after the closing event we went on to join the nodel crowd at the plenum event. a pure data meshup thingy.
Author: deptfordtv
Mindsweeper Boat: Symphony of Deptford (25th of March)
All the PD patches can be downloaded here. The PD patches are written by Emanuel Andel (aka nrsz) and are licensed under the GPL3. Emanuel’s patches use the cyclone library, make sure that you have it installed on your system.
This was the closing event of the Deptford.TV launch. www.ampersand.tv made a live music performance to the PD mix of www.nrsz.net – the whole session was recorded and will be re-edited & published on the site www.remixdeptford.tv – a site which will have the approach of using vj/dj technologies to remix the original deptford.tv database with programms such as pure data and available under https://puredyne.goto10.org/
the pirate boat was our base, a minesweeper…
on the minesweeper you will see and hear a sinphony remix of the http://deptford.tv database done by nsrz to the live soundz of ampersand.
On a forgotten side creek of the River Thames sits a derelict former minesweeper.
The Art Organisation, in association with its owners, have began the arduous task of regenerating this 158 feet long sea worthy vessel to a floating gallery, theatre and rehearsal space.
Members Gregory Scott-Gurner and Camden McDonald have recently been granted funding via UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs – to restore the timber hull and decking, and introduce a program of theatre workshops involving the local community. .
Remix Conference 25th of March
the original flyer & the evaluation
quoted from souteastlondon.org:
The conference in Goldsmiths College marked the launch of the ambitious video project Deptford TV. The local online video database, initiated by Adnan Hadzi (Goldsmiths College), aims to document the regeneration of the area Deptford/New Cross, accessible on the internet and under a Creative Commons Licence. This means, the internet user can download local videos and use them for noncommercial purpose (more license details on the deptford.tv website).
The database for the local Deptford TV clips itself has been set up in the last weeks and months by Bitnik (picture above) from Zurich/Switzerland. Bitnik is an internationally experienced media collective with a proven record in regeneration and arts projects. Deptford TV uses only Open Source software. This is uncommercial software, which is developed by volunteers. This software can be downloaded from the web without charge, like eg Linux software.
In the last weeks, the database has been consistently filled up with content from local volunteers. All material is stored in h-264 format, an open source format, equivalent to the commercial IPod format. All material added to the database is stored with an Edit Decision List. This way all material can be re-assembled and re-edited at a later point easily.
The project will be ongoing for some 3 years at least and is still at an early stage. Though now basically functioning, more technical features and content will be added. Technical hickups at this stage should not surprise. Deptford TV has now uploaded first edited videos.
On Friday Deptford TV had invited to a local 5 hour walk to locations with public screens, like the Laban Centre, where the results of the ongoing video project were shown (distributed through the wireless network of Boundless Coop).
At the conference evening a video remix screening with industrial sound performance on the Boat in Deptford Creek marked the end of this local media weekend in New Cross and Deptford.
see also posts boundless.coop & deptford.tv
transcript from the bitnik.org presentation
MK2 CO-OP CITY – PRESENTATION IN LONDON (NODE)
Hello we are Bitnik Media Collective from Zurich. This is Doma,
Silvan, Carmen. We have been collaborating with Adnan and James for
the Deptford.TV.
We would like to give you a brief summary of COOP-CITY, a conference
held in Barcelona in 2004 on regeneration, oppositional architecture
and social conflict. COOP-CITY was organized and initiated by
Platoniq, a barcelona-based media activists group.
CO-OP CITY was the second part of a series of conferences and
workshops called MEDIA SPACE INVADERS (Invasores al Medio espacio)
organized by Platoniq throughout 2003 and 2004 on topics of public
space, urban environment, social media practices and architecture. The
MEDIA SPACE INVADERS conferences and workshops centred around the
topic of the repolitisation of public space through use of community
software and technology. The conference was intended not only as a
series of presentations where researchers would give an insight on
their work, but as an open community workshop where people involved in
different social struggles connected to the city of Barcelona would be
able to exchange experiences and find ways of collaborating.
The aim of CO-OP CITY, the second part of the MEDIA SPACE INVADERS
SERIES was to analize how the process of renewal in Barcelona had
drifted further and further away from citizens needs. In 2004
regeneration in Barcelona had reached a new climax with the FORUM
BARCELONA 2004 (http://www.barcelona2004.org/), an international Forum
on Cultural exchange initiated by UNESCO, which took place from Mai to
September 2004 and lead to the regeneration of a big portion of the
city (poble nou). Citizens had little say in this process and even
though there had been quite an amount of protests, the plans were not
changed or even discussed.
During the conferences these processes and struggles were also
compared to similar struggles in Berlin, Sao Paulo, Bogota and Buenos
Aires.
