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German

Wizards of OS 2
-- Open Cultures & Free Knowledge --

at the
House of World Cultures Berlin
October 11-13, 2001

 

 
Topics &

Panels

 

Free software Free Software Between Movement and Business
Software as Culture
P2P: Collaborative Writing
Open Source Content Management Systems
Security
Digital Signature
"Intellectual Property" Software Patents and their Economic Usage
Rights Control and Fair Use
Information Diversity: Ownership of Information in Science and Business
The Politics of Treasure: Information, Contractual Relations, and North-South Equity
Free Content License
Public Knowledge Open Source Schooling
The University as Public Service Provider or as Profit Center?
Public Knowledge
Public Broadcasting
Freedom of Information: A Deep Look into the Filing Cabinet
Open Infrastructure

Standards
Open_Money
Open Music
Collective Intelligence
Strategies

What else? Thoughts on Societies and Capitalisms on the Net and Elsewhere

Conference language is English. Simultaneous interpretation for German presentations will be provided, unless marked otherwise.



Free Software

 

 

Free Software Between Movement and Business
Saturday, Oct. 13, 4 p.m., Auditorium

Where does free software stand today, after its adoption by big corporations and public administrations, and after the roller-coaster ride on the stock market? Representatives of IBM and others explain what is still a mystery to many: how can you make money with free software? What is the relation between community and commerce today?

Moderator: Daniel Riek, Technical Manager, Alcove, Bonn

  • Tom Schwaller, founder and for five years editor in chief of Linux-Magazin and site manager of Linux-Community, developer of Webware, and Linux Enterprise Specialist at IBM, Munich

 

 

Software as Culture
Friday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m., Auditorium

Software has become fundamental to much of contemporary life yet it is rarely that we stop to think about how it is constructed, how it shapes the possibilities that it generates, and how it might be invented otherwise. Until now the discussion of software has been seen as primarily a technical matter. There is a neglect of close attention to the multilayered structure and materiality of software. Why has a 'software criticism' comparable to that of film or literature not emerged? The panel presents a series of speakers and projects that are directly involved with new visions of the culture of software. Here the strict division between programmer and theorist does not exist. Instead you will hear from technicians, programmers, artists, writers, theorists whose activity cannot be reduced to any one of these categories.

The thread will include a panel, a workshop, Richard Wright's CD ROM, 'Hello World' A Case Study of Production Culture and Media Technology in the Digital Moving Image, and a mass 'Human Cellular Automaton'.

Moderator: Matthew Fuller, http://www.axia.demon.co.uk, London

 

 

P2P: Collaborative Writing
Thursday, Oct. 11, 8 pm., Auditorium

Some online news sites don't get their content from a paid staff of writers, but rather from the users themselves. The visitors also separate the junk from the "stuff that matters" using sophisticated filtering tools. Essentially, such news and discussion sites can "run themselves", with barely any commercial involvement. The resulting stories are often of astonishing quality. How can you run such a site, which degrees of "peer-to-peer journalism" do exist, and what makes the whole idea interesting? Is there a true media revolution on the horizon?

Moderator: Erik Moeller, Freelance Journalist, operator of the p2p portal InfoAnarchy.org and of the p2p journalism mailinglist P2PJ, Berlin

 

Open Source Content Management Systems
Thursday, Oct. 11, 3 pm., Theater

Professional processing of web content on the Internet, intranet or extranet can today hardly be done without a Content Management System (CMS). Among the main advantages of CMS software is the separation of content and layout and the optimization of the work-flow using browser-based interfaces. During the conference, we present seven projects developing CMS solutions based on open source software: Campsite, Midgard, MMBase, OpenACS, OpenCMS, Open Meta Archive, and Zope . On the panel, representatives will introduce their projects and discuss similarities and differences. The discussion will continue in an accompanying workshop. During the conference, a workspace by the project "Free Online Systems" offers opportunities for exchanging experiences with CMSs and testing some of them "live", using content produced during the conference.

Moderator: Herbert A. Meyer, senior research fellow at artop-Institute of Humboldt-University Berlin, assisted by Walter van der Cruijsen (Desk Organization)

  • Nico Grubert, working in education und publishing at the Zope service-company beehive GmbH, Berlin
  • Mark Pratt, Managing Director at the Zope service-company beehive GmbH, Berlin

Organization WorkSpace Free Online Systems: Thomax Kaulmann, Data Artist, main developer of Open Meta Archive, Berlin; Herbert A. Meyer and Heiko Recktenwald

 

 

Security
Friday, Oct. 12, 3 p.m., Theater

A must for any conference on software-based infrastructure.

