[spectre] The ShiftSpace Commissions Program

[Turbulence]

November 5, 2007
Turbulence Commission: "The ShiftSpace Commissions Program" by Dan Phiffer
and Mushon Zer-Aviv
http://turbulence.org/works/shiftspace

Turbulence has commissioned ShiftSpace and now ShiftSpace commissions you.

Ten development grants of up to $2,000 will be awarded to individuals and
collectives using ShiftSpace as a platform to create new "Spaces" and
"Trails".

About ShiftSpace: While the Internet's design is widely understood to be
open and distributed, control over how users interact online has given us
largely centralized and closed systems. The web is undergoing a
transformation whose promise is user empowerment -- but who controls the
terms of this new read/write web? The web has followed the physical movement
of the city's social center from the (public) town square to the (private)
mall. ShiftSpace attempts to subvert this trend by providing a new public
space on the web.

By pressing the [Shift] + [Space] keys, a ShiftSpace user can invoke a new
meta layer above any web page to browse and create additional
interpretations, contextualizations and interventions -- which are called
"Shifts". Users can choose between several authoring tools -- called
"Spaces" -- that allow web users to annotate, modify and shift the content
of a page and through ShiftSpace, share that shift with the rest of the web.
"Trails" are maps of shifts (shiftspace content) that create meta-layer
navigation across websites. These trails might be used as a platform for
collaborative research, for curating net art exhibitions, or as a way to
facilitate a context-based public debate.

Go to the commissions site (http://turbulence.org/works/shiftspace), watch
the introductory video, apply for a grant and help us spread the word.

"The ShiftSpace Commissions Program" is a 2007 commission of New Radio and
Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was
made possible with funding from the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs."

BIOGRAPHIES

Dan Phiffer is a new media hacker from California, interested in exploring
the cultural dimension of inexpensive communications networks such as voice
telephony and the Internet.

Mushon Zer-Aviv is a designer, teacher and a media activist from Tel-Aviv
whose work explores media in public space and public space in media. Mushon
is the co-founder of Shual.com, ShiftSpace.org, YouAreNotHere.org and the
Tel Aviv node of the Upgrade international network.


Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director
New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org
New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856
Turbulence: http://turbulence.org
Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog
Networked_Music_Review: http://turbulence.org/networked_music_review
Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade 
New American Radio: http://somewhere.org