CO-OP CITY tried to give an answer to the question: what is a
cooperational City, how could community practices and decision-making
be combined and how can public space be repolitisized and used to
support social movements.
The answer was a public city tour, a militant investigation project
visiting all the social hot-spots in the different parts of the city,
bringing the local groups involved in social struggle a mobile
audio-streaming-station and retransmitting the talks and discussions
directly to the Platoniq Netradio.
The idea and especially the set-up of CO-OP CITY with panels,
screenings and a City Tour were intended as a form of guerilla
tactical research and were derived from the idea of „militant
investigation” (investigacion militante). Militant investigation is a
research method that was initiated during the autonomos movements in
th 80ies.
The understanding of „research” for CO-OP City was taken from a
research collectiv called Situaciones (www.situaciones.org) which uses
„militant investigacion” to discribe its form of social research.
Their research method implies an attitude of collaboration with the
groups or communities they study and exposes the role of the
scientific „impartial espectator” as a bourgeois notion of doing
social research.
The CO-OP CITY TOUR, organized by Platoniq and Sitesize.net, was part
of the community workshop.
The idea of the tour was to give the participants an in-depth insight
into the physical and social geography of regeneration and renewal in
Barcelona.
The seven stops of the tour were chosen for the urgency of the social
struggles connected with them and at the same time for the differences
in the types of struggles they stood for: The aim of the tour in this
sense was to give participants a broad insight into the various
struggles and their different natures by visiting each of the
communities personally. This very direct approach to the different
communities, to their concerns and their long-term engagements in
struggles to enforce their rights a network of struggles became
manifest as a sort of second layer to the city map. For the people
involved directly in the struggles the specific problems they were
facing began to form pieces of a much larger picture: The picture of
communities being marginalized and excluded from the city governments
vision of a Future Barcelona and of how these communities are driven
out of the city’s center towards the city limits by regeneration
processes.
The current and ongoing tranformation of the City of Barcelona is put
into practice by the city council through incoherent strategies that
are influenced by image or marketing considerations and speculation.
Instead of involving local communities into the renewal processes, the
government is more concerned with an outward image than with the needs
of the citizens. As a reaction to this, civil organisations, ngos and
community groups have spent a lot of energy in devising propositions,
initiatives and projects for a understanding of „city” or „urban
space” that is more focussed on the people than on marketing / tourism
and money.
Links
http://www.coordinadoraraval.org
http://www.poblenou.org/c22
http://www.forumperjudicats.com
http://www.bcn.es/22@bcn/
http://www.sitesize.net/poble9
http://www.asfes.org
http://www.compromis.org/Videos/video%20ecoparc1.mpg
http://www.compromis.org/Videos/video%20ecoparc2.mpg
http://www.compromis.org/Videos/video%20ecoparc3.mpg
http://www.compromis.org/comunicats/Dossier%20texto%20ecoparc2.pdf
http://www.compromis.org/comunicats/Dossier%20ecoparc.pdf
www.iespana.es/noalcalaix
PARC CENTRAL
BIOGRAPHIES:
Spanish urban planning acts on the placing of gaps in urban spaces and
define exactly what these gaps should be like: measurements,
materials, positions – but they do not define purpose because a gap is
for disposing rubble and rubbish, isn’t it? The design works in
different ways because people pay the local government for their
permit, and then do what they want, or need to, with it: an urban
reserve, breathing space, a meeting point, a children’s playground, a
tree plantation…
In the case of regulations on scaffolding , you can
obtain a permit to install one because you “need” to paint the facade
of the building you wish to contaminate. You can always produce this
need by scribbling some eye-catching graffiti on it. You then install
your scaffolding and build your new space, your own private refuge,
your architecture of silence, with whatever materials, style and
rneasurements you decide. The duration is up to you, because the
architecture of silence ought to be provisional and variable, because
these are the conditions which the other architecture (the regular
sort) does not have. In the same way, there are other loopholes or
“URBAN DESCRIPTIONS” we can employ to remind the institution of its
inabiltity to deal with plural realities, and to point out people’s
ability-and their need- to take part in urban drift.
URBAN PRESCRIPTIONS
Strategies for subversive occupation
All realities manifest themselves with a gradient of variable factors.
If I want to talk about urban phenomena, I have to do so in terms of
complexity and difference. The paths we have to pursue to understand
them cannot reproduce the paths of conventional urban planning, as the
invisible, mutant structures which interact in the urban space create
a complex fabric. We get the impression that the various levels of
complexity grow and die. The production system, and the political and
economic variables and mechanisms which predominate in architecture
make the idea of global, closed planning inconceivable.
