[Reallyopenuniannounce] ROU Events: Free Association Weds 18th and Beyond Web 2.0 on May 24th

[Really OpenUni]

A reminder about tomorrow nights ROU event.

The Really Open University presents: A night of regeneration
18 May · 20:00 - 22:00 - Albert Room, Victoria Hotel Great George St, Leeds

The Really Open University presents: A night of regeneration
The Free Association with guest John Holloway: a book launch and talk,
followed by discussion.

Also a chance to pick up one of the limited print editions of the
'Reimaigning the University' journal.
For more info on The Free Association and their writings check
 http://freelyassociating.org/

ALSO -

After a bit of delay, the Really Open University has set its next Concept
Meeting! The topic of the participatory discussion will be ‘The
possibilities and limitations of activism in and beyond Web 2.0’

Web 2.0 is a term used to encapsulate internet sites and applications that
depend upon user-produced content. This includes a diverse range of sites
including facebook, youtube, wikipedia, twitter, wordpress, digg and
bittorrent.

These days the internet is pretty hard to ignore. Increasingly our lives are
online, we use it to shop, work, plan social events with our friends, read
the news, download music, etc, etc. Therefore as the latest development of
the internet, Web 2.0 is pretty hard to ignore. Many have done more than
simply take part, proclaiming Web 2.0 to be a chance for activists to get
their message out quicker and to organise in more fluid and decentralised
forms. Proponents often point to the ‘Arab Spring’ where initial protests
reportedly were sparked on the blogosphere and twitter, resulting in the
government attempting to shut down social networking sites and even the
internet all together<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128796164380.html>
.

However on the most popular Web 2.0 sites, users (or more rightly as the
content producers, workers) face increasing repression. Just two weeks ago
over 50 groups, accounts and pages associated with anti-cuts campaigns were
taken off facebook. Furthermore, use of facebook and others takes away our
anonymity and the Met has just bought
technology<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/11/police-software-maps-digital-movements>designed
for the US military to help track us using, in part, social
networking. Even more troubling is that as the workers (those that produce
the product) of Web 2.0, even our activism can be seen to be part of the
capitalist machine.

The Really Open University with our facebook
page<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=290223353564>,
twitter stream <http://twitter.com/#%21/reallyopenuni> and wordpress site
certainly feel we cannot take the lifestylist position of abstaining from
corporate Web 2.0. But much is left to discuss. Can we as Web 2.0 workers
unite to cease the means of production? In this world, what is the means of
production? Are there chances to subvert Web 2.0 to our ends? Is the
internet so uncontrollable that it does not matter who owns it? What are the
limitations and possibilities for the struggle for transformation in this
new age (if it is a new age?)?

*6pm, May 24 – Upstairs, Packhorse Pub, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds.*

*
*

Reading/Viewing list:

http://www.metamute.org/en/content/analysis_without_analysis

http://www.metamute.org/en/InfoEnclosure-2.0

http://sociology-compass.com/2009/01/16/prosumers-of-the-world-unite/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/10/uk-uncut-tax-avoidance-twitter

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25929643/Immaterial-Labour-Biopolitical-Power-and-the-Web-2-0

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/twitter-facebook-uprisings-arab-libya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk8x3V-sUgU**<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk8x3V-sUgU>


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