Hackito Ergo Sum confernece to be held in Paris coming soon…

Copy pasted (and re-formated) from :  http://hackitoergosum.org

Hackito Ergo Sum 2010 – Call For Paper – HES2010 CFP

Hackito Ergo Sum 2010 – Call For Paper – HES2010 CFP

Hackito Ergo Sum conference will be held from April 8th to 10th 2010 in Paris, France.
It is part of the series of conference “Hacker Space Fest” taking place since 2008 in France and all over Europe.

HES2010 will focus on hardcore computer security, insecurity, vulnerability analysis, reverse engineering, research and hacking.

INTRO
The goal of this conference is to promote security research, broaden public awareness and create an open forum so that communication between the researcher, the security industry, the experts and the public can happen.

A recent decision of justice in France has convicted a security researcher for disclosing vulnerabilities and exploits. These laws (similar to the one in Germany), descending from USA’s DMCA law, are orienting freedom of research and knowledge into a situation where “illegal knowledge” can happen, restricted to the only ones blessed by governmental silent approval and military. Scientific research and public information cannot be made into another monopoly of state, where “some” can study and publish and “some others” cannot.
Such approach just show how misinformed some politics are and how little understanding they get of the struggle they are acting in.

Not understanding that the best way to improve security is to attack it shows the lack of maturity of some stakeholder by being cut out of independent information sources.
This is where our ethics and responsibility is to say “No, we have a right for free information and true independence in research”, and this responsibility is the one of anybody, not just the responsibility of academically blessed scientists.

This conference will try to take in account all voices in order to reach a balanced position regarding research and security, inviting businesses, governmental actors, researchers, professionals and general public to share concerns, approaches and interests during.
During three days, research conferences, solutions presentations, panels and debates will aim at finding synthetic and balanced solutions to the current situation.

To see content proposals, tracks and timelines it is worth visiting original post here

RAX!

from ninux.org

Some people interested in free WiFi networks will gather around Rome on November the 27-30th. Why? Well, quoting the organisers from ninux.org:

“A weekend, surreal time slot on topics about wireless communities. Under the same roof for the first time you’ll find hackers, geeks, nerds, engineers, artists, curious and academics.”

It will be an excellent opportunity to pulse the energies of ongoing WiFi communities (we prefer the term network or project) and see if we can share some insights on different issues regarding free wifi networks. With the help of some people at guifi.net we are preparing a short interview to put in common some of the main concerns we (as hackers, geeks, nerds, engineers, artists, curious and academics) experiment while doing free wifing. Hopefully enough, these  will either echo or difract existing concerns form other networks from which we can learn or think about. Will see…

See you in Rome.

RAX!

On December 10-12th,  ATACD (A Topological Approach to Cultural Dynamics) conference will be held at the University of Barcelona (UB) Faculty of Philosophy. Plenary Speakers include:

Rosi Braidotti, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

J. Doyne Farmer, Santa Fe Institute, USA

Matthew Fuller, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Alex Galloway, New York University, USA

Penny Harvey, University of Manchester, UK

Dirk Helbing, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Scott Lash, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Richard Rogers, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Brian Rotman, Ohio University

Luc Steels, SONY-France, France

Eyal Weizmann, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Not bad, M?
I and Roger Baig will be presenting a paper entitled:

“Citizen Management of Technology: from open content to open networks with guifi.net.”

The conference looks really great and there are also public and open side events. For more details don’t miss ATACD home page

RAX!

So, along with the ouverture of the MediaLab, Passageenseine and Hacker Space Fest, please behold the following:

May 30, 31

World Information City @ Maison des Metallos (their logo seems a little bit right-wing fashioned though…but maybe they are willing to reach an effect as situationist-like metal band Laibach did. Nevertheless, we prefer smooth shapes and fluidity over rigid lines and monumentalism. Jhon Urry, Bruno Latour, Saskia Sassen and Brian Holmes, amongst others, will be there)

Plus, people from hackitectura.net which inspired some of my research will trun place de la bastille into a “wikiplaza” profiting from the mega umbrella-event future-en-seine.org May, 30 – June, 07th.

June 3, 4

Hyperurbain2 @ cité des sciences et de l’industrie.

