka osfavelados y chaser -desde Deep Seville- y solo quizas xa3k.mil desde la siberia extremeña).

Hackitecture: From hacking and architecture: The use, in an unpredicted and subversive way, of architectural / urban spaces, elements, and systems. The term was influenced by another new concept: hacktivism, that describes the mix of netart, computer science, and activism during the last years of the xxth century.

Gonzo architecture: The architectural practice resulting from the application of the principles of gonzo journalism to architecture. In its seminal manifestation it is a mix of Situationism and cyberpunk.

related context
>
pure-data beta rave. january 18, 2003
> smart mobs: new uses of mobile media . october 3, 2002
> krzysztof wodiczko. illuminating contradictions.
> city mine(d). a production house for municipal intervention for and by the city
> urban drift. transcultural platform for new tendencies in architecture, design and urbanism
> hackitectura

imago
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playing hackitecture

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wednesday :: march 26, 2003
   
 
copyleft: meeting on intellectual property

Piracy, plagiarism, levies on photocopies and CD-Rs, anti-piracy boards, free-software movement, Napster, copyleft, "Top Manta", biopiracy, generic medicines, peer to peer technologies... now it's a long time since our present time gets overloaded with all sorts of words and names which actually go to express a deep-rooted social dispute about circulation of ideas, intellectual property, types of copyright, free access to public goods and the sources of creation.

By the end of March, sponsored by the Universidad Nómada and a multitude of people working on issues concerned freedom of information and civil liberties, a meeting will be held in Madrid on intellectual property. We'll try to gather people coming from a variety of situations who share a common unrest as they see their creative work being increasely threatened by an ever growing set of tough and property-sided copyright and patent laws: musicians, publishers, software developers, translators, writers, students, users... The point is to collectively raise questions and experiences, to draw up collectively discourses and working and distribution initiatives nor restricting the right to copy nor crushing collective creation.

The meeting on intellectual property will be held in Madrid between 27-30 March 2003, at CSO Laboratorio 03 and the Casa Encendida >from *Intellectual Property: a New Frontier of Power and Knowledge*

related context
>
open source company research project
> copyright licenses free of charge: released by creative commons. december 17, 2002
> hessla: hacktivismo enhanced-source software license agreement. december 5, 2002
> creative commons: law and technology. may 24, 2002
> copy.cult and the original si(g)n . september 26-30, 2000

imago
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hands off our rights: free access to the work done

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monday :: march 24, 2003
   
 
digital art museum: opens location in berlin

Digital Art Museum aims to become the world's leading online resource for the history and practice of digital fine art. [DAM] is an on-line museum with a comprehensive exhibition of Digital Art

The work-in-progress site is currently tied to a physical location in Berlin (Tucholskystr. 37), and opened those doors on March 22, with a selection of pioneers and artists of different phases.

[DAM] exhibits the work of leading Artists in this field since 1956. [DAM] is intended for the enjoyment of all visitors, curators and collectors, scholars of art, and for an emerging generation of digital artists wishing to understand a 50-year heritage of innovation and experimentation.

1956 - 1986 The Pioneers
This includes the pioneers of digital art, some of whom were not primarily artists, but whose visual explorations were crucial to the emerging medium. The writing of computer programmes was central to most of the work during this period.

1986 - 1996 The Paintbox Era
In this period art software became available (slowly at first), attracting artists who could create works without programming. The principle software to emerge during this period was the paint programme, underpinned by affordable computers and devices such as the scanner and film recorder.

1996 - 2006 The Multimedia Era
With the growing availability of technologies of interactivity and Internet access, we see both a democratisation of the medium and new interactive and online artforms. >from *Digital Art Museum site*

related context
>
Digital art. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
> mw2002: museums and the web

imago
>
digital power amplifier transfusion [for a museum]

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friday :: march 21, 2003
   
 
cradle of civilisation at risk: preserve world's oldest cultural heritage

As the prospect for war in Iraq gains momentum, archaeologists have become increasingly concerned about the fate of that country's archaeological sites, antiquities, and cultural property. In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) passed a Resolution Regarding War and the Destruction of Antiquities, which urges all governments to honor the terms of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

As the oldest and largest organization in North America devoted to the study and preservation of the world's cultural heritage, the Archaeological Institute of America expresses its profound concern about the potential for damage to monuments, sites, antiquities, and cultural institutions as a result of war.

Iraq, the land of Mesopotamia located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, is the home of some of the world's oldest and most significant archaeological and cultural sites.