The speed at which changes take place in urban space suggests specific
places and given epochs, so the design and construction of this space
constantly require regenerating mechanisms which address the
particular factors of the various places and their interaction with
global changes and systems. For institutions, the idea of a global
process is an attempt to simplify and control all possible forms of
behaviour and action. My proposal consists of perpetually redefining
global systems (urban planning and legislation), looking for possible
loopholes and uncertainties which allow the various human groups
freedom of action.
Biography
Santiago Cirugeda, born 1971, has produced architectural projects,
written articles and participated in different educational and
cultural contexts (master classes, seminars, conferences, workshops,
exhibitions, debates, etc.). He is currently preparing an
architectonic project in Seville, for a cultural and visual arts
centre, and is immersed in investigations regarding emergency
dwellings, developed in distinct forums such as the Barraca BCN – a
winter factory for the ETSA in Alicante. He occasionally acts as
professor in Bogota’s Javeriana School.
Since 9 years, Santiago Cirugeda has developed subversive projects
with distinct ambitions in urban reality which has allowed him to
endure a complicated social life. From systematic occupation of public
spaces in containers to the construction of prostheses in facades,
patios, covers and lots, he negociates legal and illegal zones, as a
reminder of the pervasive control to which we are all subject.
He was invited to the Venice Biennale where he critically demonstrated
socio-cultural differences which nourish interventionist projects in
distant urban surroundings, and which move through issues of
self-administration and precarity to stupid frivolty.
Architectos Sin Fronteras – Architects without Borders
ASF is an NGO funded in 1992 with the objective of using social or
opositional architecture for the development of community projects
such as housing, schools, health care centers, educational and
community centers.
Deptford Walk 24th of March
this post is quoted from andrew’s blog:
Creative Commons edgital culture
On Friday as part of the deptford.tv series of launch events (which created a local context to explore the Creative Commons) there was a walk all over Deptford guided by Pete Pope and Ben Gidley. Starting at The Albany we went via Fordham park, past The Rubbish Fairy and Prangsta on New Cross Road and onto the Ben Pimlott building, the new purpose built facility for Goldsmiths. We were allowed to go onto the balcony and see the scribble sculpture close up. There was a terrific view of London, I especially relished the view of Olympia warehouse, a Victorian cast iron building at Convoys Wharf, which is mostly unknown to people in Deptford as the large site is enclosed by a 10ft wall. The beautiful shape of the twin roofs which covered the slipways is the hidden crown of Deptfords invisible history. Next we went to Bearspace cafe on Deptford high street, which is a calm oasis. At each stop we watched a short documentary built using the clips from the Deptford.tv video database. Participants were able to discuss architecture, film theory and technology in situ. Next we went to the Laban via the Thomas Archer masterpiece St.Pauls Church. Inside the Laban, we had a quick guided tour by a well meaning staff member who was blissfully unaware of the irony when she pointed out ‘a feature’ through the window saying “and you’ve got Deptford over there, which is an up and coming area.”
After a visit to a participants home in Stowage, where the very personal story of how legacy film and video footage has been digitized into a legacy for local-social historians and The Creative Commons, we went to Deckspace inside the old Greenwich Borough Hall building for our last tea and cake, a nice sit down and a chat. In summary the walk was very much a clarion call for how culture at the edge (which I term edgital) is actually at the centre of whats really happening now. It was like looking into a crystal ball to see how digital technologies in combination with Free Software and Copyleft are transforming the social and historical landscape.
2 Comments:
- At 8:13 AM, Archeology of the Future said…
- Terrific stuff! You managed to put together a walk that took in almost all of my favourite landmarks! How do I get on the waiting list?One question, though: What’s Deckspace? I really want to go inside the Greenwich Borough Hall, as it’s certainly one of the buildings within walking distance of which I’m most fond.
As one Deptford blogger to another I salute you!
- At 11:08 PM, andreworford ªº said…
- Deptford.tv (which is a collaboration of several parties) put together the walk – which was a one off. I cant see why such a similar walk cant be put together again. I will continue to publish my research on the ‘hidden’ architectures of Deptford, here at the blog. I will be paying attention to using new technologies, such as GPS, mobile, podcasting and Google Earth / Google Maps, etc.Deckspace (run by James Stevens)inside Greenwich Borough Hall is the successor to Backspace in Clink Street (1996-99) whose old website gives more of an idea of the genesis of the current Deckspace in Greenwich. The basic idea is to provide a flexible media lab which functions as a social nexus for people who want to ‘do anything’ digital or otherwise. James is a very approachable person with a sense of humour and a ‘can do’ attitude, he has helped many projects become enabled.
Architecture
Architecture is a term that has over history acquired different, though indirectly related, meanings all of which have currency today.
* Architecture, in its first and traditional usage, refers to the art and science of designing buildings. A wider definition would include within its scope the design of the total built environment, from the macrolevel of urban planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of furniture and product design. Architecture also refers to the product of such a design.
