Get on your digital soapbox! ANAT Media Release

July 31, 2007

Type: discussion

**MEDIA RELEASE - For Immediate Release: I August 2007**

Get on your digital soapbox!

Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) are holding a series of FR=
EE public forums as part of still/open Program during September in Melbourn=
e, Perth and Brisbane as part of their emerging technology labs. The forums=
are running;

Melbourne 6pm, 5th September 2007 @ Digital Harbour
Perth 6pm, 10th September 2007 @ The Bakery ARTRAGE Complex
Brisbane 6pm, 14th September @ The Judith Wright Centre

The forums will explore recent projects by internationally renown guest thi=
nkers: Alessandro Ludovico (Italy) a publisher, media artist and editor in =
chief of Neural (http://www.neural.it/), Andy Nicholson (Australia) a free =
software hacker, new media activist and part of the Engage Media collective=
(http://engagemedia.org/) and Beatriz da Costa (USA) an interdisciplinary =
artist and researcher who works with open science (http://www.beatrizdacost=
a.net/). Creative Commons Australia will open the floor for discussion of O=
pen Source Culture.

Open Source Culture is the growing global phenomenon of creative practices =
of sharing content for others to rework, reuse and redistribute. It has cre=
ated a digital collective media culture and cult like following where every=
one from teenagers to grannies are getting involved. It has moved from the =
programming sphere into the general and business communities; the purchase =
of YouTube for $1.65 billion and MySpace for $580 million by News Corp. and=
Google highlight just how much value they can have.

Open Source Culture aims to empower the user and challenge the power of the=
media giants. Currently a conflict is occurring between the owners of onli=
ne "user generated" infrastructures and those who use them. User submitted =
and generated content often is moderated by the site or organization it is =
uploaded to, giving absolute control to the powers that be to do as they wi=
sh with the content submitted. By its nature Open Source Culture brings up =
many opinions and questions including; how open is Open Source Culture? Is =
it user friendly or financially beneficial to the big players? How might ar=
tists make use this cultural movement? And [insert your own question here] =
will be part of the discussion in the still/open forum.

The forums are presented as part of ANAT's emerging technology labs, which =
are responsible for the hugely successful reSkin program.

For media information and availability of the facilitators for interviews p=
lease contact Amanda Matulick on 8231 9037 or [email protected] or fo=
r more information on the forums and still/open please visit www.anat.org.a=
u/stillopen/blog/forums/.

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ANAT is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council=
for the Arts http://www.ozco.gov.au its arts funding and advisory body, by=
the South Australian Government through Arts SA http://www.arts.sa.gov.au =
and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, St=
ate and Territory Governments.