kijk dit nou :-)
groetjes sabine
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,460449,00.html>
January 18, 2007
GUNS FOR HIRE
Need a Demonstrator? Now You Can Rent Them Online
By David Gordon Smith
A German Web site has come up a novel niche market -- renting out
demonstrators for public protests. Good-looking protestors can help
an organization get its political message to the public for as little
as ?145 a day.
Loud public protests accompanied the recent revelation that doctors
had hired protesters for a December demonstration in front of
Berlin's Reichstag.
For Germans old enough to remember the glory days of 1968, when
communes were all the rage and students took to the streets to
protest against all kinds of injustices, the country in 2007 is
almost a completely foreign place. The welfare state is being rolled
back, German troops are now engaged in military operations abroad,
and the current generation of young people seems more interested in
attending business school than bringing down the military-industrial
complex.
Just how much the world has changed since those days can be seen at
the Web site Erento.com. What the '68 generation once did out of
passion, people now do for money. Berlin-based Erento, a company that
pairs renters with potential customers, offers an unusual lineup of
products and services for loan. In addition to such rentals as snow
machines, horse-drawn carriages for weddings, chicken-plucking
machines and private jets, the site also now offers a unique service:
protestors for hire.
Judging by their profiles, most of the 300-plus people currently
listed in the "rent a demonstrator" category are young and
attractive. Potential agitators looking for support for their public
protests can choose, for example, Steffen, age 22, 190 cm tall (6
feet 2 inches), "athletic" and with a shoe size of 45. He's available
for gigs all over Germany, but says he prefers the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia. Or Manuela, who has green eyes and "very long" hair
and is available within a 100-kilometer range of Berlin. Included in
the extensive personal information -- which at times seems more
suited to a dating site -- are skin color and "appearance type,"
which can be for example "European," "African," "South American" or
"Asian."
All in a day's work
An Eremto spokesperson told SPIEGEL ONLINE that most of the
demonstrators were "students, pensioners, or housewives," adding that
the pseudo protestors are free to negotiate their own price with
customers. Most seem to have settled for an all-inclusive price of
?145 ($188) for six hours' work, although some can also be hired for
a mere ?10 an hour. Erento takes 4.9 percent of the money as a
management fee, the rest goes to the demonstrator.
The business model certainly seems to be working -- publishing
congomerate Holtzbrinck, which recently purchased the German
equivalent of Facebook, StudiVZ, bought 13 percent of Erento earlier
this week for an undisclosed sum in the region of ?1 million to ?3
million. Erento was founded in 2003 and currently features items and
services to rent in 2,200 categories.
But isn't it problematic if an organization decides to rent
protestors instead of using their own, politically committed
activists? "Each organization has to decide that for itself," the
Erento spokesperson said, explaining that the new category was added
to the Web site as a result of a series of enquiries by organizations
seeking protestors.
However the free market has not entirely overcome political
principle. The demonstrators say they are not available for just any
kind of protest. Those involving neo-Nazis or promoting
discrimination, for example, are out of the question. "The
demonstrators have to decide for themselves what kind of protests
they are willing to participate in," the spokesperson said. "One
person might be in favor of health care reforms, while another might
be against them."
Of course, those prickly health care reforms are currently a hot
topic in German politics. A national association of doctors recently
found itself in hot water after it was revealed that the organization
had hired up to 200 "demonstrators" to take part in a protest against
proposed health care reforms outside the German parliament in Berlin.
Roland Stahl, spokesman for the Association of Statutory Insurance
Physicians (KVB) defended the decision to hire students and the
unemployed as demonstrators. "That wasn't a demonstration, rather a
pure public relations exercise," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE, adding that
hiring people for such events is normal.
Whatever form an organization's public relations exercise takes,
Erento's multi-talented protestors for hire are apparently able to
hold placards and shout slogans, as well as simply make up the needed
numbers to create a mass. Other services presumably need to be
negotiated directly with the contractor, but it seems safe to assume
the rented rebels would be unwilling to throw Molotov cocktails or
fight with police officers -- at least not for ?10 an hour. This is a
new era of demonstrating, after all.
Jeroen and Karel are students of mine, and they're using issuecrawler
tools (thanks to erik) for the 1.5 year-long balie info-ambient facade.
richard
A A N K O N D I G I N G
(English version below)
DE ORAKELMACHINE
Een installatie voor de façade van De Balie in Amsterdam.