* From this original meaning, the term architecture has been extended to the design or act of designing other complex systems and is usually qualified using a prefix, for example: computer architecture, software architecture, information architecture, product architecture). In these cases, it tends to refer to the overall structure of the system.
* Common to all contexts is the idea that architecture embodies a coherent set of organizational principles and objectives guiding the design of each aspect of a complex structure. Generally, a product resulting from such guided design can also be referred to as architecture.
* Computer architecture is the theory behind the design of a computer. In the same way as a building architect sets the principles and goals of a building project as the basis for the draftsman’s plans, so too, a computer architect sets out the computer architecture as a basis for the actual design specifications.
* Software architecture is a coherent set of abstract patterns guiding the design of each aspect of a larger software system.
* Information architecture is the art and science of structuring knowledge (technically data) to be published in a web, and defining user interactions (also see use case).
* A vehicle architecture is an automobile platform that is a shared set of components common to a number of different vehicles.
* Product architecture comprises the structure of a product or product family including its constituent subassemblies and options for commonality, customization, upgrading, or repair. Vehicle architecture is an example.
Architecture of the built environment
Architecture (in Greek αρχή = first and τέχνη = craftsmanship) is the art and science of designing buildings. A wider definition would include within its scope the design of the total built environment, from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of furniture.
Contents
1. Scope and intentions
2. Theory and practice
3. Architecture and buildings
4. Architectural history
5. Conclusion
6. External links
Scope and intentions
According to the very earliest surviving work on the subject, Vitruvius’ De Architectura, good building should have Beauty (Venustas), Firmness (Firmitas) and Utility (Utilitas); architecture can be said to be a balance and coordination among these three elements, with none overpowering the others. A modern day definition sees architecture as addressing aesthetic, structural and functional considerations. However, looked at another way, function itself is seen as encompassing all criteria, including aesthetic and psychological ones.
Architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, including within its fold mathematics, science, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy, and so on. In Vitruvius’ words, “Architecture is a science, arising out of many other sciences, and adorned with much and varied learning: by the help of which a judgement is formed of those works which are the result of other arts”. He adds that an architect should be well versed in fields such as music, astronomy, etc. Philosophy is a particular favourite; in fact one frequently refers to the philosophy of each architect when one means the approach. Rationalism, empiricism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and phenomenology are some directions from philosophy influencing architecture.
Theory and practice
The relevance of theory in informing practice cannot be overemphasised, though many architects shun theory. Vitruvius continues: “Practice and theory are its parents. Practice is the frequent and continued contemplation of the mode of executing any given work, or of the mere operation of the hands, for the conversion of the material in the best and readiest way. Theory is the result of that reasoning which demonstrates and explains that the material wrought has been so converted as to answer the end proposed. Wherefore the mere practical architect is not able to assign sufficient reasons for the forms he adopts; and the theoretic architect also fails, grasping the shadow instead of the substance. He who is theoretic as well as practical, is therefore doubly armed; able not only to prove the propriety of his design, but equally so to carry it into execution”.
Architecture and buildings
The difference between architecture and building is a subject matter that has engaged the attention of many. According to Nikolaus Pevsner, European historian of the early 20th century, “A bicycle shed is a building, Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture”. In current thinking, the division is not too clear. Bernard Rudofsky’s famous Architecture Without Architects consolidated a whole range of structures designed by ordinary people into the realm of architecture. The further back in history one goes, the greater is the consensus on what architecture is or is not, possibly because time is an efficient filter. If like Vitruvius we consider architecture as good building, then does it mean that bad architecture does not exist? To resolve this dilemma, especially with the increasing number of buildings in the world today, architecture can also be defined as what an architect does. This would then place the emphasis on the evolution of architecture and the architect.
Architecture is also the art of designing the human built environment. Buildings, landscaping, and street designs may be used to impart both functional as well as aesthetic character to a project. Siding and roofing materials and colors may be used to enhance or blend buildings with the environment. Building features such as cornices, gables, entrances, and window treatments and borders may be used to soften or enhance portions of a building. Landscaping may be used to create privacy and block direct views from or to a site and enhance buildings with colorful plants and trees. Street side features such as decorative lighting, benches, meandering walkways, and bicycle lanes can enhance the experience of a project site for passersby, pedestrians, and cyclists.
edit
Architectural history
Architecture first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and attendant skills). Prehistoric and primitive architecture constitute this early stage. As humans progressed and knowledge began to be formalised through oral traditions and practices, architecture evolved into a craft. Here there is first a process of trial and error, and later improvisation or replication of a successful trial. The architect is not the sole important figure; he is merely part of a continuing tradition. What is termed as Vernacular architecture today falls under this mode and still continues to be produced in many parts of the world.
