[Nettime-nl] Walled Garden by Virtueel Platform

[Annet Dekker <annet@virtueelplatform.nl>]

*Walled Garden – the new [in]equalities endorsed by technology*

Amsterdam, 20 and 21 November 2008

Walled Garden is a 2-day international conference that will take place 
on *20 and 21 November 2008* in Amsterdam. The conference will focus on 
the (in)accessibility of information and knowledge driven by a tendency 
towards online gated and closed communities, and will address issues of 
identity, mobile communities and networks.

Virtueel Platform sows the seeds with lively debates for a rich harvest. 
The Walled Garden will be explored through conversations in the form of 
structured group dialogue, open plenary sessions, discussions and 
face-to-face meetings with artists, researchers, theorists and 
technologists.


*Background*

In 2007 Virtueel Platform organised Culture 2.0, an international 
conference and laboratory to introduce Web 2.0 thinking into the 
creative processes and strategies of cultural institutions. One starting 
point was a practical one: in which ways could the developments be 
applied in the cultural sector? On the other hand we wanted to 
investigate whether embracing Web2.0 tools and thinking would generate 
new/other forms of content or approaches - or threaten culture as we 
know it.

Now that the tools are in place and people have begun to find their way, 
Virtueel Platform plans to investigate more specific experiences and 
challenges surrounding the Web 2.0 hype. This will be done through 
signaling and identifying success factors and failures, and by 
reflecting on and analysing Web 2.0 strategies, mobile communication and 
networked environments. What are the social processes underlying these 
systems and how does the interplay between new technologies and people’s 
lives vary according to cultures and institutions in different parts of 
the world and among different social groups? What are the new 
inequalities introduced by differential access to infrastructure of 
wireless communication in a world based on connectivity?


*Walled Garden*

Walled Garden focuses on the long-term meaning of networks in our 
culture. The conference will highlight the (in)accessibility of 
information and the open- and closedness of networks, mobile 
communication tools and Web2.0 strategies.

/A //walled garden//, with regards to media content, refers to a closed 
set or exclusive set of information services provided for users (a 
method of creating a monopoly or securing an information system). This 
is in contrast to providing consumers access to the open Internet for 
content and e-commerce./ (Wikipedia, June 2008)

Walled Gardens are spreading online, while blogs and personal profile 
pages become over-digested and ego-based, at best an extremely useful 
pool of information for marketing agencies. Networks tend to settle down 
and lose their spontaneity and momentum after a usually shortlived, 
energetic start. The objective of the conference is to discuss terms for 
public access to the vast databases of information and to find and 
implement a sustainable architecture for the availability of tools and 
information exchange.


*Virtueel Platform *is an independent expertise centre that stimulates 
innovation and supports knowledge exchange in the field of e-culture in 
the Netherlands. Virtueel Platform has an international focus and 
exchanges Dutch e-culture information and knowledge with the 
international cultural community.

www.virtueelplatform.nl <http://www.virtueelplatform.nl/>

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