Future session 2030

1. White/yellow post-it

-> What do you want to take along? <yellow post-it>
-> What do you want to leave behind? <white post-it>

What we want to leave behind in 2030

- dispersion (doing many things at the same time)

- creative industries based on copyright

- power and decision making concentrated in experts

- capitalism 

- religions

- institution of post office (=slow communication)

- banks 

- exclusive ex-cathedra (frontal) teaching
- university starting at 18

- censorship

- payment for internet connection everywhere

- jobs with prefixed timing (for example Monday to Saturday from 8am to 3pm)

- too much involvement of capitalists in culture, educaties

- to have to pay for books and photocopies

- exams through your academic/learning career
- collecting societies
- culture of consumption, consumerism
- dispersed attention
- Loppsi, ACTA, BUMA-STEMRA, Hadopi, Dadvsi, SABAM, SACEM, ... copyright laws
- ADSL
- Toys that make sex-difference (no more pink ... or pink for all)
- necessity of security about the future
- forced relationship between development and technological development
- Copyright laws
- Hierarchical organisation
- Review and Evaluation methods in education
- artificial scarcity (knowledge)
- burn universities
- creative industries, web 2.0, gentrification, artvertising, third party financing
- 'walled gardens' (you can also call Facebook a walled garden because it is private)
- informal education as inferior to formal education
- difficulty to access education in developing countries
- the idea that education only happens in universities
- language as an inflexible and unchangeable entity
- my full hard drives... (arghh)
- exploitation
- profit / or problem? driven education
- crazy agendas that don't allow to go deeper in projects
- traditional wages system, the way to be 'employed'
- hierarchical management systems
- facebook as a format (not the community itself)
- property
- categories
- personal cars, personal computers - centralized ways of working linked to personal objects
- strict hierarchical thinking
- firms that block development, absurd salaries
- consumer capitalism
- stress

What we would like to take along to 2030
- digital disorder
- online communities that organize to influence together their daily concerns
- amateur culture
- sense of community, sharing & solidarity
- wifi & 3G everywhere
- low cost airlines
- open minds
- shared knowledge
- internet as an autonomous space
- laboratory space
- diversity of informal and formal education
- peer-reviewed cultural politics
- learning with OS sw (at school)
- Laws that protect the commons
- GIT - tool for collaborative (code) writing, use it outside the frame of computer science
- practice (as opposed to consumption)
- Internet, Free Software, ..., public domain,
- photocopiers, scanners, OCR, printers, Print on Demand
- copyleft, public domain
- personal servers
- Families with at least 3 generations
- Wanting to learn new things
- Adapting to continuous changes
- Peer-2-peer tools
- open education resources
- Public domain (generalisation)
- International solidarity and collaboration
- Experiments on complex identities
- the web as we imagined it in 1997
- everyone is a server
- face-to-face relation in collaboration (not only digital)
- continuous creation of technological tools for collaborative learning
- diversity of thinking of communities
-  bodily wisdom that comes with age
- reflection/exchange made possible through long-term personal relationships = my partner :)
- spots of (wave) silence
- thinking and writing
- experimenting and developing ways of collaboration and learning
- email
- free online communication services, such as Skype
- my network of people and peers
- the gift (giving -giving) (not giving-taking) giving without expecting any counterpart
- fruits and vegetables
- hitch hikers' guide to permaculture - entering a different time frame (distance to instantaneity)
- organisation of society in collaborative open and engaged way - human ecology so we can exclude poverty/non-social behaviour that lead to extreme gap between rich and poor
- water, ice, sun, air
- nose, eyes, feet
- hands-on approach
- disordered neighbourhood
- possibility to see the horizon

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Go back in time & think of ways of sharing & shared experiences that you like

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Past:
- objects/medium message: f.ex. change horses for long distances
--> cars/tractors & equipment, means also to teach knowledge / how to use it
--> sharing mobile phones for youngsters in Budapest is common (photos, notes)
>>> future: share planes or other flying objects