Early human settlements were essentially rural. As surplus of production began to occur, rural societies transformed into urban ones and cities began to evolve. In many ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians’ and Mesopotamians’ architecture and urbanism reflected the constant engagement with the divine and the supernatural. However, the architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilisations such as the Greek and the Roman evolved from more civic ideas and many new building types emerged. Architectural styles developed and texts on architecture began to be written. These became canons to be followed in important works, especially religious architecture. Some examples of canons are the works of Vitruvius, the Kaogongji of ancient China and Vaastu Shastra in ancient India. In Europe in the Classical and Medieval periods, buildings were not attributed to specific individual architects who remained anonymous. Guilds were formed by craftsmen to organise their trade. Over time the complexity of buildings and their types increased. General civil construction such as roads and bridges began to be built. Many new building types such as schools, hospitals, and recreational facilities emerged.
Islamic architecture all by itself merits a special discussion. The concept of Islamic architecture can be understood in several ways. But perhaps a concise way of defining it would be to say that Islamic architecture is simply the architecture characteristic of predominantly Islamic societies as well as similar architecture elsewhere.
Using this definition, Islamic architecture has a long and complex history beginning in the 7th century CE continuing today. Examples can be found throughout the countries that are, or were, Islamic – from Morocco and Spain to Iran, and Indonesia. Other examples can be found in areas where Muslims are a minority. Islamic architecture includes mosques, madrasas, caravansarais, palaces, and mausolea of this large region.
With the Renaissance and its emphasis on the individual and humanity rather than religion, and with all its attendant progress and achievements, a new chapter began. Buildings were ascribed to specific architects – Michaelangelo, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci – and the cult of the individual had begun. But there was no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or any of the related vocations. At this stage, it was still possible for an artist to design a bridge as the level of structural calculations involved were within the scope of the generalist.
With the consolidation of knowledge in scientific fields such as engineering and the rise of new materials and technology, the architect began to lose ground on the technical aspects of building. He therefore cornered for himself another playing field – that of aesthetics. There was the rise of the “gentleman architect” who usually dealt with wealthy clients and concentrated predominantly on visual qualities derived usually from historical prototypes. In the 19th century Ecole des Beaux Arts in France, the training was toward producing quick sketch schemes involving beautiful drawings without much emphasis on context.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution laid open the door for mass consumption and aesthetics started becoming a criterion even for the middle class as ornamented products, once within the province of expensive craftmanship, became cheaper under machine production. Such products lacked the beauty and honesty associated with the expression of the process in the product.
The dissatisfaction with such a general situation at the turn of the twentieth century gave rise to many new lines of thought that in architecture served as precursors to Modern Architecture. Notable among these is the Deutscher Werkbund, formed in 1907 to produce better quality machine made objects. The rise of the profession of industrial design is usually placed here. Following this lead, the Bauhaus school, founded in Germany in 1919, consciously rejected history and looked at architecture as a synthesis of art, craft, and technology.
When Modern architecture first began to be practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral, philosophical, and aesthetic underpinnings. Truth was sought by rejecting history and turning to function as the generator of form. Architects became prominent figures and were termed masters. Later modern architecture moved into the realm of mass production due to its simplicity and economy.
However, a reductive quality began to be perceived in modern architecture by the general public from the 1960s. Some reasons cited for this are its perceived lack of meaning, sterility, ugliness, uniformity, and psychological effects.
The architectural profession responded to this partly by attempting a more populist architecture at the visual level, even if at the expense of sacrificing depth for shallowness, a direction called Postmodernism. Robert Venturi’s contention that a “decorated shed” (an ordinary building which is functionally designed inside and embellished on the outside) was better than a “duck” (a building in which the whole form and its function are considered together) gives an idea of this approach.
Another part of the profession, and also some non-architects, responded by going to what they considered the root of the problem. They felt that architecture was not a personal philosophical or aesthetic pursuit by individualists; rather it had to consider everyday needs of people and use technology to give a livable environment. The Design Methodology Movement involving people such as Chris Jones, Christopher Alexander started searching for a more inclusive process of design in order to lead to a better product. Extensive studies on areas such as behavioural, environmental, and social sciences were done and started informing the design process.
As many other concerns began to be recognised and complexity of buildings began to increase in terms of aspects such as services, architecture started becoming more multi-disciplinary than ever. Architecture now required a team of professionals in its making, an architect being one among the many, sometimes the leader, sometimes not. This is the state of the profession today. However, individuality is still cherished and sought for in the design of buildings seen as cultural symbols – the museum or fine arts centre has become a showcase for new experiments in style: today Deconstructivism, tomorrow maybe something else.
