Uploading...The Future of Work

Invite Boredom

Paul Conneally — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:55:33 +0100

Listening to the Invigilator:Digbeth discussion I was struck by oblique and direct references to boredom - the gallery invigilator's job being referred to as sometimes boring.

When transposed to an outside space where the invigilator has to stand or sit and simply 'watch over' then the space and the action of simply watching over it sets up an interaction that is boring in such a way that it can transcend boredom if we let it... The space becoming bored of the invigilator throws up new facets new resonances between it and the 'watcher over' the 'invigilator'.

A couple of Invigilator:Digbeth participants said that they found the invigilating very zen like - another not at all - the invigilating passed-by with a contrived doing - a counting of and classification of vehicles passing through the invigilated space. Such actions are invoked by the space itself as it is watched over - after all it was only chance that the space invigilated happened to have cars passing through it - this counting this classifying borne out of the possibility of boredom.

"INVITE BOREDOM" - paul conneally 2008

Uploading...The Future of Work

INVIGILATOR : DIGBETH

Paul Conneally — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:08:59 +0100

Here are some pictures followed by something about the piece itself:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikki_pugh/sets/72157604315544938/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikki_pugh/collections/72157604320330003/

paul conneally + nikki pugh + you + them
Saturday 29th March, 2-5pm
VIVID at 2pm

As Digbeth continues its metamorphosis and assimilation into Eastside (Birmingham’s transforming, revitalising and regenerating regeneration project[1]) art institutions and project spaces present there are slowly increasing in number and yet, for the most part, they are safely kept behind locked gates, barred windows and access-controlled doors.

For Invigilator: Digbeth, a team of volunteers took the role of gallery invigilator/visitor assistant outside where, rather than sitting in gallery spaces, they were watchful over the streets and the day-to-day life unfolding there.

This is the fifth in the Invigilator series[2] where a single set of directions has been transposed onto different locations to determine the exact place for watching over; we can choose our significant starting points, but then a pre-determined sequence of lefts, rights and straight-ons takes us on a not-quite-random walk to an unplanned invigilation site.

Invigilator: Digbeth consisted of several invigilations taking place simultaneously throughout the Digbeth area. The significant starting points were the galleries, studios and project spaces that would normally host the invigilators. The same galleries, studios and project spaces responsible for Digbeth’s renaissance…

Digbeth is also significant as the starting point for the Invigilator series as a whole since the directions used to arrive at the invigilation sites were derived from those used to get from home to a part-time job invigilating at VIVID.

Invigilators met at VIVID at 2pm, borrowing some of their red t-shirts and then walked to our respective invigilation sites (3 people per team) where we were watchful for about 30 minutes before returning to VIVID for refreshments and feedback. No special equipment was required: just suitably warm clothing and a willingness to interact with the city.

references:
[1] www.birmingham.gov.uk/eastside.bcc
[2]New Forest,Derby,Tokyo and Nuneaton

Invigilator:Digbeth has been supported by Access West Midlands

Uploading...The Future of Work

Event Registration

Steve Moore — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:05:19 +0000

If you would like to attend this event please click the button below and reserve your ticket on the EventBrite website.

Uploading...The Future of Work

Background information

Editor — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:10:49 +0000

Background to the Uploading...Series

Uploading...is a new series of monthly themed ‘social conferences' being launched by Policy Unplugged in London in February.

The Uploading...Series will explore the impact of the mass networking and collaboration taking place on the on Web and what it might mean for how we conduct business, politics, culture, work and education in the future.

From You Tube to My Space, Wikipedia to e Bay, we are witnessing a level of collaboration between people across the globe that is completely unprecedented.

The evolution of a Web shaped by the creativity, collaboration and conversations of hundreds of millions of us, is starting to have a profound impact on society, the economy and on our relationships with other people.

But in the words of William Gibson it sometimes feels that - for all the buzz around the networking potential of the Web - ‘the future is here. It is just not evenly distributed yet'
Are we really seeing the end of business models based on hierarchy, planning and management and pure competition?
To what extent can the networking potential of the Web be harnessed to address the defining challenges of the 21st century?
Is the Web really able to harness collective intelligence in a way that can generate real societal benefits?
For sure the early tremors are being felt in the telecoms, software and print media worlds, but where will the riptide hit next?

The Uploading... Series of events will deliberately focus more on participatory culture and less on the technology that has created it.

The series seeks to invite not only technologists but people who have a passion for change, creativity, experimentation, discovery and collaboration. People who are more interested in the benefits of the behaviours and culture that technology can enable rather than tools and applications.

At each of the uploading events, we will be connecting people who understand how the new technologies can be used to generate change with people who are passionate change makers wanting to make change happen faster.

‘We are the Web'...The Opportunity

"In the near future, everyone alive will (on average) write a song, author a book, make a video, craft a weblog, or code a program. This idea is less outrageous than the notion 150 years ago that someday everyone would write a letter or take a photograph" - Kevin Kelly, Wired 13.08

Just over ten years ago the way we used the internet was transformed with the launch of the Netscape browser which illuminated the Web. It unleashed a new global cultural phenomenon based on mass collaboration.

As Kevin Kelly has observed ‘there is only one time in the history of each planet when its inhabitants first wire up its innumerable parts to make one big Machine. Later that Machine may run faster, but there is only one time when it is born. You and I are alive at this moment. We should marvel...'

Today there are over 700 billion web pages (over 100 for every living person), around 50 million auctions taking place on eBay at any one time, over 175,000 new blogs? a day being set up, over 150 million people joining online social networks such as My Space, millions everyday are uploading photos to Flickr, videos to You Tube, making free calls via the internet and contributing to the worlds largest ever reference work Wikipedia.

