DigiDic - The Symposium

Programm
Vortragssprache: Englisch

Freitag, 28 08 20
11:00 – 11:30 introduction – Elisabeth Schimana
11.30 – 12:00 opening lecture, Keynote 1 – Gisela Schmalz
12:00 – 12:30 short lectures (10 min. each)
12:30 – 13:00 Keynote 2
13:00 – 13:30 short lectures (10 min. each)
——
13:30 – 15:00 lunch
——
15:00 – 15:30 Keynote 3
15:30 – 16:20 short lectures (10 min. each)
16:20 – 17:30 break
17:30 – 19:00 questions + formation of groups
20:00 dinner

Samstag, 29 08 20
10:00 – 12:00 group discussions
12:00 – 12:30 break
12:30 – 13:30 presentation of the group discussions results
13:30 – 14:30 lunch


KEYNOTES
Gisela Schmalz | NEW TECHNOLOGIES – NEW POWER STRUCTURES more

Representatives of powerful technology companies from the US West Coast and China are pursuing the cross-linking and automation of everything and everyone. And the users behave like their diligent accomplices. What exactly makes the current Big Tech and Big Data companies so powerful? And why do people allow entities unknown to them to collect data about them and direct them? Gisela Schmalz shows the complex interrelationships and ways out of a techno-induced heteronomy.

Klaudia Zotzmann-Koch (CCC Wien) | So they do have my data. So what?! more

What it means, when »they« have my data, is hard to understand. Even more, many legal texts such as general terms and conditions or privacy statements are intentionally incomprehensible and difficult to read. And the advertising industry and authorities deliberately exploit how guileless and convenient we humans are. Our problem as a society is bigger than the buzzword bingo of management levels everywhere would have us believe. But the mystical “digital native” will fix it. Won’t they?

Gero A. E. Egger (GO! Pictures KG) | How XR can be Europe’s second chance to lead the digital industry revolution more

The rise of Extended Reality (XR) opens up new ways to interact and join events without the necessity of being physically present in one and the same location. An entire reflection of the physical world is imminent affecting almost every part of our daily lives. From work to education and training to entertainment and arts. But how should we approach this so called “new normal” and what might the XR industry provide today, already?

—–

KURZVORTRÄGE
Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka (mur.at – Initiative Netzkultur) | beyond the net, thinking. spaces, interfaces, tools for ideas and exchange more

as a person living and working across different worldviews and practices, I understand and use digital networked infrastructures as a tool and interface for thinking and doing things. beyond the idea of integrating technology into human existence – as the image of the cyborg may suggest – I argue for searching and questioning the in-between-spaces, the gaps, the threshhold. do/can our digital souls travel at the same speed as the analog ones?

Jogi Hofmüller (mur.at – Initiative Netzkultur) | David and the Goliaths – mur.at and GAFAM more

google, GAFAM – google, amazon, facebook, apple, mircosoft (and some more) shape the way we see and use the internet today. I will talk about mur.at, what we do and what role organisations like mur.at can play. Unlike Goliath GAFAM will not fall from one stone throw, but alternatives are possible.

Tassilo Pellegrini (FH St. Pölten) | Sway and Swound of Open Data Licensing more

Open Data fosters market concentration, even though these mechanisms tend to be obscured by the ostensible non-commercial and public-good character of Open Data initiatives. In particular, the diversification of licensing strategies by commercial market players through a combination of open and closed licensing models contribute to these developments. This talk gives a critical insight into hybrid data licensing strategies, how it contributes to the commercialization of the internet and its impact on public policy.

Seppo Gründler (FH Joanneum) | Surrender or Blender? more

Why open source software is not used much in design education and companies.
Most of the designers and students work with proprietary operating-systems, cloud services and software.
What are the benefits and pitfalls for teaching and using open source software in a market driven professional field?
How can we react to the creative-industries demands on the almost total monopoly of the Adobe Cloud and similar companies?
What are successful examples and why are the students selling their intellectual property but stealing software?

