October 11-13, 2001
The Wizards of OS #2
Open Cultures & Free Knowledge
In summer 1999 the first WOS (Wizards of OS) was held at the House of World Cultures Berlin. With 'OS' standing for 'Operating Systems' as well as 'Open Source', the conference WOS 1 focused on the world of free software wizardry and the gift economy of collaborative coding. The conference was a huge success and may have even influenced some minds of high ranking officials in the German government to give more support to open source software development and the deployment of open source software in government information systems. Now we can look forward on the highly promising "Wizrads of OS 2" taking place in October in Berlin, again at the House of World Cultures. This time round the focus of 'WOS 2 - Open Cultures & Free Knowledge' will be less on operating systems and software and more on the 'operating system of the knowledge society'. The three day conference is expected to 'address a broad audience interested in digital media culture and the future of the knowledge society. It will bring together about 50 German and international speakers and up to 1000 participants for presentations, discussions, tutorials, artistic contributions and informal discourse.' Again it will be organised by Mikro, a group that tries to encourage discussion on new media and related issues and holds a monthly event at the WMF club in Berlin with talks, presentations, screenings and DJs. The 'mikro's' as we love to call them, with WOS2 put forward the question 'what are the building blocks of the "knowledge society?. [...] How much "knowledge as commodity" can we afford? How much public knowledge do we need?' The second WOS conference intends to explore routes to an open culture of free knowledge. Main topics will be
- Free Software: What is the current state of the concept of free software following its adoption by big corporations and public administrations and after the roller coaster ride on the tech-heavy markets such as the Nasdaq and the Neuer Markt?
- Among Equals: Napster and SETI@Home have brought peer-to-peer networking to the fore. Can we speak yet of a general shift from competition to cooperation?
- Biotechnology: The human genome is being explored by the international community of scientists racing against biotech corporations -- some to further public knowledge, others to protect exploitable private knowledge. Are open source genetics and fair trade agreements an alternative?
- The Legal Ordering of Knowledge: Global information flows challenge nation-state-based regulation of copyright, patents and trademark law and tend ever more towards harmonization. What about the right of public access -- a necessary prerequisite for innovation -- that is supposed to be equally protected by many national laws?
- Not For Sale: Public Knowledge: Libraries, museums, schools, universities and public broadcasting store and nurture the wealth of common knowledge. Today, public knowledge resources often appear as luxury goods that in a time of tightened budgets might just as well be economized.
- Knowledge Transfer Among Rich and Poor: Has the promise of free software furthered the self-determination of the South, or countered the growth of the Digital Divide?
Among confirmed speakers are experts such as Dan Gillmor, columnist at the San Jose Mercury, and a specialist in peer-to-peer computing, Erik Möller, scientific reviewer, freelancer, humanist & operator of InfoAnarchy.org and Tim Hubbard, leader of sequence analyzing of the human Genome at the Sanger Center, Cambridge, and co-director of the OpenSource Genom annotation project Ensembl. Many more speakers are confirmed already but this short list should emphasise which diversity of people, backgrounds and institutional affiliations WOS 2 tries to bring together. Although the main conference room will be used to deliver the traditional conference format with keynote speakers and panels WOS 2 aims at a bigger variety of formats with workshops and ad-hoc seminars and discussion groups.
More information and contact details at the WOS-Website
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