Knowledge Laboratory

CounterKnowledge Lab in wiki world

2005-08-29T03:36:00.000+01:00

To collect information about the november gathering there is now a wiki, some quickly chosen free wiki with google ads - but it does the job for now:
http://knowledgelab.pbwiki.com/
The programme of the gathering will be developed there and participants are encouraged to contribute - soon the abstracts/proposals for workshops and presentations will all be put there ....

PRELIMINARY NOTICE

2005-06-06T16:14:00.000+01:00

Hacklab:

Democracy, Technology and Social Organisation

A weekend gathering for activists & academics

early/mid-January (exact dates t.b.c, either 13/14/15 or 20/21/22) – 2006

Lancaster University, North West England.

WE ARE AT A VERY EARLY PLANNING STAGE - if you have any suggestions for the hacklab, then get in touch and help us sort it out:

n. moeller [at] lancaster . ac . uk

In addition to related academic presentations (management and social organisation in the knowledge economy) we are imagining hands-on workshops, such as installation of GNU/Linux operating systems (to “dual-boot” with or to replace MS Windows) and how to use Free Software for everyday purposes, such as emailing (Thunderbird, Evolution), websurfing (Firefox), text writing (OpenOffice.org) and photo manipulations (GIMP), as well system security, privacy, encryption, and how to set up a “safe” computer network at home or at work.

We are looking for groups who recycle computers to provide access to the public and for artistic installations.

There will be a talk and discussions about the EU Software Patent Directive (more at http://swpat.ffii.org/) and we encourage presentations of novel management and organisation within Free Software projects, as well as presentations of projects that use Free Software and associated ideas of Freedom of Information in their social, political, or cultural networks.

There will also be a series of discussions around the philosophical, legal, social and cultural aspect of Free Software, particularly the GNU GPL as a “revolutionary” configuration of property rights that has given rise to a wider Copyleft movement “led” by the Creative Commons.

We are also planning a workshop about how academic research projects can learn from grassroots movements' and other cyberspace groups' use of IT for collaborative projects (and knowledge creation) with the view to form a collective to provide such services for academic research projects, similar to the way in which, for instance, www.aktivix.org provides such services for activists.

For information about hacklabs in general, see www.hacklab.org.uk

It will be organised with the support of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) at Lancaster University by the “Knowledge Laboratory on Globalisation from Above and Below”.

Participation is limited to a hundred people. A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TRAVEL GRANTS AND FREE ACCOMODATION FOR ACTIVISTS ARE AVAILABLE - CONTACT US NOW.

SEND SUGGESTIONS FOR WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, AND PAPERS (MAX. 1 PAGE) TO:

n.moeller [at] lancaster . ac . uk

Costs, incl. (predominantly organic and vegan) Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner:

Volunteers/unpaid activists: Free

Unfunded students: Donation

Funded students, Lancaster academics: £20 (additional donation welcome!)

Representatives of smaller NGOs: £35 (negotiable)

Representatives of bigger NGOs: £65

Academics: £65

Call for Contributions and Interventions

2005-06-02T19:43:00.000+01:00

Making Global Civil Society:

Grassroots Practice and Academic Theory of Globalisation from Below

A weekend gathering for collective reflection
amongst activists and academics.

November 4, 5 & 6 - 2005

Lancaster University, North West England.

With support of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) at Lancaster University, the “Knowledge Laboratory on Globalisation from Above and Below” is happy to invite you, your affinity group, your collective, or your organisation to contribute to its first event.

The aim of the gathering is to discuss key aspects of the historical development of the capitalist economy that drives globalisation from above - such as enclosures, (precarious) labour, structural violence, colonialism, and their justifying cultural imagery – and to make visible alternative architectures of social organisation emerging through the processes of globalisation from below, that is, through grassroots movements cooperating to create a global civil society based on human rights and mutual aid, and to restore the (intellectual) commons, in the street, on the land, and in cyberspace.

We are particularly interested in contributions that relate people's experiences of, perspectives on, motivations for, and frustrations with their involvement in grassroots movements. The idea is to bring together first-hand accounts of the successes and failures of social, cultural and political projects and experiments with theoretical elaborations by academics trying to understand the reality of globalisation and the connections between its manifestations from above and below. By opening up a space for collective engaged reflection, we hope to create an atmosphere in which practice can inform theory and where theoretical academic perspectives can facilitate a reflection on activist practices.

If you are engaged in any form of social, political, or cultural activism and have a story to tell, issues to explore, or anything else you would like to share in this forum, then get in touch and suggest a contribution or presentation.

While we prioritize contributions by grassroots collectives and on-going projects, we welcome academic presentations in areas relevant to social movements, such as:

conceptions of global civil society, counter-public sphere and counter-hegemonic movements
the dynamics of enclosing knowledge and genetic material
history and change of precarious labour
resisting enclosures, resisting precarity, constructing alternatives
transformations of colonialism: biocolonialism, TRIPs and structural adjustment
networked databases, biometrics, and border control
subversive and transhuman uses of technology
reclaiming/liberating urban spaces and rural land
sexual politics, discourse, and resistance
radical media and art collectives
self-organisation and consensus processes conceptually

non-central, non-hierarchical networks and governance; network-centric thinking
human rights as community building, form of resistance, and as global vision of movements

Participation is limited to a hundred people. A LIMITED NUMBER OF TRAVEL GRANTS AND FREE ACCOMODATION FOR UNFUNDED OR LOW-PAID PARTICIPANTS ARE AVAILABLE - CONTACT US NOW.

SEND SUGGESTIONS FOR WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, AND PAPERS (MAX. 1 PAGE) BY AUGUST 19 TO: n.moeller [at] lancaster.ac.uk