Uschi Reiter (servus. at – Kunst und Kultur im Netz) | No, I do not use ZOOM! more

ZOOM, is just one example of software that spread as fast as the Covid 19 virus itself during the pandemic period. I will follow the traces of this phenomenon and report about my experience that a different digital culture is possible. However, I have long since given up hope that the behaviour of a broad mass of people in dealing with digital media will change.

Lona Gaikis | An Exercise In The Heresy Of Data. Art’s Co-dependent Relationship With Social Media more

While Big Tech’s reception in the early noughties was split between the critical activism of an invisible network of media artists and the blissful ignorance from commercial fine arts, today’s art world as a whole seems to have formed a particular liaison with its current commodity, social media. How do we keep going against Big Tech and how can we escape our own complicity in affirming its powers?

Norbert Math | Where to Draw the Line? more

Despite being around in the FOSS universe for the major part of my digital life, I still use commercial software in audio production. Increasingly unsatisfied with this fact, I want to present myself as a case study: Is it now the time to abandon completely the commercial field? Or do we still find strategies to cope with the big data collectors?

Eva Ursprung | UpStage: Networked Stages more

UpStage is an online platform for cyberformance (networked performance) and an international community of artists, open source software developers and researchers. UpStage was first developed in Aotearoa (NZ) in 2003.

Cyberformance comprises graphics, videos, performing to a webcam, interacting with online audiences, as well as developing scripts and performance materials with remote collaborators. Additionally, it opens a broad range of possibilities for action via mixed-art and mixed reality.

Reni Hofmüller (ecs Medienkunstlabor) | Reflections on daily life practices in the programmation of esc in relation to the tools deployed more

The tools used and deployed in the conceptual phase and during the realisation of a piece have an impact on the work itself. At esc mkl, we try to support artists in their creation by being available for talk and debate, and also in the practical setup. Therefore we are keen to point out open standards and free software solution, as these allow the adaptation to the needs of the specific new work legally, and also facilitate that others can benefit from solutions already found for specific challenges. Shown with some concrete examples.

Herbert Waloschek (CCC Wien) | Why dictatorship? How we develop the love of slavery through consumption and entertainment more

What world do we live in?
3000 attributes for everyone on Facebook, <br In the USA you can purchase identification and residence of any person.
In Europe: data retention abolished, basic data protection regulation,
Export of personal data to the USA not permitted:
is that enough? Do the privileges of companies take priority over human rights?
 
– In what world do we want to live?
Of human rights and the right to a good life
 
– What can we do?

Martina Eigelsreiter (Büro für Diversität, St. Pölten) | diversity and the right to participate more

Diversity includes but is not limited to gender, age, ethnicity, physical abilities/qualities, sexual orientation, religious status, as well as economic or social conditions, educational background, language, geographical location, work experiences, technological infrastructure and computer and information literacy. All of these have to be taken into account when digital information is received or provided but digitization often only focuses on technical progress. In other words: we risk constructing machine intelligence that mirrors a narrow and privileged vision of society, with its old, familiar biases and stereotypes.

  • DigiDic - The Symposium

    Ort: LAMES, Sonnenpark, Spratzerner Kirchenweg 81-83, 3100 St. Pölten.

    In cooperation with FH St. Pölten, FH Joanneum, mur.at and servus.at
    This symposium is the initial event for the development of resistant strategies in the form of artistic projects. Based on the results of this symposium and other worklabs, the resulting works will be presented in an exhibition in autumn 2021.

With
Gero A. E. Egger / Martina Eigelsreiter (AT) / Lona Gaikis (CAN) / Seppo Gründler (AT) / Jogi Hofmüller (AT) / Reni Hofmüller (AT) / Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka (DE) / Norbert Math (AT) / Tassilo Pellegrini / Ushi Reiter (AT) / Elisabeth Schimana (AT) / Gisela Schmalz (DE) / Eva Ursprung (AT) / Herbert Waloschek / Klaudia Zotzmann-Koch DE)