Moderation: Armin Medosch, Editor in Chief of Telepolis, London (tbc)

  • Hubertus Soquat, Senior Official IT-Security, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Berlin

 

 

Digital Signature: (Legal) Security or the Ende of Privacy?
Friday, Oct. 12, 4 p.m., Theater

The German language panel is organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Netzwerk Neue Medien.

Electronic communications at today's IT level harbors various security risks. If it is running through the network unencryptedly, it can be intercepted at many points, and is therefore at the center of governmental and commercial interests in surveilance. On the other hand, law enforcement agencies fear that cryptography might hamper the struggle against terrorism.

The introduction of the Digital Signature with the Signature Law recently passed in Germany is an example of this ambivalence: hailed on the one hand as a decisive step toward creating secure, legally binding and confidential communications, the digital signature could also lead to a restriction of the right to anonymous and free communications. Security politicians are already thinking about equipping every netizen with a "passport for the net", thereby making them traceable at every click.

The technology of the digital signature in itself is therefore ambivalent: Through the mechanism of encryption, it can hide traces on the net, as well as serve as a means for unequivocal identification. Against this backdrop, "privacy" and with it the basic right to informational self-determination of the citizens through data protection and data security has to be re-defined. The decisive element is the social and political way of dealing with an in itself neutral technology that will have to be discussed on the panel.

Welcome: Olga Drossou, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Introduction: Marit Köhntopp, Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein

Moderation: Stefan Krempl, freier Journalist

  • Hannes Federrath, TU Dresden, Fakultät Informatik
  • Klaus Keuss, Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik
  • Arno Fiedler, D-Trust GmbH

 

 


"Intellectual Property"

 

 

Software Patents and their Economic Usage &
Friday, Oct. 12, 8 p.m., Auditorium

What actual significance does the trade in patent licenses have? What is the ratio of defensive and offensive uses of patents against competitors? From the viewpoint of economic theory, where do patents actually achieve their aim of furthering innovation and in which ways do they hinder innovation? An as yet unpublished empirical Fraunhofer study of the use of patents by German software companies will be introduced. IBM, one of the biggest Linux supporters, has tripled its income from patent licensing during the last three years to $1.5 billion.

Moderator: Boris Groendahl, Freelance Journalist, Berlin

  • Fritz Teufel, patent lawyer, physicist, Manager of the Intellectual Property Department of IBM Germany, Stuttgart
  • Daniel Probst, Political Economist, Mannheim University

 

 

Rights Control and Fair Use
Saturday, Oct. 13, 1 p.m., Theater

The recent EU Copyright Directive, like earlier the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, introduces a prohibition on devices for and acts of circumvention of copy protection systems. Since -- as every hacker will tell you -- no technical means can completely protect digital works from unauthorized use, technical protection receives an additional legal protection in a class all by itself. That's nice for the rights industry, but what does it mean for the right to make private copies, for public libraries whose task it is to provide access to works and for the knowledge commons?

Moderator: Detlef Borchers, freelance journalist, Metten

  • Thomas Macho, Professor of Cultural Studies at Humboldt University Berlin
  • Till Kreutzer, Junior Lawyer at the copyright law firm Kukuk, Hamburg
  • Matthias Leistner, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law (MPI), Munich

 

 

Information Diversity: Ownership of information in science and business
Friday, Oct. 12, 4 p.m., Auditorium

Brings together experts from diverse fields of science and commercial research to discuss information sharing and ownership in the manifolds of business and science. Should all information be open source? Should all knowledge? Is the Human Genome open source? A single person's genome? Is a scientific system of knowledge sharing compatible with commercial interests? Particular topics in biological and medical information will be addressed.

Background text by Christopher Kelty: Bio-medico-agro-eco-technology
Background text by Eugene Thacker, Open Source DNA?

Moderator: Christopher Kelty, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston Texas

  • Tim Hubbard, Head of Human Sequence Analysis at the Sanger Centre and Joint Head of the open source genome annotation project Ensembl, a joint project between the Sanger Centre and the European Bionformatics Institute, Cambridge UK

 

 

 

The Politics of Treasure: Information, Contractual Relations, and North-South Equity
Saturday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m., Theater

A panel exploring information sharing, stealing and sale by nations, individuals and corporations. Examples will include bioprospecting, informed consent, and genetic databases in places such as Mexico, Iceland, America, Europe, and India.

