[-empyre-] OSW: open source writing in the network

[Simon Biggs]

Welcome to the second week of this discussion about open source writing and publishing on empyre. Firstly I would like to thank Tiziana Terranova and Dmytri Kleiner for the dynamic discussion they have established, as well as all those who also posted emails to the thread. I hope they can remain engaged as we move into our second week.

To recap the theme: in a globalised and highly mediated context we wish to focus empyre discussion on how writing and publishing are currently evolving in the context of global networks. We wish to engage a debate about open models of writing and publishing. We hope to gain some insight into how changes in notions and practices of authorship, media, form, dissemination, intellectual property and economics affect writing and publishing as well as the formation of the reader/writerships, communities and social engagement that must flow from that activity. Specifically, we wish to look at examples of open publishing, whether they be FLOSS manuals, copyLeft or CopyFarLeft or other publication models, in order to look at new methods for knowledge making and distribution. We also wish to consider how communities of shared-value emerge through such initiatives and how their members are able to identify themselves to one another and others.

This week's facilitator is Penny Travlou and our guests are Adam Hyde and Salvatore Ianconesi.

Adam Hyde lives in Berlin. In 2007 Adam started FLOSS Manuals, a community for  producing free manuals for free software. Through this work he also started Booki (a book production platform) and has been pioneering Book Sprints - a methodology for collaboratively producing books in 5 days or less. Previously, as an artist, he was 1/2 of r a d i o q u a l i a, Simpel and other artistic projects engaging open source and free media.

Salvatore Iaconesi teaches cross media design at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, at Rome University of Fine Arts and at ISIA Design in Florence. He is the founder of Art is Open Source and of FakePress Publishing, focusing on the human beings' mutations through ubiquitous technologies and networks.

Penny Travlou is a cultural geographer and ethnographer lecturing in the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. Her research currently focuses on studying emergent network-based creative communities. She is Co-Investigator on the ELMCIP project (www.elmcip.net).

best

Simon


Simon Biggs
simon at littlepig.org.uk http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK skype: simonbiggsuk

s.biggs at ed.ac.uk Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/ http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/