- sharing through work: chat & share info around work mostly in agricultural production or cooking
--> exists in meetings today
--> raise child commonly, children can learn different visions
>>> future: Fahrenheit 451, peer-2-peer behaviour

- sharing spaces: park, agora, plaza: not necessary to consume
>>> future: medialab, hackerspace, playground for kids... people bring there own chair, sit down and chat

- physical media of music: 
past: musical scores, mixed tapes, CDs
now: social tagging, social filtering, recording of concert on usb-stick directly after concert
future: concerts will not be devided between singer & audience; everyone participating in different manner -> concert is produced in different ways (f.ex. clothes that capture sound/mouvement/scent/heath...), you pass it on to someone else with replay)
importance of being physically present & instant transmission (vs the cloud)

- storytelling: problem in educational context for which you reflect on solution & present
story in education: hidden problem has to be translated / decoded and new tool has to be created to solve the problem
folk stories/fairy tales: hidden knowledge embedded (has to be decoded) and is passed on through generations, usually through intimate situations
>>> future: public wisdom transmitted through intimacy; cadavre exquis with code -> folk code 'pearl script shared around the camp fire'

- sharing devices/space
phones were shared around the house/building/village
>>> future: maybe not have personal computer???? rather have your own server? devices strongly related to your body -> personal -> intimate sharing

- sharing within the family -> quit!

- dialect as a way of sharing: conservative/exclusive? Or possible idea of thinking about informal language? 
>>> when you want to do informal learning, think about informal language
dialect = way to connect to history, culture (where you come form, traditions...); similar to geek language (1st computer history etc)
what is a dialect = local language, traditionnaly linked to geographical place, but could be used in larger sense (community); exclusive in some ways (beaten up if you're not part); can also be used to bridge (similar language)
>>> similar in informal learning, both local and hard to pass on/open up to larger group
ex. universities: knowledge shared in most universal way, language is set to that aim
standard in/out for dialect? specific with connection points to other dialects -> cross borders instead of create new borders

- learning communities:

Openess to learning. A house where a learner and a teacher can meet, share
learning communities, different traditions. 

Time to select, to get passionate (not to try to learn everything fast), to build relationships.

Forced sabbatical - need to discover

To combine working and learning: child labor!

Life long learning, life long working - all part-time (solves pension-trouble too ;-))

A 'cartography of knowledge', rather than a diploma - to bridge/connect formal and informal knowledge

Q: What motivates you to share what you learned in return?

Keep knowledge secret: passing knowledge from master to student. The value of secrecy - passion?

To be able to adapt to a local context

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What if there are no universities?

[sorry notes missing]

What if dialects are the common way of communicate?

Establishing terms: difference between dialect -- a subversion, and pidgin -- a melted language(s). Pidgin is a form of emancipation?

Interest tension in language, tension between language as shared and new, informal languages. By having a new language, it is easier to develop new ideas. Connection to language and the emergence of new ideas. Command-line vs GUI -- every command does only one thing, so you can create new phrases, things to say. It is still the same language but you can express new things. Even when you speak simplified grammer, restricted vocabulary ... you can express complicated things. With simple bricks you can create larger structures.

People need a common language, lingua franca -- a meta-language? common to the group of groups. Not linked to local power, but crossing borders. Latin, Spanish, French, English, Chinese.

Spanish: Lengua Vehicular

Two groups speaking different dialects of the same source - one way communication? French-Canadians and French, Flemish and Dutch ... what happens? One understands the other better than vice versa
West Africa - Arabic Nigeria vs. Egyptian Arabic vs Maroccan Arabic. 

Valorisation of written vs. spoken?

What if Medialabs have become state policy?

