Hi all,,
And whomever happens to be on this list linked to the blog -- hello!
Thanks Trebor. I have to say, I have been to numerous conferences and so few of them savored these items from your smorgasbord.   
I guess that some of these types of formats are just a bit harder to organize, so therefore it is great to think it through well in advance. I like the idea of Open Mic and Collaborative Lecture and Artists Showing W-I-P.   
Anyway, Off to the Blog!
Katrien


-----Original Message-----
From: Trebor Scholz [mailto:trebor-*at*earthlink.net]
Sent: Fri 8/29/2003 6:35 PM
To: collabo-*at*topica.com
Cc:
Subject: New faces (formats) rule!
Dear all,
I love conferences. They are great places to get inspired, provoked, debate,
learn, make new friends, meet future collaborators, party intensely, dance.
And yet a bit of a festival fatigue takes hold of the media arts scene.
Recent articles in the summer issue of 3metamute2 address the issue looking
at Transmediale and other festivals. Discussions in preparation for the
upcoming Next5Minutes conference in Amsterdam also addressed the question of
festival formats.
Sometimes conferences become disintegrated and unconnected recitals of
individual panelists, which are interesting, but not focusing at the
questions of the conference. How can we avoid this with our conference? The
one-to-many format of a speaker addressing an audience should be done away
with as it turns the audience into a passive block in front of a
self-promotional panel or speaker. This setup contributes to the ghettoizing
of incestuous and insular networks, often either Euro or US (if not New
York)-centric. What about global inclusivity?
And how do we get the local or regional audience to participate? The
conference location is crucial in this regard as an inclusive space invites
new faces, opens up the space of the conference to the city.
The rigid structure of panels and the non-communicative form of the key-note
speaker feed into the celebrity system reinforcing hegemonic paradigms that
get in the way of a lively exchange of ideas. Debates are mostly dominated
by outspoken and domineering male participants who leave many important
contributions unheard.
Ethical questions occur about decisions on whose plane tickets are paid, if
there will be an entrance fee, and then there is the question of
honorariums...
Here are some formats which we could use for our conference:
--Mailing-lists, Weblogs (process-oriented discussion formats that lead up
to the conference, prior physical meetings show useful)
--Talk-shop (making sure debates stay conceptually coherent)
--Panels (reformulation, reworking, revision of outlined issues,
allowing for spontaneity, after presentation chairs get re-arranged
to include the audience)
--Open Mic (very short audience presentations or comments, VCR / slide
projector/ web projection available)
--Party (drinking, dancing, drugs)
--Workshop (including the creation of link lists on the theme of the
workshop)
--Lecture (ie. collaborative lectures, Avoiding that the participants sit
bored to tears in the audience)
--Artist presentations (showing projects in process to invite people in the
audience to collaborate)
--Exhibition-type situations (settings in which to present, and browse
networked artworks or web initiatives (smaller intimate spaces encouraging
flesh connections)
--Coffee-break (a space where 3water cooler connections2 can be made)
--Open Space (professionally moderated, closed door once a group has formed)
--Open Mike Space (people introduce themselves very briefly, room for making
contacts, meet space)
--Parallel events (making sure the events don1t compete for audience,
satellite events showing the outcome of the conference: ie. Collaborations)
I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
Best,
Trebor