“Dit is wat wij schrijven, dit is wat wij lezen;
dit is hoe wij nu met informatie omgaan”
PRESENTATIE: Zaterdag 20 Januari, 20.00 uur / De Balie, Amsterdam
http://www.debalie.nl/media
Ontwerper Jeroen Joosse ontwierp een interactieve installatie voor de
façade van cultureel en politiek centrum De Balie. De Orakelmachine
verschijnt als projectie op vijf schermen, die vanaf 20 januari
dagelijks - na zonsondergang - vanaf het Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen en
Leidseplein op de ramen van de De Balie te zien is.
De Orakelmachine toont een continue stroom uitspraken en meningen
over maatschappelijke, politieke en culturele onderwerpen. Deze
teksten komen niet uit de mond van journalisten, programmamakers,
schrijvers, redacteuren of andere specialisten, maar rechtstreeks uit
de virtuele publieke ruimte: het internet.
De actualiteit bepaalt de onderwerpen, maar het is voor iedereen
mogelijk de stroom te onderbreken en een onderwerp in te sturen per
sms, om zo zelf de gevel van De Balie te besturen.
Met de hedendaagse explosie van opinie op weblogs, fora en andere
plekken op het web, en de grote toegankelijkheid tot deze informatie,
lijkt het klimaat voor publiek debat en individuele meningsvorming in
hoogconjunctuur te zijn. Maar de versnippering is groot, net als de
onverschilligheid.
De Orakelmachine laat deze kakofonie zien, onderzoekt de spanning
tussen diversiteit en betrokkenheid en brengt de de virtuele en de
fysieke publieke ruimte dichter bij elkaar. De automatische manier
waarop teksten van het internet worden gehaald en de 'bias' die
hierbij gebruikt wordt - dezelfde als die van de grote zoekmachines –
confronteert ons met onze informatiepraktijken: dit is wat wij
schrijven, dit is wat wij lezen, dit is hoe wij nu met informatie
omgaan.
De onuitputtelijke stroom berichten op de schermen van de machine is
een reflectie van wat allang de dagelijkse praktijk is op internet.
De Orakelmachine prikkelt, draagt bij aan meningsvorming, laat
onverschillig, irriteert en provoceert. En dat alles met de ‘stem van
de gemeenschap’.
Breng uw kwestie!
De officiële presentatie van het project is op zaterdag 20 januari om
20:00 uur. Richard Rogers, onderzoeker, hoofd nieuwe media van de
Universiteit van Amsterdam, Media-theoreticus Eric Kluitenberg en
ontwerper Jeroen Joosse geven commentaar en achtergronden bij de
presentatie.
Vervolgens is de Orakelmachine live in actie te zien: ook het publiek
mag zoektermen aan het Orakel geven om te zien wat er op dat moment
op internet over het betreffende onderwerp wordt geschreven.
Met medewerking van Karel Brascamp (software ontwikkeling). Met dank
aan het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.
_______
De Balie
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10
Amsterdam
http://www.debalie.nlhttp://www.debalie.nl/media
----------------------------------------------------
A N N O U N C E M E N T
The Oracle Machine
An installation for the façade of De Balie in Amsterdam.
“This is what we write, this is what we read;
this is how we deal with information today”
PRESENTATION: Saturday January 20, 20.00 hrs / De Balie, Amsterdam.
http://www.debalie.nl/media
Designer Jeroen Joosse devised an interactive installation for the
façade De Balie, centre for culture and politics in Amsterdam. The
Oracle Machine consists of a five screen window projection, which
can be seen daily, starting from January 20th - after sunset - from
the Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen and the Leidseplein on the windows De Balie.
The Oracle Machine displays a continuous stream of statements and
opinions about social, political, and cultural issues. These texts do
not originate from journalists, editors, writers and other
specialists, but come directly out of the virtual public domain of
the internet.
Current affairs and debates determine the issues, but it is possible
for everyone to interrupt the stream and send in an issue via sms, to
(temporarily) control the façade of De Balie.
The explosion of opinions on weblogs, fora and other places on the
net, and the increased accessibility of this information, would
suggest a booming climate for public debate and individual opinion-
making. However, the fragmentation is considerable, and so is
indifference.
The Oracle Machine visualises this cacophony. It investigates the
tension between diversity and involvement, and brings the virtual and
physical public spaces closer together. The automatic nature of
retrieving texts from the internet, and the ‘bias’ used within this
process - similar to the major search engines - confronts us with our
information practices: this is what we write. this is what we read,
this is how we deal with information today.
The inexorable stream of messages on the screens of the machine
constitutes a reflection of what already for a long time is daily
practice on the internet. The Oracle Machine stimulates, contributes
to the formation of opinions, leaves us indifferent, irritates,
provokes. And all this with the ‘voice of the community’.
Bring Your Issue!
The official presentation of the project is on Saturday January 20th
at 20.00 hours. Richard Rogers, researcher and head of New Media at
the University of Amsterdam, media theoretician Eric Kluitenberg and
designer Jeroen Joosse will give comments and provide background to
the project.