The AIA is particularly concerned that in the aftermath of war, Iraqi cultural objects may be removed from museums and archaeological sites and placed on the international art market. The removal of such objects would denude the national and local museums of Iraq and cause irreparable losses to some of the world's most significant archaeological sites. This cultural heritage is of great value to the people of Iraq (as well as people throughout the world) and plays an important role within civil society. The preservation of this heritage is also of long-term economic benefit to the nation and to the region. The actions of all governments in preserving this heritage during a post-war reconstruction phase should be consistent with the terms and spirit of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. >from *AIA Urges Protection of Iraq's Archaeological Heritage*. march, 2003

related context
>
1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
> IMC. Independent Media Center
> PeaceBlogs.org
> The six key lessons of 911 By Steve Kirsch

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old stone eyes are watching you

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wednesday :: march 19, 2003
   
 
seti@home moves on

For nearly four years, the SETI@home receiver atop the giant Arecibo radio telescope has been surveying the skies in search of an alien signal. For nearly four years, millions around the world have been processing the raw data from Arecibo on their personal computers in search of unique patterns that might represent an intelligent transmission. No less than 5 billion(!) different candidate signals have now accumulated at SETI@home headquarters in Berkeley. Each of these just might be that one true signal from an alien civilization.

And now, for the first time, SETI@home scientists will put this mountain of data to a test. For eight hours each day, on March 18th through the 20th, SETI@home scientists will have the full use of the Arecibo radio telescope, the largest in the world. They will use it to target between 100 and 200 locations in the sky. >from *Planetary Society's SETI@home Takes New Step in Search for ET: Stellar Countdown Will Revisit Most Promising Signals*. march 10, 2003

related context
>
encoding altruism: the art and science of interstellar message composition. march 23, 2003
> composing interstellar messages: interaction between art, science, and the humanities. april 2, 2002
> seti@home status. december 18, 2000
> seti@home expanded. august 8, 2000

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alien signals for a telescope

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monday :: march 17, 2003
   
 
the martus human rights bulletin system

The Benetech Initiative, a Silicon Valley nonprofit, released The Martus Human Rights Bulletin System, an open source technology tool designed to assist human rights organizations in collecting, safeguarding, organizing and disseminating information about human rights abuses.

Currently, much of the violation and abuse information gathered by grassroots human rights groups is lost to confiscation, destruction, or neglect, making it difficult or impossible for prosecutors, truth commissions and others to use the information as evidence to hold the perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable for many of their crimes. The Martus software enables grassroots NGOs to securely store their records on off-site servers with easy-to-use software, preserving crucial evidence for research, investigation and prosecutions.

The software was designed in consultation with human rights groups and experts worldwide, including Dr. Patrick Ball of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world's leading human rights statisticians and Senior Advisor to the project. Beta testing took place in Guatemala, Russia, Sri Lanka and the US.

Future applications of the Martus software for social justice groups include monitoring other issues like violence against women, human trafficking, environmental destruction and hate crimes. The software and its source code are available for download at http://www.martus.org. >from *New software provides secure worldwide tracking and documentation of human rights abuses*. january 15, 2003

related context
>
hessla: hacktivismo enhanced-source software license agreement. december 5, 2002
> systems to circumvent Internet censorship: possible weaknesses. november 20, 2002
> the free network project: freedom of communication. november 5, 2002
> chaos computer club for info peace: international understanding more important than ever. september 17, 2001

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human rights activity file

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friday :: march 14, 2003
   
 
live audiovisual

SOLU + FERNANDO
http://www.solu.org/
visual_improvisation

streaming OPTIQ_SYNDICATE
http://optiq.xicnet.com/
experiences by CAEN and RAMA

GLAZNOST
http://www.glaznost.com/

tRaNsMiSsiOn bY RaMa [(((((((universomente))))))) lab]

>>> Presentation and performance in *straddle3*.
friday march 14, 2003 at 20:30h

"This model of small organizations collaborating together in horizontal connections, and having exchange of ideas, workshops, shows etc is very inspiring. We have noticed that there are a lot of people who are tired of waiting for something interesting to happen and start to organize small scale things themselves, without waiting for financial support, but trusting more in the cooperation of friends and colleagues. Also there is a need to find new places and formats of cultural activities. To get closer to a still unidentified public. This is necessary to be able to create something fresh and exciting, as institutions and museums have their own goals and needs." >from SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL. a packet switching conversation between Mia Makela & Vanni Brusadin

related context
>
performance art. from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
> pure data. software for live musical and multimedia performances
> dorkbot. people doing strange things with electricity . meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), designers, engineers, students and other interested parties who are involved in the creation of electronic art (in the broadest sense of the term.)

imago
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electric set for washing bits

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wednesday :: march 12, 2003
   
 
climate affect earth rotation: metereology and astronomy

Because of Earth's dynamic climate, winds and atmospheric pressure systems experience constant change. These fluctuations may affect how our planet rotates on its axis, according to NASA-funded research that used wind and satellite data.

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) mission is to understand the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes for better prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards, such as atmospheric changes or El Niño events that may have contributed to the affect on Earth's rotation.

