Hi<br>There are a couple of talks coming up at Access Space in Sheffield which might interest list members. <br>Both events are free and there's no need to book.<br><br><br clear="all">Show & Tell Friday 24th Sept 2-4pm<br>
<br>Steve Corbett “The public sphere, Access Space and the hacker work ethic”<br><br>He'll
be presenting his recently completed Masters dissertation in
Sociological Research at the University of Sheffield. The research is
based on his experiences of participating at Access Space this summer.
The paper looks at the recent history of technological change and is
broadly concerned with the form of society that is being invoked by the
advent of the Internet. Central to this is the role that ICTs and the
Internet are playing in contemporary society. He spent a month
conducting research at Access Space in order to understand how
free/libre and open source software can be utilised in creative and
active ways, with social benefits.<br>
Using the public sphere perspective of Jurgen Habermas, the paper asks
in what ways ICTs can be empowering or disempowering, passive or
active, exclusionary or inclusionary, consumerist or prosumerist,
dominating or liberating. The talk will also discuss the hacker<br>
work ethic and argue that the way in which Access Space incorporates
the principles of hacker culture as social practice can challenge the
dominant cult of commodified ICT use. <br>In
conclusion, the ways in which these principles can effect wider social
changes will be discussed. Hopefully, this will provide a stimulating
and critical discussion about the importance of ICTs and the Internet
in everyday life and the possibility of wider social<br>
changes.<br><br>Contact for info: <a href="mailto:jake@access-space.org" target="_blank">jake@access-space.org</a><br><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<br>
<br>Artist Talk Saturday 9th October 2-4pm<br>
Dominic Smith <br>“As above, so below”<br><br>Dominic
will be talking about the nature of free/open source practice amongst
the arts. When artists choose to engage with FLOSS tools, development
environments and processes there is the inevitable consequence that
freedom and openness becomes reflected in their work. As artists engage
with the microcosmos of openly accessible code we find that this exerts
and influence upon macrocosmos of galleries, festivals and related
groups. He will be investigating what factors are necessary for this
parallel action, looking at examples and discussing the motivating
factors for artists when engaging with this process.<br>
<br><a href="http://dominicsmith.info/" target="_blank">http://dominicsmith.info/</a><br>Dominic
is a founder of the Polytechnic in Newcastle, an organisation working
with a hands-on, open and distributed approach to art & technology.<br>
<a href="http://ptechnic.org/" target="_blank">http://ptechnic.org/</a><br><br><br>Contact for info: <a href="mailto:jake@access-space.org" target="_blank">jake@access-space.org</a><br><br><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<div>
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Jake Harries<br>Digital Arts Programme Manager<br>ACCESS SPACE <br>Unit 1, AVEC Building<br>3-7 Sidney St <br>Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK<br>t: +44 (0) 114 249 5522 <br>w: <a href="http://www.access-space.org/" target="_blank">www.access-space.org</a> <br>
Reg. Charity 1103837<br><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<br>Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England.<br><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<br>
<a href="http://loss.access-space.org/" target="_blank">http://loss.access-space.org/</a><br><a href="http://audiotools.lowtech.org/" target="_blank">http://audiotools.lowtech.org</a><br><a href="http://www.furtherfield.org/zerodollarlaptop" target="_blank">http://www.furtherfield.org/zerodollarlaptop</a></div>
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