What if medialabs are state-policy?
state policy or state funded?
-> structures on different scales
constellation of medialabs & what governs different structures?
co-dependency of formal & informal structures
how do medialabs create systems for care -> is that possible? can they take care of people within those structures, how can state enforce this?
-> organise solidarity

state funded -> autonomy?, lead to uniformity?
if yes, funding/financing -> where would funding come from: cultural, education, economics?
-> use money from military :)

State policies don't have to be fixed, if there were more medialabs, political structure can be different -> more integrated into self-organised activity, more flexible
-> policies that enable experimentation...
-> challenge of self-organised environments: openness vs need for care/inclusion/quality....

What would happen when ACTA is enforced?

1. The chinese scenario
Harmonizing patents, official EU patents, handle patents on European level: all countries are submitting the same way.

Companies can attack each others

2015:
The owner of the largest patent portfolio is China by large and takes control on all European softawre companies. Easy!

If acta would be enforced there is no generic medicine possible anymore. 
2 scenarios:

1. revolt, and greater popular knowledge of self-care
2. massvie death. Solution for the over-population -> less population -> problem solved!

if ACTA is enforced
More control
P2P production is over, refenforce hollywood

Broadens the gap between mainstream actors and community- and sharing based commons world

All the AOC ("Appelation d'Origine Contrôlée"): label for agriculture products like Champagne or Camembert) would be reinforced. Europe would become a museum.

Migrate to non-ACTA countries (Brazil, India) -> with also different writing systems.

http://demo.bigbluebutton.org/client/BigBlueButton.html#

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DIWO http://masterdiwo.wordpress.com/

Non-formal education, the creation of a possible methodology
How  to keep studying, learning. We did not know about informal learning.  Someone who did a DIY-masters. Problem: she was alone, so we wanted to have a peer-review, working together. This year we haven't started yet, but we are working on how to do it. What if there is a group that joins? Can we keep it completel open? Self-managed means also articulation. The blog has a lot of documentation, sources, on informal education.
Tools, methods, ...
Complementary to university education, not against it. University doesn't give us what we need. How do you evaluate? When do you stop learning?
Mixing levels of expertise; inviting experts every month. Time? good to close it/temporary - set certain amount of meetings per 'master' and allow peer reviews - forces the 'master' to commit

Responses
Can roadmaps be a solution, help? Versions?
Release candidates?
-> blog system that allows to keep track of your thinking
Workgroup vs. DIWO masters? The term is interesting to deconstruct. To make it more evident/visible that there are other places for learning. 
Closure: output? A publication, an event, ... how not to adopt the deadline a la commercial work, but to have deadlines that make sense. A point of convergence, making public rather than an artificial point in time.
Learning by doing something. Good to measure time. 9 months seems to be a good measure. Examples FoAM -- moments for/of collective intelligence.
How to involve others into the process of learning. Not being in a University means you can be less isolated. Learning with others.
--> have mediators invited + people 'interested'
Is it enough to declare yourself to be open? Maybe you need to move to someone elses territory, to invite yourself and connect to other organisations.
The booksprint idea ... can that work? Concentrating energy? Take advantage of new formats of meeting like those (also Pecha Kucha...)

institutes frustration: evaluation is always focused on individuals -> can this model somehow validate collective knowledge?
-> group output at the end?
-> we will always have the problem of the individual/does not have to disappear, cfr free software: you have a way to aknowledge individual participation/who developed what
-> think of this model in other territories
>>> be careful of the 'crude' ways and models of free software -> there is a lot of hierarchy, in smaller projects teams are very exclusive on who is in/out
>>> do you need stgh that validate? diploma? is making project visible on your blog not enough?

A diploma is dark ;-)

Acknowledgment of a person being there ... do you need more? 
Documentation can help 
A self-managed process of learning that is shared
Self-integrity (?)

The tools that are used force transparency. 
ex blog: OSP - of the 400 posts on the blog, 1 person has posted 250, but is therefore not the person who has the knowledge -> others are afraid to write in English, don't like writing, ...
>>> let reporting/documenting not become the validation mesurement for knowledge
Documentation is not only writing; belonging to project is stgh already 
Share the load of defining your program & share different modalities for the same research (different time stretches for each)

-> they wanted to talk about series of projects that are 'brothers' of lab2lab (collaboration with other organisations...)

