day three

what a day!
first: caught the end of "social media in the mid-east" and then heard the panel on "axis? what axis?" with Esra'a Al Shafei (of mideastyouth.com) and Mary C. Joyce of the Obama campaign. very interesting and moving (especially the social media in the mid-east part).
this was followed by Jimbo Wales giving a talk on Wikipedia and Wikia... which was sometimes a little boring because he was so to speak preaching to the choir: i'm guessing most people there knew what wikipedia is and how it works. basically it was more of an advertisement for wikia. but it was good and partly inspiring.
talking about inspiring and moving: cory doctorow's speech on the internet, free culture, three-strikes-you're-out, creativity, net-neutrality, and lots more.
then we ran and caught a small lecture on changing German copyright. Dr. Till Kreutzer wrote his doctoral thesis on that and had some good observations to make and his proposal was to separate the protection of rights of the creator (composer, writer, musician) from the protection of rights of the producer (record company, publishing house).
lunch
then a panel on political blogs in Germany... which was ok.
last: panel "new european public in the net?"... good.
getting a cold... so, after walking to the location for the after-party we decided to go home, go to bed. also: we need to catch the train at 10 to 8AM...
conclusion: good but exhausting day and especially with the onset of a cold it is time to get some rest.

day two

decided to skip AM part of the day.
coffee and pastry for lunch.
ethics & internet... v. good. intelligent commentary.
identity in the land of interwebs: not so good. but basically because i was expecting more of a philosophical twist to it.
open everything... interesting idea. talk not so good.
Die Rolle des Staates in der digitalen Gesellschaft (the government's role in digital society) was good and interesting. especially because the German government is trying to exercise some influence on how its citizens behave and interact digitally. however, it has not shown any sign of having understood how the interwebs works or what possibilities and dangers it harbours.
then: of course: Lawrence Lessig's society2.0... a mixture of his usual talk about remixing etc. and current issues such as France's proposal of a three-strikes-you're-out policy and extension on copyright terms in Germany.
we left during the Q&A section and accidentaly caught a tiny talk on memes and why they work.
then: a discussion on whether a culture flatrate is a solution towards de-criminalizing the piracy of digital content (music, film, books, etc.) while still giving the artists and creators remuneration for their work. very heated debate. the audience was very vocal on this issue. and on our way home me and he-who-paid-for-my-ticket discussed it some more. definitely something that should be discussed some more in our society.
now: sleep.