Polimedia Lab
an intervention into the reorganisation of power, communication and information, the polimedia lab is a media and communication laboratory during the WSIS. more

Strategic Conference
a strategic conference on the eve of the WSIS and beyond.more

High Noon
a World revolution in form of a netcast for three days. Spin round independent media activism and community media projects across the globe. more

WE SEIZE! strategic conference programme

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05.Dec.03 - Voila! the programme for the WE SEIZE strategic conference is stabilizing and it is getting more and more detailed...

Dec 7th & 8th

Preparatory days, open to all, to discuss the topics and sub-topics that should be tabled for debate within the following s-conf. Studio, 4th floor, Usine.

Dec 9th

The following debates will be scheduled throughout the day. Check later versions of this document for exact times.

10.00 COFFEE

10.30
• INFORMATION POLITICS 101: What are the major issues in the emerging information politics movement? Catch-up time for those who want to get up to date with the issues with a variety of 'expert' speakers and a good long question and answer session. No controversy: just for people to inform themselves.
• With: Alan Toner (Autonomedia), Benjamin Mako Hill (Debian), Christine Treguier (la FIL and Big Brother Awards France), Stefan Merten (Oekonux) and others.

12.00 COFFEE

12.30
• IP & IP LAW: USE, REFUSE, ABUSE. While developing our understanding of the inequities of IP policymaking and law, should we also develop a strategy and attitude for dealing with it? Are other circuits 'outside' the jurisdiction of the lawmakers developing in, for example, peer to peer and wireless network communities?
• With: James Love (CPTech)

14.00 LUNCH

15.00
• WORKING WITH OPENNESS. How can openness help us in research, organisation and practice? Are there problems associated with open organisation? What are the major benefits? Can truly open practice still be radical? How does open practice work with secret or closed organisation?
• With: bio-informatics.org, SECTOR, Samizdat
• The 'Working With Openness' session begins with a showing of the documentary 'Dying For Drugs'.

16.30 COFFEE

17.00 OPEN DISCUSSIONS

18.30 DINNER

21.00 SCREENING.
• "Les hommes du port", examining self-organization amongst dockers in Genoa. Alain Tanner,CH/F 1995, 64 min. Includes an introduction by the director. At Spoutnik 11, rue de la Coulouvrenière, (just upstairs from the conference location. The screening will be followed by a discussion focussing on self-organization in the past (Genoa) and today (in the context of free software and other networked cooperative projects.)

Dec 10th

The following debates will be scheduled throughout the day. Check later versions of this document for exact times.

10.00 COFFEE

10.30
• INFOWAR: REPORTS FROM THE FRONT Experiences at the recent FTAA Miamiprotests suggest an escalation in brutal military suppression and infowar tactics at anti neoliberalisation protests. This session will include appraisals of the events in Miami and offer an opportunity to discuss responses and tactics; it will also look at the Coup détat in Venezuela where powerful economic groups are still working to depose legitimate President Hugo Chavez with the aid of mass media.bio-informatics.org • With: Sasha Costanza-Chock (FTAA IMC), Rene Baralt (Aporrea.org), Jesus Rogriguez (Venezuelan Community Media.)

This session will begin with an edited, 20 minute showing ofthe documentary "The Revolution will not be televised, which offers a fascinating inside perspective on President Chavez's popularity and the way that media can bastardize the truth for political gain. There will also be a screening of the entire film at the end of the day.

12.00 COFFEE

12.30
• HACK_IT! Hacklabs & intervening in information/media regimes with tools, technologies and skills. What are hacklabs, and what are their possibilities for redistributing information power?
• With: hackitectura.net, pRiNT!, Reload, Cielito Lindo (sindominio.net), European Counterinformation Network. • more info here

14.00 LUNCH

15.00
• IN/OUT? What approach should we take to confronting issues like media concentration, patent and copyright inequities and the role of labour? Should we be working autonomously or within existing 'policy' structures? • With: Communications Rights In Information Society (CRIS)

16.30 COFFEE

17.00
• AUTONOMOUS MEDIA What is the state of the art in autonomous media infrastructures? What are our successes and failures? What form should independent or autonomous media take? Should we 'become the media'? • With: DeeDee Halleck (DeepDish TV), James Stevens (Consume), European Indymedia activists

18:00 CONCLUDING DISCUSSIONS & INTERVENTIONS