Cultural mediation as a practice, the mediator as a figure

A local group that shares knowledge on Arduino (DIWO by nature?)

SLIC http://medialab-prado.es/article/software_libre_y_sistemas_de_archivo_compartido_en_instituciones_culturales

Zero Dollar Laptop 
http://www.furtherfield.org/zerodollarlaptop/

uk dumps tons of electronics to developing countries each year.

building lighter systems

Level of participants. Try to rethink technology - recycling better than the latest. Customizing your own machine. 'Owning' hardware.

open call for people to bring their old laptop

Video, design, image ... we needed to ask people: what do you need? 
To be able to open an e-mail account ... write a CV
Emphasis on a platform - everyone can create whatever they want. Feel connected. Platform helped to overcome feeling lonely.

Developing, introducing tools that allow to express. Talk about your own problems. Interested in when the project becomes political in that sense. 

Informal ... well, Olga is there to 'teach'. Make participants become teachers in long-term is an aim ... a pool. We need funding to keep going. 

Editorial meeting, room. An event that was covered by participants as journalists. 

Working with homeless... you get into politics immediately. Organisations that are the door to meet these groups. 

Work more concretely about media-ecologies around that group. Community of immigrants might need other things than other groups (a private server?) 

Internal internet radio ... specific media needs

Project is about digital inclusion

We are looking for medialabs in EU to collaborate. To make a Grundtvig application.
Funding: Other Grundtvig-funds ... workshops?

Would you like to collaborate  with other orgs? Will furtherfield travel to give workshops? Will you  unite European homeless? How do you manage the meeting?

Nantes
Nantes has/had a large computer-recycling project (Linux inside), given away to needy people & associations  http://alis44.org/

Brussels
Chez-nous might be interesting. Self-run/organised association for homeless/sans-papiers. 123 in Rue Royale Bruxelles - small hackerspace. Social worker is one of the participants.
Relies on people that are there.
Globaroma - asylumseekers. Bart: http://www.globaroma.be

Madrid
collectives
Obsoletos: http://www.obsoletos.org/
Cyclicka: http://blogs.latabacalera.net/cyclicka/
at Tabacalera - Organising workshops - linux for humans :-) -- hardware and software

-> a related documentary on Programmed Obsolescence: http://www.rtve.es/television/documentales/comprar-tirar-comprar/

Budapest
Hackerspace in Budapest http://hspbp.org/
WiFi-village program (installing hardware in remote villages with high unemployment rate) http://wififalu.blog.hu/ contact: Nyír? András andras.nyiro@gmail.com

Dakar
association ENDA-tiers-monde that reycles everything , from soda cans to cell phones
 http://www.enda.sn


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Question by Femke: debate over the 100$ laptop and Linux on it or not? was there any bad feeling that people without any money might be suffering because they dont have access to any proprietary software (supposing theyre better)?

Answer: problem was never raised. Getting something for free was not as important as the politics behind it.

Homeless bloggers in New-York going to public libraries

Funding: organise preparatory visits. You provide an invitation letter, you write a program. Participants apply for mobility grants and than you can develop the project together. 

A month?! OK ... mid February is Grundtvig-deadline


CHAT WITH MEDELLIN & EYEBEAM

Medellin Art Museum - http://www.elmamm.org/sitio/

el MAMM will host a labtolab sequel we call labSurlab, not just cause it takes place in the hemispheric south, but cause is a lab on top of a lab. A meeting that can serve the purpose of helping us define some local strategies to not just follow previous lines of social and cultural reach but as a moment to share working methodologies. Medellin undergoes a deep transformation (similar to any other city traing to catch up on this globalized economical system). It is not a city poor in technical resources and that's personally one of the main reasons why i see fundamental to have a go and exchange with others, queues from "el patio maravillas" to the hackersapce in Nantes or the Sugarlabs implementations in Peru to the "future of the lab" in europe can help us re-think and re-shape what is currently being built in Colombia.