Conclusion
Buildings are one of the most visible productions of man, and vary greatly in design, function, and construction implementation across the globe from industrialized countries to “third world”, or developing countries. The role of the Architect also varies accordingly. The vision (or lack of) that Architects project on the society in which they practice has a profound effect on the built environment, and consequently on the people who interact with that environment. The skills of the architect are sought after in many situations ranging from complex building types such as the Skyscraper, Hospital, Stadium, Airport, etc. to less complicated project types such as commercial and residential buildings and development. Many types of projects or examples of Architecture can be seen as cultural and political symbols. Generally, this is what the public perceives as architecture. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) design and implementation of the built environment in which we live. There is always a dialogue between society and the architect. And what results from this dialogue can be termed architecture – as a product and as a discipline.
Four architectural styles in , , including the egg-shaped . In 2004 this building won the for its architects
External links
* 0lll.com (http://www.0lll.com/lud/pages/architecture/archgallery/) – Photographs of Contemporary Architecture
* International Architecture Database archINFORM (http://www.archinform.net/)
* Architecture.com – Courtesy of the Royal Institute of British Architects (http://www.architecture.com/)
* Galinsky – People enjoying buildings worldwide (http://www.galinsky.com/)
* Global Architecture Encyclopedia – Glass Steel and Stone (http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/)
* The Great Buildings Collection
Database documentary 17th & 18th of march 2006
At 6 o'clock in the morning, 17th of march, the draft of the database structure was finished – after a night session between london & zurich we can upload our files. So far we will upload the rough material and tag the clips with metadata.
1. Step was to digitize the tapes. And here we had a surprise with some of the tapes. If the date and time wasn't set on the camera we couldn't digitize with automatic start/stop detection, as date & time was the metadata written on the tape which allowed to distinguish between scenes. This is important as we save the clips as smallest possible units into the database, which is between when the camera operator pressed "start record" until the operator pressed "end record". Those tapes without date & time stamp had to be separated into clips manually.
The clips then get a specific filename: number-of-tape_part-of-tape_DTV-number-of-clip.mov (or .avi) example: 001_2_DTV- 3.mov
– number-of-tape: we numbered the tapes of each participant. This tapes will be archived at dek.spc.org – The idea behind this is that we can access the highest quality possible, if there is a wish for a higher resolution edit. . In our example it's the first tape.
– part-of-tape Often there are time-code breaks. Or the camera operator continued filming on a different project. It is important to log this, as after a time code break the time code starts counting from 0 again. In order to digitize from the right position the tape has to be manually forwarded or rewinded into the part of the tape (in our example if we would be at the beginning of the tape we would have to manually forward into the second part of the tape after the first time-code break).
– DTV stands for Deptford.TV
– number-of-clip.mov (or .avi) stands for the number of the clip, .mov is a quicktime container and .avi is used by premiere
2. Now the clips needed to be transcoded into the h.264 or in our case the open x.264 codec. On linux you can use ffmpeg for transcoding, on a Windows system videora or super and on a mac OS X system isquint. Though there is an issue with the openess of this codec as there is a patent pending. For further information see http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com.
3. The clips are uploaded and tagged with meta-data. The tagging of meta-data allows the collaborators to read about the clips of others and to see if any of the clips might be interesting for other projects.
Following tags are attached to the clips:
– filename (see point 1)
– artist
– title of the project
– place / post code (which would allow a mapping of the rough material)
– original source
– description
– transcript (if it is a longer interview or longer clip)
– rating (still needs to be coded)
The rough material is released under the creative commons open content license with which collaborators can share there footage. The first results can be looked at http://watch.deptford.tv
The user-management is based on the wordpress software in which we use the blogging function to blog our videos – in the moment the database is a vlog and vodcast – soon also an ogg stream…
Regeneration documentation 10th & 11th of march 2006
This workshop was the production workshop. The themes which had been brainstormed over the tv hacking workshop where narrowed down. We had five groups of around 4 people shooting to the topics "boat community", "deptford sinphony", "music history deptford", "boundless.coop", "then & now", "crossfield estate" plus others who dropped in and out and shot independently on their individual topics & issues.
Further information on "the boat community" project. 
Further information on "deptford synphony" project.
Music history Deptford is an idea of bringing together the information of the music scene of deptford and offering musicians to collaborate with film-makers – to do music documentaries but also to explore deptford's music history.
Boundless – this project documents the wireless network boundless. BOUNDLESS is the broadband co-op established during 2004 to support community development of fast local internet access, inter-linking residential, business, educational, cultural and digital media communities. . The first mesh nodes of the network have been installed in Deptford, South East London, where community interest has seeded action and driven progress. It draws on a wealth of local experience and enthusiasm to share resources, presenting the work, lives and times of its users.
Then & Now – about the old power station of Deptford – a collage with pictures of the area around stowage & where the power station used to be.