Subsequently, the Oracle Machine can be seen ‘live’ in action: also
the audience will be allowed to give search terms (issues) to the
Oracle to witness what is written on the internet at this particular
moment about the issue at hand.
The Oracle Machine is realised with the support of Karel Brascamp
(software development), and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
_______
De Balie
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10
Amsterdam
http://www.debalie.nlhttp://www.debalie.nl/media
> Killer-application is people-TV presents Hive: small mobile open
> source networks
> live stream; http://connect.waag.org
>
> When: Wednesday 17 January start 8.00 PM
> Where: Theatrum Anatomicum, Waag building, Nieuwmarkt 4, Amsterdam
>
> Hive (not Hyves) is a network that feels, sees, listens and exchanges.
> The underlying software HIVEWARES is an open source operating system
> designed to function on commercial networks like WiFi. Every Hive
> enabled device is a node in the network. ,
> Internet- and computer-veteran Vladimir Grafov was involved in the
> development and tells about its history, the possibilities and the
> future of Hive. Grafov will be joined by Alexei Blinov and introduced
> by Rob van Kranenburg.
>
> ===============================
> Hive Networks: Models of networking in post-Google age.
> by Vladimir Grafov and Alexei Blinov
>
> Hive Networks are different; they watch, listen, sense and touch the
> world around them.
> They actively source, distribute and create content, they...... turn
> the world on.
>
> Having said that, we realize that challenge of building the parallel
> models of networking is not an easy one. Started as an art project and
> founded by Art Council of England, Hive Networks is an artistic
> adventure into ubiquitous computing, creative exposure of technologies
> which otherwise stay hidden and incomprehensible to the public.
> It is not difficult to imagine a future where billions of people
> regularly access applications running inside the global network as
> part of their daily lives, when technology recedes into the background
> of our lives and seamlessly integrates with it, becoming so embedded,
> so fitting, so natural, that we use it without even thinking about it.
> But it is not about technology. It’s about the mismatch between the
> current hierarchical models in which global networks are organized and
> the emerging publishing culture that became possible because of the
> technology. It‘s about empowerment, gaining control over the identity
> and locality of the content. Centralized, corporately structured
> content aggregators and information brokers inevitably capitalized on
> the content they collect, accumulate and filter. Network owners and
> connectivity providers consider volume charges to make sure they keep
> growing. Copyright owners push towards tightly controlled distribution
> of the content.
> We believe that the mismatch could be resolved by developing parallel,
> democratic tools of publishing that rely on shared network ownership.
> We base our work on three cornerstones: Open source software, Open
> Spectrum (WiFi) and Open hardware. These three elements come together
> in what we generically call “Hive enabled device”.
> Each HIVE enabled device is capable of gathering content and
> disseminating it either to its immediate physical location or across a
> local or global network.
> HIVEWARES is the software behind each HIVE device. It is an open
> source operating system designed to work on commercially available
> network hardware such as wireless access points or wireless LAN hard
> drive units. These units are attractive to use due to their relatively
> low cost, low power requirements, and in-built network connectivity.
> Once installed with HIVEWARES each device not only acts as a node in
> the network but also collects, stores and forwards data and
> multi-media content. The HIVE device no longer only provides a
> connectivity structure, through which access to the global Internet is
> facilitated, but a content structure, a hiving network of desires and
> cultural/artistic creations.
>
> During the evening, we will address some of the issues we encountered
> in the course of the project and give a short demonstration of the
> current state of development.
>
>
>
> When: 17th of January 2007, venue opens at 7.45 PM start 8.00 PM
> Stream: http://connect.waag.org
> Where: Theatrum Anatomicum, waag building, Nieuwmarkt 4, 1012CR,
> Amsterdam
>
> KillerTV is supported by:
> Mondriaan Stichting, VSB Fonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Surfnet,
> Pauwhoffonds
>
>
> Waag Society | Floor v Spaendonck | Nieuwmarkt 4 | 1012 CR Amsterdam
> tel +31.20.5579898 | fax +31-20 5579880 | floor(a)waag.org |
> http://www.waag.org
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nettime-ann mailing list
> nettime-ann(a)nettime.org
> http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ann
>
>
>
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Happy new year!
What better way to start the new year than signing a petition!
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/eu_streaming_service_for_everybody
:)
Gr,
Koen
- --
K.F.J. Martens, Sonologic, http://www.sonologic.nl/
Networking, hosting, embedded systems, unix, artificial intelligence.
Public PGP key: http://www.metro.cx/pubkey-gmc.asc
Wondering about the funny attachment your mail program
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