[spectre] Cool Media Hot Talk Show #1

[Tania Goryucheva]

"Cool Media Hot Talk Show"

D.I.Y. talk show on Art & Media

experimental model for participatory media and
direct public engagement into critical discourse

www.coolmediahottalk.net

edition # 1


start of the talk show series ... web site launch ... invitation to  
participate


WHAT IS IT?
“Cool Media Hot Talk Show” is a series of do-it-yourself interactive  
talk shows, where the public proposes and selects the topics,  
speakers, questions, and determines the final scenarios of the show,  
using the project interface on the internet.
The live show that results from this public selection takes place at  
De Balie - Center for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam, and is  
streamed live via the internet.
The public can participate in the live event either by using the web  
interface or mobile phones: submit and select immediate questions and  
comments, evaluate speakers’ performance.
The system is fully automated: The selection process of proposals and  
the decision making is based on direct voting by participants. There  
is no top-down authoritarian mediation and moderation at this level.  
A moderator will intervene only if the rules of conduct declared at  
the project’s web site are abused.

“Cool Media Hot Talk Show” is an open experimental model, which  
suggests both a practical and rhetorical interplay between several  
elements:

1. DE-HIERARCHIZATION OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE MEDIATION
“Cool Media Hot Talk Show” aims at reversing the very format of  
public discourse provided by mass media, with their “one-to-many”  
formula, where one journalist, editor, or editorial board decides  
what, how, and whom to ask, following a prescribed corporate policy.  
The idea of the “Cool Media Hot Talk Show” is to provide the  
interface, space and facilities for the public to engage freely and  
directly into the very process of making public media discourse,  
following the formulas “many-to-one” and “many-to-many”.

2. BLEND OF MEDIA FORMATS
The title “Cool Media Hot Talk Show” refers to Marshall McLuhan’s  
concept of "cool media" as media high in participation, while the  
project itself plays on his idea that “no medium has its meaning or  
existence alone, but only in constant interplay with other media.”  
The project combines the popular format of a televised talk show with  
interactive online and mobile programming tools for the public at all  
levels of decision making. The live events are based on scenarios  
developed by the audience and take place in the theatre space of De  
Balie, while the online audience can follow and participate in the  
show, using the web interface.

3. OPEN SOURCE TOOLS BUILDING FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN
The interactive tools of the project are based on open source  
software developed by De Balie. Participants are invited to  
contribute to its development and use it for their own purposes on  
specified terms. This software will be made available as an open  
source release in the Fall of 2007.

4. CHALLENGE FOR PUBLIC PROFILES OF EXPERT COMMUNITIES
The current theme of the experimental series of D.I.Y. talk shows is  
"on Art & Media". It addresses critical dimensions of ongoing  
developments in art practice where media technologies are in focus.  
It is open to everybody interested in questioning the views, ideas,  
strategies, approaches of artists, curators, theorists, policy  
makers, critics etc. regarding the relations between art, media  
technologies, and their context.

JOIN!
We see the “Cool Media Hot Talk Show” project as a work in progress.  
The tools we are building are ready to use, but at the same time they  
are also to be tested and evaluated publicly. Participants can  
directly and indirectly contribute to their adjustment, modification  
and improvement in the course of the realization of the project. The  
very model in terms of its structure and logic is the subject of an  
experimental exploration as well. We are creating the situation and  
conditions, which we expect can enhance so-called radically  
democratic forms of public discourse. We are interested in both the  
advantages and limits of the model we propose. We welcome everybody  
interested in the exploration, use, appropriation, development and  
critique of this model.

WHY?
Have you ever been struck by hard questions you would like to ask a  
public personality, but never had an opportunity to do it? Do we, as  
the public, have much opportunities to question directly the deeds of  
the people acting on behalf of the public, and for the public? Or  
would you like to bring somebody to public attention, who has  
interesting and important things to speak about, but you are not  
connected to an institution that can provide such an opportunity?  
Then “Cool Media Hot Talk Show” can be your chance!

CARROT?
Of course! The author of a question which obtains the highest public  
rating during a live show event, wins a PRIZE. Which? It will be  
announced prior to every live event.
Selected speakers who will participate in the live shows at De Balie,  
will be offered a fee to be able to properly prepare their  
presentations.

To participate in the project and find detailed information about how  
it works, please visit the “Cool Media Hot Talk Show” web site:
www.coolmediahottalk.net

THE NEXT SHOW WILL HAPPEN on  the 17th of April, 2007, 20.30 (CET),  
De Balie, Amsterdam
START TO PROGRAM IT NOW!

Contact us: diyshow at coolmediahottalk.net

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://mailing.balie.nl/mailman/ 
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De Balie - Center for Culture and Politics, Amsterdam
www.debalie.nl