Walled Garden

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Walled Garden - The new [in]equalities endorsed by technology - 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.

Cultuur 2.0
In 2007 Virtual 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, Virtual 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.

Visit the Walled Garden wiki for more information and conference coverage