Background text by Christopher Kelty: Bio-medico-agro-eco-technology
Background text by Skúli Sigurdsson: Yin-Yang Genetics, or the HSD deCODE Controversy

Moderator: Christopher Kelty, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston Texas

  • Cori Hayden, expert on bioprospecting, biodiversity and pharmaceutical commercialization agreements, Cambridge, UK
  • Kaushik Sunder Rajan, holds a degree in Biochemistry from Oxford and is a PhD student in Anthropology at MIT, Cambridge, MA

 

Free Content Licenses
Saturday, Oct. 13, 3 p.m., Theater

A Free Content License that has the same status for free content (texts, images, music) as the GNU General Public License (GPL) has for software has not yet emerged. Prior to the WOS 2, a project started surveying the existing free content licenses (OPL, OpenMusic License, ifrOSS's Free Text License, etc.), question them with respect to their usability in transactions and transformations of content and their applicability with regard to the authors' rights and copyright law systems <to join subscribe lizenzen-admin@post.in-mind.de>. The result may be the modification of an existing license or the drafting of a new one. At the WOS 2, the results of the preceding discussions on FCLs will presented.

Moderator: Detlef Borchers, freelance journalist, Metten

  • Andreas Lange, Project "Games Community", Berlin

 

 

 


Public Knowledge

 

 

Open Source Schooling &
Friday, Oct. 12, 1 p.m., Theater

Education is about the open sharing of knowledge. In the same way free software is produced collaboratively, teachers in Public Education are increasingly creating open class materials together. At the same time, the school book industry has begun to complain that this cuts into their vested field of interest. The market for software-based teaching materials for class as well as for home is potentially very lucrative. Will the general trend towards privatization destroy this user-driven innovation or will the empowering nature of the network triumph?

  • Werner Roth, Head of project StarOffice 4 Kids, StarOffice Product Strategy Group, Sun Microsystems, Paderborn
  • Hans-Peter Prenzel, primary school teacher and co-initiator of the Open Web School, Berlin

 

The University as Public Service Provider or as Profit Center?
Friday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m., Theater

The same opposing trends as in the schools are visible in education and research in universities. Institutions encourage their researchers to take out patents on their results. Projects like MIT's OpenCourseWare and pre-print servers show that open sharing in academia is still alive.

Moderator: Volker Grassmuck, conceptor of WOS, does research in the framework of the joint research project "Bild Schrift Zahl" at the Helmholtz Center for Cultural Technology of Humboldt University Berlin

  • Christoph Oehler, Professor emeritus for sociology and research in higher education, Gesamthochschule Kassel (with a written contribution)

 

 

Public Knowledge
Saturday, Oct. 13, 10 a.m., Auditorium

Provision of Public Knowledge is the task of archives, libraries and other institutions for conveying information. What will they make of the possibilities that the digitalization of content and of the processes of its conveyance hold? How much open / free knowledge do we need in order to realize an education for everbody? Where will it take place and under which conditions and regulations (e.g. closed user groups)? Which role will public archives and libraries play in the future? Will the German Library start collecting reference copies of German language online-publications? Which classification standards are emerging? What content may not be utilized in commercial "value chains"? Where are the alliances between the open source and the open content movements?

Moderator: Thorsten Schilling, Head of the Multimedia & IT Department, Federal Office for Political Education, Bonn

  • Frank Rieger, gate5 AG, Spezialist for geographical information systems, Berlin
  • Christine-Dorothea Sauer, Directorate Central- and State Library Berlin, America Memorial Library, Berlin

 

 

 

Public Broadcasting
Friday, Oct. 12, 2 p.m., Auditorium

The German Constitutional Court defined the task of Public Broadcasting as the "basic provision of cultural information." What does this mean in the context of digital media? What does it mean for the archives?

Moderation: Volker Grassmuck, conceptor of WOS, does research in the framework of the joint research project "Bild Schrift Zahl" at the Helmholtz Center for Cultural Technology of Humboldt University Berlin

  • Frank Fremerey, science writer and photographer, Bonn
  • Hermann Rotermund, producer and advisor for digital media, digital television, eBook and Internet; from 1996 to 1998 concept and production of the Internet site of Radio Bremen and Coordinator of the website of the public TV network ARD; from spring 1997 until the end of 2000 Head of Project of the ARD Online Channel, the first multimedia channel in German digital broadcasting, Berlin

 

 

Freedom of Information: A Deep Look into the Filing Cabinet &
Saturday, Oct. 13, 1 p.m., Auditorium

Under the guiding vision of the "transparent state" the information of public administration and institutions is to become part of the public domain. The US Freedom of Information Act was established as early as the 1960s. In the German federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin and Brandenburg, an information access law is now in effect. Federal and EU laws are slated to follow. What experiences have been gained so far? Who uses this freedom, for what purposes? Does it really mean the end of official secrecy? Which conflicts with privacy issues arise and how are they solved? What does free access to information mean for the way state and citizens, journalists and politicians perceive themselves? Which role does the digitalization of the administrative apparatus play in this?