Among the on-going presnetations of hyperurbain2 this one looks great: 11:30 on June, 4th: Le piéton dans la ville : Nouvelles épreuves de la micromobilité hyperdocumentée. Sophie Pène, GRIPIC-EA 1498, Université Paris IV, France

And, to sum up,

June 2-7th

Mal au Pixel (4th edition) @ St.Ouen

Electronic music and bricolage festival. There is a seminar on art, environtment and technology the 7th.

from craslab.org

First things first:

Sciences Po anounces it’s official Medialab. Other Medialabs are already there (just see google results) however I guess this one, apart from it’s specificity, can also have it’s “Media” pronunced both with French or English accent… Anyway. They have a great set of conferences which, as listed on their site www.sciences-po.fr, includes:

Le lundi 25 mai: Richard Rogers, de l’Université d’Amsterdam, directeur de la fondation Govcom.org, auteur de Information Politic on the Web, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass (2005), montrera comment suivre la politique sur le web;

Le mardi 26 mai: Yochai Benkler, de la Law School de Harvard, co-directeur du Berkman Center for Internet and Society, auteur du livre important The Wealth of Networks. How Social Production Transforms Market and Freedom, Yale University Press, New Haven (2006), montrera ce qu’on peut faire en science politique en utilisant les données numériques;

Le jeudi 28 mai: Carlo Ratti, du MIT, directeur du SENSEable City Lab, nous montrera comment le numérique modifie l’appréhension de la ville et des études urbaines.

from www.sciences-po.fr/recherche/fr/dispositif/medialab.htm

We will be there for Benkler talk entitled Observing Networked Politics and see if we can grasp some usefull inputs for our Thesis. What does resist the assumption of not being networked today anyway? Certainly not politics.

RAX!

Here is an announcement of an event to be held at La Invisible (where the Spanish Hackmeeting took place on 2008)

Jornadas: Gestión Ciudadana y Derecho a la Ciudad. Construyendo democracia en la metrópolis. 24 y 25 de Abril – La Casa Invisible.

PROGRAMA Y PRESENTACION

PROGRAMA

Viernes 24 de Abril

19.00hs  – Conferencia

Crisis de lo público y formas innovadoras de gestión de lo común
Jordi Borja (Geógrafo y Urbanista)

Presenta: Rafael Reinoso (Urbanista y profesor de la Escuela de Arquitectura de Granada)

20.30hs – Presentación de Proyectos

Defendiendo, construyendo y cuidando lo común. Experiencias de Gestión Ciudadana.

Centro Vecinal Pumarejo (Sevilla)

Huerto del Rey Moro (Sevilla)

La Casa Invisible (Málaga)

Sábado 25 de Abril

11.00hs – Taller colectivo

Rehabilitación de La Casa Invisible: construyendo una institución del común.

RAX!

from e-weekvic.cat

e-Week : E-weEk : eWEEk : eweeK : e-wEeK … is there a correct way to display information? is there a correct way to make mistakes? is there a choice to be made when selecting how information is presented? if so, under what criteria? even if we present a blured text, a blured image, a blured map, still, to a certain degree, we can orient ourselves, we still can atribute a meaning, an ordering, to letters, sounds, images, signals…can we really get lost in an information era?

Well, wifi has that strange ability of turning a non-connected area into a node. To turn a closing device like a rooftop into a broadcast open space. To turn a device designed for indoor use into an outdoor device. And, by so doing, it produces a wifi space (zone). You take one artifact, you modify it’s default script, you place it where it is not supossed to, you connect it with similar artifacts and you already have a netwok of linked artifacts. Once you have a network, you can trace back the connections. In this sense, there are a lot of networks. But not all of them have, for some reason, a map or carthography. A lot of choices are to be made when displaying information. Designers and cartographers are not here by accident

We will be participating in a round table organized by Efraín Foglia (THX!!!)(UVic) and Lucia Lijtmaer (UVic).

The event will take place at the e-week or Vic digital week (la setmana digital de Vic) on May, 7th at 11-13;30H (Aula Magna – Universitat de Vic)

As seen here (copy-pasted):

JORNADA RECORREGUTS, CARTOGRAFIES I PARAULA: TRAÇATS DIGITALS

- 11.00h, Aula Magna – Universitat de Vic
Presentació del projecte “Recorreguts, cartografies i paraula: traçats digitals”, a càrrec de Lucia Lijtmaer (UVic) i Efraín Foglia (UVic).

- 12.00h, Aula Magna – Universitat de Vic
Taula rodona: “Creació transversal / Educació oberta” – Mercé Rodrigo (Goldsmiths University of London), Yann Bona Beauvois (UAB), Ana S. Pareja (editora – projecte “Matar en Barcelona”), Jordi Corominas (periodista cultural – projecte “Matar en Barcelona”), Lucia Lijtmaer (UVic) i Efraín Foglia (UVic).
guifi.net will also be at e-week organizing a workshop on wifi which will surely be of great interest (Vic is largely under guifi.net coverage)
RAX!

Baig, R. & Bona, Y.(2009). El derecho a un canal de comunicación simétrico de acceso y alcance universales. In Vinyamata, E. (Coord.) Derechos Humanos, Nuevas Realidades. Ediciones del Campus per la Pau, EdiUOC: Barcelona. pp.159-172. ISBN: 978-84-9788-805-9.

See previous post here.

