Futuresonic 08 is GO!
A decent start to Futuresonic08…I personally enjoyed this first session.
Focussed on the theme ‘what is social networking?’ this opening platform provided a rounded introduction to the design, use and place of social networks in our personal, public, online, ‘physical,’ and future lives. For me, one of the most refreshing elements was that speakers continuously returned to ‘real experience’ and ‘people.’
Doing my usual ‘post-talk eavesdropping,’ I know this session was little long and detached from ‘creative action,’ and intervention for many delegates. Admittedly, in terms of what I got from it, the issues raised certainly chimed much closer to the concerns of my day job than InterventTech: >> So, a quick health warning upfront… If you’re not particularly interested in online social networks, the role technologies play in facilitating extended communities or the benefits, issues, challenges and barriers associated to engaging socially and/or politically in online spaces…you may want to stop right here… 
What is social networking?
For those of us that participate regularly online, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid new opportunities to engage socially and participate. In addition to information and services, the web is now a place where many of us ‘hang out.’ We engage in private conversations with others via IM, email and VOIP, we use online social services like facebook, myspace, twitter to interact publicly and express ourselves culturally, we share ideas and content through the blogs we author and the media sharing services we’re a part of (e.g. flickr, youtube and current TV), we share media and recommendations through services like Dopplr, Trusted Places, lastfm, and P2P networks, we trade objects, tools and skills through services like ebay, etsy, open source software communities and networks like school for everything and we participate instantly when we ‘friend’ and poke people and comment on, rate and poll stuff.
Social opportunity aside, it is however a mistake to assume that when considering ‘sociality’ and social action in the context of online environments, that we’re referencing a ‘universal’ experience. This is because many people in the UK (and more acutely the wider world) are just not connecting up in these ways – both through choice and circumstance.
Sharing an insight into the kind of barriers people identify when asked about their internet ‘take up,’ Matt Locke described how prior to 2002, most people in the UK that weren’t online, referred to issues out of their control for ‘opting out.’ It was too expensive, they lacked confidence in setting up a connection at home and many were put off by a lack of understanding in terms of ‘how it all worked.’ More recently however (and according to the Office of National Statistics), reasons for continuing to ‘opt out’ have shifted towards more personal issues. These include a lack of interest/recognition of the value of accessing the internet at home, anxieties around privacy and the security of personal data and for some, the feeling that the internet is ‘just not for them.’
Much like the real world, our shared social landscape is very much shaped and defined by the networks we ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ of, alongside the different levels and way’s that we engage in them. For artists, perhaps some of the most interesting aspects of social networking in the context of contemporary life, relates to the new forms of engagement, facilities, tools and environments online/networked services offer up for creative exploration. The new ways they enable us to interact and keep in touch with friends, how we continue to contribute and share, what technologies offer in terms of getting and making sense of ‘social feedback’ and how we might harness the facilities of social software for creative and (for some) political intervention.
There is no question for instance t
hat different people participate in social networks to different levels and in different ways. We each experience the benefits and challenges of online communities differently, and the value we each place on them differs too. There are also new kinds of personal and community driven social structures developing and new types of consideration and barriers effecting the terms by which we communicate, contribute, share, engage and take action.
For the artists commissioned as part of Futuresonic’s Social Networking Unplugged programme, creative explorations and interventions each involved bringing elements of online social experience to real-world spaces, inviting audiences to experience them anew. Situated in an empty shop window, plan b ‘s MySpace-OurSpace-YourSpace converted a real-world commercial shop ‘sales window,’ into an ‘unplugged’ alternative to MySpace. Inviting passers by to create their own physical and playful spaces for the shop window, visitors could add their own windows for others to view and respond to by leaving messages via a physical ‘messaging system,’ involving envelopes, paper and pens.
Situated in Piccadilly Gardens (and armed with a facebook profile style sandwich board), Michael (surname anyone?) invited passers by to hug, poke, race and exchange gifts with him. You could also leave a message on his ever-so-lo-fi pad of paper type ‘wall.’ By no means rocket science, this simple public performance piece certainly worked to highlight the differences in our experience and comfort levels when interacting in physical and virtual spaces. It was also quite fun.
A broad and ranging platform, although the speakers in the first session were a little mainstream for some. The questions raised in my mind definitely had value for the artists interested in contemporary social action and experience.
How do we express ourselves socially these days, and how is it different from the past? Where and how do people forge new relationships and are there some fundamental differences in the way we engage in relationships online? What new opportunities do online social spaces offer us in finding new communities of interest? Is it easier to mobilise people, create stuff, meaningfully contribute, get involved in conversations and take part?
In terms of our experience of social systems, what new kinds of structures and rules are emerging as a result of online networks and extended interactions? In what ways are communities of users helping to create and define the spaces they hang out in online…and is that important? How are online social environments and the ease at which they make information available impacting upon our real-world experiences. And more importantly perhaps, how can artists go about exploring these new social spaces, intervene in systems, actions and trends to make them more transparent to users and open things up for critique?
Phheeww, I’m spent…it’s over to you…
Speakers:
Matt Locke (Commissioning Editor, Channel4)
Aleks Krotowski (Columist and Podcaster, The Guardian)
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