From year to year, winds and air pressure patterns change, causing different forces to act on the solid Earth. During El Niño years, for example, the rotation of the Earth may slow ever so slightly because of stronger winds, increasing the length of a day by a fraction of a millisecond (thousandth of a second).

"The key is that the sum of the angular momentum (push) of the solid Earth plus atmosphere system must stay constant unless an outside force (torque) is applied," said David A. Salstein, an atmospheric scientist, who led a recent study. "So if the atmosphere speeds up (stronger westerly winds) then the solid Earth must slow down (length-of-day increases). Also if more atmosphere moves to a lower latitude (further from the axis of rotation), and atmospheric pressure increases, it also gains angular momentum and the Earth would slow down as well."

The fact that the two vastly different systems, namely the meteorological and the astronomical, are in good agreement according to the conservation of angular momentum gives us assurance that both these types of measurements must be accurate. It shows, moreover, that changes in climate signals can have global implications on Earth's overall rotation. >from *Changes in the Earth's rotation are in the wind*. march 5, 2003

related context
>
global warming: u.s. climate action report 2002. june 12, 2002
> space weather - earth connection. june 6, 2000
> holes in sun's corona linked to atmospheric temperature changes on earth. march 19, 2000
> earth climate responds to variations of the sun's magnetic activity. june 16, 1999
> solar wind squeezes some of earth's atmosphere into space. december 8, 1998

imago
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earth flyball governor

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monday :: march 10, 2003
   
 
e-waste solution?: reverse production system

Just one color computer monitor or television can contain up to eight pounds of lead. Consider that amount in light of the estimated 12 million tons of 'e-wastes' that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates may soon be dumped into American landfills.

Researchers have devised a 'reverse production' system that creates infrastructure to recover and reuse every material contained within e-wastes --metals such as lead, copper, aluminum and gold, and various plastics, glass and wire. Such 'closed loop' manufacturing and recovery offers a win-win situation for everyone, researchers said. Less of the Earth will be mined for raw materials, and groundwater will be protected.

But this simple concept requires a lot of brand new thinking. The researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are devising methods to plan reverse production systems that will collect e-trash, tear apart devices ('de-manufacture it') and use the components and materials again -- all while making the process economically viable.

Key to their approach is the ongoing development of a mathematical model to predict the economic success of recovery efforts. Modeling is necessary given the uncertainty inherent in a host of variables --quantities, locations, types and conditions of old parts, and numerous aspects of transportation (distance, costs of fuel, labor, insurance, etc.).

They are creating a new architecture for separation systems. From this work, new industries and an infrastructure can be created to recover value not only from e-waste, but also from automobiles and other durable goods. >from *New system recovers and reuses electronic wastes*. march 3, 2003

related context
>
microchip: environmental impact. november 12, 2002
> e-waste: cyber-age nightmare. march 5, 2002

imago
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no dumping: our flow drains to ocean

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friday :: march 7, 2003
   
 
word burstiness: scanning online trends

Jon Kleinberg, a professor of computer science at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., has developed a method for a computer to find the topics that dominate a discussion at a particular time by scanning large collections of documents for sudden, rapid bursts of words. Among other tests of the method, he scanned presidential State of the Union addresses from 1790 to the present and created a list of words that eerily reflects historical trends. The technique, he suggests, could have many 'data mining' applications, including searching the Web or studying trends in society as reflected in Web pages.

Kleinberg says he got the idea of searching over time while trying to deal with his own flood of incoming e-mail. He reasoned that when an important topic comes up for discussion, keywords related to the topic will show a sudden increase in frequency. A search for these words that suddenly appear more often might, he theorized, provide ways to categorize messages.

He devised a search algorithm that looks for 'burstiness,' measuring not just the number of times words appear, but the rate of increase in those numbers over time. Programs based on his algorithm can scan text that varies with time and flag the most "bursty" words. "The method is motivated by probability models used to analyze the behavior of communication networks, where burstiness occurs in the traffic due to congestion and hot spots," he explains.

A few years ago, he suggested that a way to find the most useful Web sites on a particular subject would be to look at the way they are linked to one another. Sites that are 'linked to' by many others are probably 'authorities.' Sites that link to many others are likely to be 'hubs.' The most authoritative sites on a topic would be the ones that are linked to most often by the most active hubs, he reasoned. A variation on this idea is used by Google, and a more formal version is being used in a new search engine called Teoma. >from *Buzzwords of history, revealed by computer scans, indicate new ways of searching the Web*. february 18, 2003

related context
>
daypop word bursts. word bursts are heightened usage of certain words in weblogs within the last couple days. they are indicators of what webloggers are writing about right now. feature implemented since february 26, 2003.
> uniting with only a few random links: small-world networking in simulations. february 4, 2003
> how does 'six degrees of separation' work? explanation is personal networking. august 23, 2000. kleinberg's work refinement of an earlier study by steven h. strogatz and duncan watts.
> authoritative sources in a hyperlinked environment by jon m. kleinberg [pdf]. introduction of the hits (hyperlink-induced topic search) algorithm. 1998

imago
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amerika administration word burst graph

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wednesday :: march 5, 2003
   
 
neuro: at the intersection of art and science

A collaboration between California Institute of Technology and Art Center College of Design is investigating new aesthetic possibilities at the intersection of art, science, and engineering. The Caltech/Art Center NEURO project seeks common ground, and is motivated by the belief that a spark of unexpected creativity can result when each discipline is encouraged to ignite the other.