I wish we could have enough time (and space) to discuss further issues concerning law, policy and norm regarding telecommunication uses (and misuses). We did not address the controversies surrounding licenses and the radioelectric spectrum and we did not raise questions about digital citizenship rights which could have been fruitful. However, as we licensed our chapter under a GPL, we can still rework it expecting forthcoming publications

Ah. The anouncement (I almost forgot…):

Spanish (English below):

“Les confirmamos la publicación del libro sobre nuevos derechos  humanos emergentes, titulado “Derechos Humanos: Nuevas   Realidades.”  Del cual han sido colaboradores. El acto de presentación será el día 15 de abril a las 18.30 en la  sede de la UOC de Rambla de Catalunya, 6, 3ª planta.”

English:

“Human Rights: New Realities”. April, 15th, 18:30 at UOC facility located in Rambla de Catalunya, 6. 3rd Floor.”

Roger will be there with other authors to talk and discuss about the book. I would have liked to be there as well but I am not gifted with co-presence yet !

RAX!

Foucault from www.whatknows.com

Why post about Foucault in a WiFi Blog? Well, being a social psychologist, I have come to known countless studies that, drawing from a foucauldian perspective could talk about any imaginable phenomena. I guess this is what happens when a great thinker as Foucault becomes widely read and his perspective is shared and sometimes, it is used as a lingua franca for sociologists, psychologist, meds, criminologists, lawyers, politicians, policy makers, managers, and many others. Indeed, as a popular expression tells;

“If you give a hammer to a child, then, everything becomes smashable. Everything becomes a nail.” (popular)

Therefore, it is no surprise that, all of a sudden, everything was read under a disciplinary paradigm, everything was crossed by power relations. And, IMHO, it was great. But times are a changing (Dylan dixit).

And so did Baudrillard publishing his “Oublier Foucault” in ‘77 @  Steve Lotringers semiotexte editorial project.

Nevertheless, there is always a strange feeling of remembrance, sort of  “I know this story, but, it is such a good story that I can not resist hearing it again”. And I guess that for many scholars that will assist at this seminar this will be the case (There are no entries left). Certainly mixed w/ a will to keep learning about Foucault (Because people being able to explain Foucault  thoughts  with maestry are on short supply these days.)

Going back to the question. ¿Foucault-WiFi? It could be “just”* a matter of focusing on how the object-device (WiFi) [materiality] , the body [anatomy] and the norm (How, Where, When  to use WiFi) [politics?] come together. That is what discipline is  also about; not only distributing bodies into spaces and times but establishing, producing the ways one has to behave vis à vis certain objects. Of course there are many ways of adressing this question, as many as researchers are. Mark Poster developed his particular vision of Foucault and Databases, for instance. (But that is another story…)

See you at the seminar

RAX!

* of curse, taken seriously, if we are to follow Foucault procedures, the answer will need a carefull and detailed review of a large corpus of documents. And, probably, giving an account that does not limit his extension to the “discipline” effects. It seems that for Foucault there is always a duality between the “individual” and “individualisation” practises and the management of popultaion as a whole; as a matter of concern and as a generator of fine measuring instruments to grasp the ever increasing multiplicity that is constantly pouring out of the control mecanisms set up to contain (and legislate) her. The population or policy issues have not been adressed here. But, hey, this is just a post.

It is a joint seminar with colleagues from FIC research group. They will be presenting other research topics that are not dealing with wifi. being “carrying a research project” our common linkage. The overture is announced as follows;

guifi.net people on water deposit

16H – Yann Bona – Gestión Ciutadana de la Tecnología. Un estudio de la apropiación tecnológica de las redes WiFi a través de sus usos y prácticas en Barcelona.

16.45 – Jimena Carrasco – Transformaciones en la intervención social con personas con problemas de salud mental y enfermedades psiquiátricas en Chile: Procesos de re configuración de lo social y de la subjetividad en el marco del discurso neo liberal ??

17. 30 – Ana Cristina Aguirre – Los nuevos movimientos sociales transnacionales, el sujeto político civil, una alternativa a la institución. ??

* I will substitute the “??” for proper titles when I get more info. However, this kind of info uses to be last minute delivered.

So, 45 minutes to present something about Citizen Management of Technology | Gestió Ciutadana de la Tecnologia. As far as we have been told, the idea is to get the students to know how they can sort out some issues regarding their future Ph.D projects. We are expected to present our results as a way to show how we have overcome some problems, I guess. Well, good luck… LOL!

from phdcomics.com 16/6/2008

Ok, more seriously now…Let’s start here with a tentative list of things we could talk about:

- research question. This might get a little messy (but it should not).

- examples such as; fixmystreet (recent), free radios (aka radio Alice) (past)

- distinction between research project to be presented elsewhere and research being done. Look and feel issues.

- results form interviews.

- avoid extending beyond 45 minutes / allow 10 for questions and comments…

RAX!