The scale is of what is happening is something that the world has never seen before. Who had the time, the energy and the imagination to do all this? The people do. People like you and me and a billion others.

Uploading...The Future of Work

The Uploading series will be launched with our kick-off event, Uploading...Innovation, in London on 27 February at NESTA. This event will set the context and seed the ideas for the subsequent Uploading...Events.

Uploading...The Future of Work, taking place on 3 April, will be our first event in the uploading series that will explore the impact of the growth of social networks, collective intelligence and participatory culture generated by the Web on a specific societal theme. See here to learn more about the event.

This facilitated open space event will set the context for the remainder of the events in 2007.

Uploading...Events Overview

The Uploading... events will focus on the following themes:

February Uploading... Innovation (the Launch Event)
April Uploading... The Future of work
April Uploading ...Education
May Uploading... Democracy
June Uploading... The New Entrepreneur
July Uploading... Arts, Media, Culture

Each event will convene an eclectic community of early adopters of the technologies, aspirant users, politicians and policy makers, relevant practitioners', academics, writers, researchers, developers, marketing and communications professionals and others with a passion for the subject.

We expect to attract between 150 and 250 people to each event. The events will typically last all day. Some will run overnight and at weekends. The events will take place in London.

Policy Unplugged events work best for those who ‘prefer to make sense of a complex world through little stories rather than grand narratives'

Uploading...The Future of Work

About the Event

Editor — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:05:13 +0000

Uploading...The Future of Work

The Uploading...The Future of Work social conference will take place on 3 April 2007 in London at the Design Museum.

This will be the first event in the Policy Unplugged's Uploading...Series exploring the impact of the growth of social networks, collective intelligence and participatory culture generated by the Web on a specific societal theme.

See here for a background on Policy Unplugged's Uploading...Series.

The Context of the Conference

Over the course of the last ten years, organisations have been learning to harness the power of the Web to improve their competitiveness, productivity and innovation. Different ways of working have been emerging, facilitating individuals to gain more satisfaction and fulfilment from their work. Recruitment has taken off with the advent of online recruitment. We are giving birth to new types of organisations. Globalisation and outsourcing are radically changing the work that is available. Groups, social enterprises, charities are being created with increasing frequency to address both national and local work issues that previously took a back seat.

The Opportunity

This event will provide the opportunity for early adopters to share their stories about how the new social collaboration can be harnessed, as well as exploring how the technologies have already impacted the area of work and how they can be used to enable the work change makers to make change happen faster.

The Uploading...The Future of Work event will create an environment where as wide a range of people as possible who are passionate about the future of work are made welcome and are able to make a contribution to the format of the conference. We think it is time to drop the ‘e' prefix from these types of events and conversations and make them available to all who are passionate about enabling change in the area of work.

The event will focus on innovation and improvements in work in a world with Web in it; not innovations delivered exclusively through the web. We want those who have made a pioneering use of the Web to be there but also those who just want to make work a more exciting and satisfying place to be for everyone.

Who Should Attend?

Anyone who is interested in the future of work and new ideas
Early adopters to want to share and collaborate with others
Organisations who want to explore how they could improve their competitiveness, innovation and productivity in creative ways
Individuals, groups and organisations who are interested in new ways of working
Anyone interested in innovative ways that the web can be used for recruitment
Individuals, groups and organisations who are passionate about addressing more quickly the national and local work issues that they are facing
Think tanks, universities, journalists, activists, social entrepreneurs
Support organisations and consultancies who help the facilitation of change
Anyone who wants to explore the emerging impact of the Web on the way that we work
Anyone who wants to experience a new type of conference experience
Anyone who wants to make new connections and have great conversations
People who live by Alan Kay's maxim ‘the best way to create the future is to invent it'

Uploading...The Social Conference

Uploading... The Future of Work will be unlike any conference you have been to before. It will operate as a SOCIAL conference. It will embody the same characteristics as the Web itself. It will be formed around conversations not communications, the content will be generated by the participants not the convenors or the sponsors. It will draw on the collective intelligence of all who participate rather than the single voice on a platform. It will be as emergent in its development as the Web is...

You can come and listen, you can speak, try out new technologies, attend a training session, initiate, join and move between conversations and yes you can pitch an idea - it is OK!

There will be presentations, but the decisions about who speaks will be in your hands not ours or those of sponsors. These presentations will be augmented by facilitated conversations (on things you want to talk about) and networking, demos, workshops and a chance to relax over coffee or something stronger.

It is your Web and this will be your conference. Be a part of the ongoing Future of Work community that will develop from the conference...be a part of conversations that go on and on...

How Does it Work?

Register - If you want to participate in the event itself, please book a place by clicking the registration? link below.

Profile - When you have done this you will be invited to post a photo and profile and be given an opportunity to blog and upload video or audio content on this ‘Uploading...The Future of Work' website

Create - We will also ask you what you want to do at the conference. Do you want to speak? Host a conversation? Meet someone? Share content? We also ask you to pass on invites to friends, colleagues or peers? Tell us who should speak? What you want to learn?

Come along - We will build the agenda based on what you tell us you want from the conference. From the blog posts and the video and audio content you upload. We will arrange keynotes, talks, facilitated conversations, speed networking, demos and workshops. Oh and the party too!

Can't attend but want to participate in the discussion? Take part in the online Uploading...The Future of Work Community Group website. First create a new account on this website using the Log In? / Register section in the left sidebar and then contact us to upgrade your site membership so that you can start to make contributions to the Future of Work community group.

To Register for Uploading...The Future of Work...Click here and follow the instructions.

Need to Know More?

Call Hina Patel if you need to know more on 0771 713 2026 or email hina.patel@policyunplugged.org