From the Dorkbot London blabber list:
You are invited to...Wireless London: Future Urban Infrastructures #3: Social Exoskeletons
The last in a series of three lectures at the Architectural Association.
Talk: Tuesday 15th March, 2005, 6:30pm-8.00pm
Title: Social Exoskeletons Speakers: Ben Russell (see below for bio) and a special guest mystery speaker. Location: Architectural Association (36 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3ES / 0207 887 4000 / http://www.aaschool.ac.uk)
To be followed by an open show and tell session: 8.00pm -9.30pm, AA Restaurant. (see details below)
All talks are free, but places are limited. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.
This month's theme: Social Exoskeletons
The last of talk of the Wireless London talk series will look towards the future of urban infrastructures and how these might effect and develop new forms of social exchange, which in turn effect economic and political change. With a sophisticated wireless infrastructures in place, what might be the consequences and effects this might bring? How might this begin to effect social interaction and cohesion?
Speaker Ben Russell writes:
"Humans are social beings, their evolutionary success rests on cooperation, and not just cooperation within groups, but cooperation between groups manifesting in many forms, from physical trade to intangible information exchange. Traditional business mantras, efficiency, competitiveness, and aggressiveness are increasingly applicable to decentralised, devolved cooperative structures. For example, open source software and peer to peer file sharing. Collaborative tools that far from slowing things down, speed things up. As location and localisation emerges in internet applications and more physical things are formally described, local physical inventories will be amenable to the new collection aggregation methodologies (ad hoc distributed neighborhood libraries etc).
As media systems become more about distributed, discrete, and described elements and systems which process them, they become increasingly and diversely functional. Data is becoming more described and discrete, and control functions that feed off that data are becoming more sophisticated, distributed and interdependent. We may see the emergence of a new kind of real time civic cooperation, helping your fellow citizens unintentionally and immediately through the structure of these systems."
Biographies of this month's Speakers
Ben Russell
Ben Russell is the author of headmap (www.headmap.org), a blueprint for wireless location aware devices. One of the founders of the Locative Media Lab (www.locative.net). Part of the original management team of UK game physics startup Mathengine (Mathengine physics is used in 'A list' games including 'Enter the matrix', 'Unreal', 'Planetside' and 'Rainbow Six 3'. The core technology was recently acquired by Electronic Arts). Recent speaking engagements have included ISEA 2004, MIT, Banff New Media Institute at the Banff Centre, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Transmediale 04, Architectural Association, Next 5 Minutes. He is currently working for the newly formed Pervasive and Locative Arts Network a new international and interdisciplinary research network in pervasive media and locative media has been funded as part of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Ben Russell links: http://headmap.org http://locative.net http://open-plan.org
Open Show & Tell Sessions/Discussion Each Wireless London talk event will run between 6.30 and 8.00pm with speakers and discussion, immediately followed by an open 'show and tell' session at the AA from 8.00 to 9.30.
The 'show and tell' sessions are informal and open for anyone to bring along and showcase projects. finished or work in progress, that are relevant to this field. These sessions are an opportunity for practitioners, students and professionals involved in free networks, arts, wireless technologies, architecture, urbanism, education, communications policy and local government, to meet and discuss current and future projects.
If you would like to come and showcase your work, please let us know by emailing -> ps (at) wirelesslondon.info, or just come along (with your own equipment) on the day.