The project "Crossfield Estate" is looking at the architecture of the Crossfield Estate in Deptford and it's development.
TV hacking workshop 3rd / 4th of March
The Deptford.TV workshops started on the 3rd of march 2006 with TV hacking, presented by the bitnik media collective. Bitnik presented their projects and their focus on hacking media & mapping media. 
picture by James Stevens
video of the tv hacking presentation
video of the q&a of the presentation
the telestreet film
Carmen started showing their mapping project where bitnik programmed a software for mapping political situations in countries and to display them on a world map. In this project they try to show how the environment influences the information show and how people communicate – the mapping project was shown at the world summit on information society in Geneva – it was done with the suport of “science et cité” – to debate the information poor & the information rich in our world.
In 2004 bitnik started to work with TV and the question of how to open up this one to many communication system to a many to many system. One starting point was with the question “how can a community make their own tv station?” and the other starting point was “how can the internet be used to achieve that?”.
Bitnik wanted to approach this experiment with the copy & paste attitude of the net generation. In TV hacking bitnik understands the internet as a tool to collect content. Bitnik started off by installing a pirate TV station by building a small broadcasting system with a range of 2km in Zurich, Switzerland
TV hacking referes to the tactical media project telestreet in Italy. Italy has a long history with tactical media because they have a very restricted television system which is control by one person: Berlusconi. They have a long history for pirate tv.
In the beginning they made pirate TV station which served the whole city – but soon they had to do a different approach, because they where easy to track. So they started to distribute over mini senders which where mashed up.
One of the first experiment was the distribution of football. Because sky had bought up all the rights for football in Italy fans could only watch it with a pay license – so telestreet started to distribute the games in two different ways: one in showing normal films on tv but as soon there was a goal they interrupted with people clapping and showed the score (of course if you liked the film more you missed something 🙂 and the other approach was that one guy bought a pay satellite dish and they re-broadcasted this signal to the neigbourhood.
Another project is van gogh television, trying to make television interactive they used, telephone, fax and modem – and played the game tik,tak,toe – they used also the news ticker which now days is used by almost an television station. In this new ticker they showed the television number and people could call up and participate. they distributed over satelite.
The third project influenced the work of bitinik was paper tigger television. A new york based collective which produces videos distributed to community television station arround the states. During the 91 gulf war they distributed a different view on the war. the first idea was let’s collect material from people and make a broadcast for several hours. But bitnik quickly realised that there where not enough people providing content. Bitnik decided therefor to search for content – do allow the community to search for content over the internet
Bitnik created the copyfight system a simple enginge see – copyfight allows you to upload clips to the server but also to search for clips over filesharing systems and to program them into the system which distributes over an antenna. In Switzerland it is not as big as a problem as the aerial distribution is mostly not used anymore – most of the tv distribution goes over cable – in comparison to the uk where freeview is coming.
Bitnik started experimenting with the system and started using it for parties as well during wich we used a bunch of tv’s in a whole house and distributed to all the rooms.
Stopp gap tv is a project which uses the concept of gap fillers on television. With the copyfight system bitnik didn’t had the producers to make a program – but bitnik also didn’t wanted to do a television program – bitnik where more interested in the research on tv and internet – they found out that in Switzerland the experimental TV is only during late night – as per example in the UK there are the game shows – so they realised that the night gap is the interaction time – bitnik was surprised on the big amount of people using this late night programs – bitnik build a roboter with a camera on the top of it transmitting data to the television station – which is driven by solar energy – on top we had the solar lights giving the power – the robot was recieving sms text send by mobil phone and the user could direct the robot and see the movement on the copyfight television.
The copyfight system uses also sources from the internet which can be downloaded to the server – you can make your own playlist – the idea is a self editorial system – a system which is open, the user connects to the web site and programs the system. Per example you can use the prellinger archive – per example “night of the living death” the zombie movie is in public domain – you can take it legal and distribute it. Copyfight is not a do it yourself system it is a compose it yourself system – three steps: 1. you find the clips per example over file sharing system – 2. you add metadata and add it to the database – 3. and last you distribute it over the copyfight system.
Bitinik thinks that the source of program produced by public television should be open, as the public paid for it – the BBC is running a project called creative archive – also have a look at free culture…
On the second day the 4th of march 2006 the workshop participants split up into groups and brainstormed what topics they could document, film, produce for the next workshop, the regeneration documentation.
please also see our brainstorming session…
Luke Hearn’s comment (workshop participant), quoted from archive.org wayback machine::
RE: generation collaboration
Running as part of the Node London’s ‘Deptford TV’ event cluster “Documentary Database” on Saturday was the third and final in a series of workshops, exploring audio-visual documentation of the regeneration process in Deptford.