Organized by Caltech's National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Neuromorphic Systems Engineering (CNSE) and Art Center's Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, the project connects six contemporary artists with the knowledge and technology resources of CNSE. The results of this year-long collaboration will be documented in NEURO exhibition, from April 15 to June 29, 2003.

At CNSE, scientists and engineers are working to translate our understanding of biologic systems into a new class of electronic devices that imitate the ways humans and animals sense and make sense of the world. According to CNSE director Pietro Perona, "Through the work of talented artists we can reach people who may feel intimidated by our scientific lingo. We also hope to be able to look at our work with new eyes: artists can provide us with fresh insight into the meaning of what we do."

"Science and technology are undermining many of our established social and intellectual conventions, and as a result human culture is moving toward new definitions and opportunities, as well as dilemmas. Such a nexus of change always beckons artists, and the collaborative nature of this project will combine contemporary science and art into works that are uniquely about and of this new century," says Art Center director Stephen Nowlin.

One NEURO project' example; Infiltrate: Through a fish's eye by Ken Goldberg, that reconstructs a fish's view. In the exhibition, a tank containing fish will be installed at eye level in the center of one gallery. Three cameras will track the movement of all the fish; at the same time, a computer will digitally reconstruct the images of what one of the fish sees. Those moving images will be projected on a wall. When you come in, you become the fish. "I had been struggling with the idea of art after 9/11, and I was thinking about how two cultures can view the same events completely differently. So the new technique of tracking motion, then digitally reconstructing the viewpoint, was compelling," said Goldberg. >from*NEURO site*.

related context
>
ArtSci2002: new dimensions in collaboration. december 9, 2002
> information arts: intersections of art, science, and technology.. january 15, 2002

imago
>
art-science ignition graph celebration

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monday :: march 3, 2003
   
 
another world is happening: network-based movements

The vast, coordinated protests that occurred february 15th worldwide were just the latest manifestation of the power of the loose, non-hierarchial, evolutionary movements that have been enabled by the development of the Internet. And this fundamental social change is just beginning. Between twelve and twenty million people around the world took to the streets to protest the rush to war with Iraq. While the numbers of people involved inthe global demonstrations will never be fully known, what is clear is that these were the largest co-ordinated protests in human history.

Yet the question of how these demonstrations came about has been conspicuously absent from discussion of this momentous event. What group is capable of organising such a co-ordinated human effort on such a vast scale How can so many people from so many backgrounds in so many places work together in such a focused way towards a common goal? And why were politicians, media analysts and even the local organisers themselves so surprised at the vast scale of the protests? What's going on here?

In millions upon millions of daily creative acts and informational transactions, the online community by-pass conventional media and economics to create what is almost a parallel world. It's not an exact representation of the real world, but then neither is the conventional media and economy.

The Internet can be called a 'meta-medium'. It IS text, but it is more than text. It IS radio, but it is more than radio. It IS television, but more than television. It in fact encompasses all electronic media and more. While bandwidth restrictions constrain the possibilities of the Internet, it is already possible to see an end point in which all electronic content forms are immediately publishable by anyone and accessible to everyone, always and everywhere.

Thanks to only a few decades of mass media, human perspective has become homogenised to a greater extent than ever before, a homogenisation that is reflected in sport, in culture, in politics and in the economy. But by undermining and subverting this 'official view' of how things are, the Internet and the movements that grow from it are fundamentally changing the way in which we see the world, and thus are changing the world itself. The medium is indeed the message and just because the stock market drastically and myopically misunderstood the meaning of the Internet does not mean that it is anything less than revolutionary.

Another world is not only possible -its happening. >from *The Rise of Open Source, Network-Based Movements By Graham Caswell*. Indymedia, february 19, 2003

related context
>
'sync. the emerging science of spontaneous order' by steven strogatz. how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. march, 2003
> unraveling the mysteries of the connected age by duncan j. watts. february 14, 2003. essay adapted from 'six degrees: the science of a connected age.' how does individual behavior aggregate to collective behavior? the coming of a new science, the science of networks.>
> uniting with only a few random links: small-world networking in simulations. february 4, 2003

imago
>
poly-morphic systems

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