Digital Politics

Fact and fiction in the not so new age of terror

The bomb attacks on July 7, the attempted attacks on July 21 and the killing of an innocent Brazilian man the following day have left Britain reeling. With three suspected suicide bombers still on the run, British society stays on high alert. In this situation we need to pause to reflect. Once more the relationship between fact and fiction, between so called reality and the reality created by media is turned on its head.

Harvie Branscomb, St. Louis Missouri, U.S.A. May 13 2005: Warning: this text contains opinions and observations that can not be considered objective or factual reporting. This information may be irrelevant or in some cases, toxic. Handle with care. This is also true of almost everything else you are reading elsewhere. For a completely different perspective, visit www.mediaresearch.org

St.Louis Missouri, USA is the gateway to the American West, home of Pulitzer and capital city of a state located in the center of the USA. Voters here chose Bush in the 2004 election. St Louis is the weekend home of the National Media Reform Conference.

From Net Art News, Rhizome June 10, 2005

Kurating By Numbers

On the 4th of June, Tate Modern hosted the CURATING, IMMATERIALITY, SYSTEMS symposium to kick off its epochal Open Systems survey show of the conceptual and informatic art that swept the 1960s-70s. The conference acted as the first docking bay for UK-based programmer Grzesiek Sedek and curator Joasia Krysa's open source curating software KURATOR. Drawing on affinity between code art and curatorial praxis, the software tries to redevelop curating as a generative experiment in social relations, within and against an art world that is only beginning to bypass the genteel stultification of curator as the golden alibi of art markets and aesthete-at-large. KURATOR posits "software curating" as a way to distribute curatorial process over networks of people, including artists and others, and finally outwards from the special domain of an individual. It further combats the reification of taste by partially automating many of the traditional metiers that distinguish the curato! r - selectivity being one.

from Office of the Press Secretary, press@usdat.us

US Department of Art & Technology Washington, DC
For Immediate Release: June 10, 2005

SITUATIONAL TOUR, 51st VENICE BIENNALE- JUNE 10 - 19, 2005

VENICE - The US Department of Art & Technology announces the SITUATIONAL TOUR of the 51st Venice Biennale, June 10 - 19th

US DAT Secretary-at-Large Randall M. Packer will report on the aesthetic edge of the international arts festival, employing the Department's state-of-the-art mobile communications system to provide a live feed of the unfolding, situational space of the Venice Biennale. US DAT invites a global audience to follow the critical lens of the Secretary-at-Large in the deconstruction of all things Art World.

The SITUATIONAL TOUR of the 51st Venice Biennale is the initial phase of the US DAT reclamation of the American Pavilion, transforming it as the "Virtual Pavilion" for the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007. The theme of the exhibition will be "representation through virtualization."

The Creative Industries (CIs) currently account for about 8% of the UK’s gross domestic product. Governments across the world recognize the importance of such industries and much attention is currently focused on how best to grow such industries. It is usual to group together such diverse businesses together because most, in some measure, are linked to intellectual property (IP) laws. However, the diverse nature of the CIs and their relationship to copyright law is complex and shifting.

Arts Council England exists to support the practice of creative artists and also to ensure that the benefits of such cultural practice are made as broadly accessible as possible. This means we are committed to creative diversity and to encouraging links between the arts and other sectors of the economy. That entails careful consideration of what forms of legal and financial instruments best support creative practice and distribution of cultural works.

In 2001, the Arts Council’s Interdisciplinary Arts Department initiated the CODE Conference (Collaboration and Ownership in the Digital Economy), a major international conference that examined the principles behind and developments in the Free Software and Open Source movements and how collaborative and distributed forms of creativity and ownership were starting to be adopted in other fields of cultural practice. The legacy of that conference has been further developed through more recent events such as the Music and Technology conference (free publication available, see below for details) and the Intellectual Property and the Public Domain Summit, both held at the Royal Society of Arts in 2004, which brought together artists, activists, and industry representatives to examine the role of IP in terms of new business models, innovation and public access to cultural materials. The department has also supported research initiatives into the role of IP in digital distribution, and also new forms of ‘social property’ and issues of ‘knowledge transfer’.

Why am I doing this blog?

I feel large corporations should be held under more public scrutiny and supermarkets are not given enough attention in mass media.

Electronic media has the potential to hold these large corporations to account, in way that mainstream media doesn’t always achieve. Blogs can focus on special issues in ways that newspapers can’t afford.

I want this blog to present the bigger picture of what Tescos are doing, and their effects on our society.

What have I got against Tesco?

I am alarmed by Tesco’s recent annual profit announcements: more than £2 billion, and a 29% share of the UK food market.

The band Radiohead have linked to the Supermarket-sweep-up website, and the number of hits have increased dramatically. Amazing the power of one good link. What's especially nice is that Radiohead update their website themselves, so they've picked it out personally. http://www.supermarket-sweep-up.com

by Kalle Kormann

A the moment we are in a situation where information and communication technologies enter more and more the governmental world - not only for their internal use. In the future we will all be able to communicate - get in contact with the government easier, directly through the Internet. The term E-Government or Digital Government is used to describe this “new way”. The use of such E-Government Services and Systems should simplify and fasten the access to governmental information and data. We can listen, watch, vote, fill out forms, order, request things, get in touch, e cetera with/to our government. The whole body of the state becomes more transparent but also the citizens. All our personal information will be stored; now, everybody could know everything about the others. The information could be used against, for or by oneself or by the state. The question of security and trust needs to be solved, policies that protect our privacy, the control and accessibility of our personal information have to be defined.
With this essay I will talk about the question if Digital Government will increase or decrease the personal freedom belonging to the personal privacy issues. I won’t talk about every aspect of the Digital Government topic, because this would be too much for this essay.