Located at SPC media lab (previously Deckspace HQ), at Borough Hall, Greenwich, this has been host to the do-it-yourself media for over a decade, long before the Internet existed, as we know it today.
Run by Adnan Hadzi, an artist/curator and PhD student, the workshop is dedicated to the idea of bringing a community of individuals together who are interested in taking part in the democratisation of the media making process whereby we can all subvert the user/producer paradigm.
Consisting of mainly local film-makers, activists and students interested in documenting the so-called “regeneration” process, the idea behind the “Documentary Database” workshop specifically was to transfer this extensive (uncut) video documentation to a database on a server (provided by the Boundless.coop network) so that it is freely available (at watch.deptford.tv) under a Creative Commons “share-alike” license (permitting others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work).
As always not only is the project focused on user-based collaboration, but it is also enabled by collaborating with other artists and art groups. For instance the web-based software is custom built by collaborators bitnik. And of course the master of all things wireless, James Stevens is involved.
It will be interesting to see what kind of output this online material has. By the sound of things Adnan is very open to the possibilities, and not very specific about how this might work. Maybe because he’s not really sure yet himself, or perhaps because it is the process of sharing and collaboration that are more important to this project than the outcome.
The Deckspace space is a phenomenon which anyone having even the remotest interest in digital arts scene should be aware of. Check the Node.L calendar to see when the next Deptford TV event cluster event takes place.
Did you say Culture?
“Wer hat dem wird gegeben, wer nicht hat der nimmt’s sichs eben” (Brecht) As a member of the D-word community 1 I was involved in last years’ discussions about the ‘Democracy project’ 2, virtually on D-word, and physically at the IDFA Democracy pitching forum. I believe that Western Democracy is facing its biggest crisis around the issue of property and specifically intellectual property. The poorest of our planet survive through sharing, smuggling, squatting, stealing and hospitality. Their survival depends on gift-economies and cannot be sustained through the laws of the ownership society. New technologies offer a potential for new ways of production and distribution of knowledge and culture through archiving 3, file-sharing4 and time-shifting systems5. Nevertheless, existing corporate interests are using their political powers to protect an old business model that is under pressure from these new technologies, and that is propped up by electronic patents 6 and digital rights management. The Western economic model is unsustainable; there cannot be endless growth, endless profit, endless expansion. In order to sustain itself the ownership society needs to expand into new areas and is now colonising our common intellectual and cultural heritage. However this raises serious ethical issues: why would a poor HIV/AIDS patient have to pay for patents in order to receive medication? This colonisation of knowledge is threatening the very idea of Democracy. How can a democratic debate take place if knowledge is restricted to a small group of engineers and corporate interests? True democracy is based on free, informed debate, and supported by cultural exchange, diversity and education. In order for a democratic system to function knowledge has to be free. Therefore we have to move from the ownership society to a gift economy 7, from copyright to hospitality. Godard once said “Let’s not make a film about politics, let’s make a film politically”. Isn’t it time to look for new ways of production and distribution and, when it comes to the Democracy Project wouldn’t it be a brave act and at the same time a significant statement to allow for open online distribution of all material produced under its name? To copyleft 8 all films and media content and make it freely available for everybody to view, remix and redistribute? Adnan Hadzi
editopen manifesto
from editopen.co.uk
Editopen is a system. It is a system by which we can create. The freedom of film-making practice that editopen; as a system, provides, makes it wholly more creative.
The liberty that is the basis of the system is what will make films created here a success. The ability to freely edit sequences and re-submit them; surrounded by an atmosphere of discussion, both about the sequences themselves, and the concept of creating film/video in this way, will create a success. However, success of the system or the films themselves is debatable – but only the practice of working this way will prove either argument.
The infrastructure that is available is a great thing, as it allows all created work to be constantly that – ‘work’. By looking at film/video sequences in this way we can constantly review how the video & the system play of each other. Seeing the effects they have on each other is vital for both the success of editopen as a working concept of creative practice and the film/video it creates.
Again, infrastructure is a key term – by allowing editopen to create works, we allow the works to be created by editopen. It gives us total freedom in any end products that might arise from using this system of creation.
Editopen is termed as ‘Open Source’. We chose this because we believe it to be true of the project. Not only can the 3min sequences be seen as source code that is distributed freely for re-use and re-edit – but it is also, we believe, a genuine attempt to field the concept of open source software into another arena – that of contemporary creative practice.
Allowing for a total re-use and re-edit of these sequences perhaps leans more to the concept of ‘Open Sequence’ or ‘Open Video’ – but looking at the project as a whole, ‘Open Source’ is certainly more poignant. We do, however, leave this up to discussion.
Each sequence, that is both the initial un-edited sequence, and the final edited sequence are licensed under the [[Creative Commons License]]. All users are reminded of this before they participate in any projects with editopen.co.uk