Moderator: Jeanette Hofmann, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin

  • Hansjuergen Garstka, Privacy and Information Access Commissioner of the State of Berlin

 

 

 


Open Infrastructure

 

Standards
Friday, Oct. 12, 1 p.m., Auditorium

Standards are conventions that allow an exchange among a multitude of participants. By definition they aim at a wide acceptance. They are not patchable. Therefore the development and harmonizing process leading to their finalization is decisive. Technical Standards (TCP/IP, HTML, MPEG) as well as classification standards (Dublin Core, Computing Classification Scheme, Open Archives Initiative) can be either open or closed, according to the knowledge culture of the constituency that creates them.

Moderator: Volker Grassmuck, conceptor of WOS, does research in the framework of the joint research project "Bild Schrift Zahl" at the Helmholtz Center for Cultural Technology of Humboldt University Berlin

  • Joachim Euchner, Head of MHP project, convergence integrated media GmbH, Berlin

 

 

Open_Money
Thursday, Oct. 11, 3 pm., Auditorium

Money is not simply a "capitalist tool" but a medium of communication, a cultural artifact that facilitates exchanges among people. The characteristics of the exchanges depend on the types of money available. The Open_Money session brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss the types of money that could help to turn the great promises of the Internet -- decentralization and personal empowerment -- into a reality and examines the challenges on the way. In addition to the panel, a workshop will focus on the Openmoney Project as a way to create such new types of money.

In addition to this session, a workshop will look into the Openmoney Project as an example of such new forms of money.

Background text by Ippei Hozumi on Winds, a CGI system created with WEBMAKER for the on-the-web settlement of local currencies: WEBMAKER and Winds, 5 August 2001

Background text by Makoto Nishibe, On LETS, June 23, 2001

  • Michael Linton, inventor of LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems), Openmoney Project, Vancouver
  • Thaer Sabri, Flawless Money LTD & IBUC, London

 

 

Open Music -- Open Licenses, Free Software, Open Structures
Friday, Oct. 12, 8 p.m., Theater

Open Music is not only an initiative by LinuxTag, but also title of a panel addressing the means and legal conditions of open sharing of sounds and songs.

Moderation: Sascha Kösch, CEO de:bug magazine | zeitschrift fuer elektronische lebensaspekte, Berlin

  • Johnny Häusler, Managing Director of defcom, Berlin

 

 

 

Collective Intelligence
Saturday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m., Auditorium

Knowledge is not a spectator sport. The modern idea of a singular author and his works is being replaced again by the notion that each individual creation stands on the tip of the iceberg of shared knowledge. The collective intelligence forms the before and the after of the author.

Background presentation by Pierre Lévy: Meditations on COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE (HTML | PowerPoint)
Links
on "the practice and theory of collective intelligence", by Pierre Lévy

Moderator: Florian Cramer, scientific assistant at the Institute for General and Comparative Literature Science of the Free University Berlin

  • Roberto Bui, member of the WU-MING novel writers collective, formerly a major player and strategist of the Luther Blissett project; WU-MING, a "workshop for literary design", published the historical novel "Q" (Einaudi, Torino, 1999), which is a bestseller in Italy, inspite of appearing under an non-copyright license; Bologna

 

Strategies
Saturday, Oct. 13, 4 p.m., Theater

What to do? Where the free flow of information, the right to informational self-determination and the possibilities of free cooperation are threatened, intervention is needed. How and with whom? The panel collects issues from the whole range of the conference that call for action -- defensive as well as constructive action. Free software is not mainly an anti-movement. Also the possibilities for improving collaboration and developing the knowledge commons in the long run will be discussed.

Moderator: Volker Grassmuck, conceptor of WOS, does research in the framework of the joint research project "Bild Schrift Zahl" at the Helmholtz Center for Cultural Technology of Humboldt University Berlin

  • Discussants included speakers from other panels, among them Andy Mueller-Maguhn, James Love, Sebastian Hetze, Thorsten Schilling, Felix Stalder, and Tim Hubbard

 

What else? Thoughts on Societies and Capitalisms on the Net and Elsewhere
Saturday, Oct. 13, 10 a.m., Theater

Now more than ever, it is important to continue to pursue possible approaches to free societies. Three of these are to be presented and debated: the GPL Society, the New Associationist Movement (NAM), and the multitude.

Moderation: Paschutan Buzari, mikro, Berlin

  • Yann Moulier Boutang, theorist and economist, co-editor of the writings of Louis Althusser and editor of the publication "Multitudes", Paris
  • Stefan Merten, computer scientist, founder and maintainer of the Oekonux project, Kaiserslautern
  • Kenta Ohji, philosopher, co-author of Eprouver l'universel. Essai de géophilosophie and member of the New Associationist Movement (NAM), Paris

 

last updated 2002-02-26