Fun_People Archive
3 Oct
The Media Lab's shindig of the year?

Date: Tue, 3 Oct 95 00:56:12 -0700
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: The Media Lab's shindig of the year?

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               The MIT Media Lab invites the World to

                    10/10: A Day In The Life Of

                        C Y B E R S P A C E

                        http://www.1010.org
                           info@1010.org

SNAPSHOTS OF THE DIGITAL AGE =======================================

As part of the Media Lab's 10th Anniversary, we are assembling
snapshots of Cyberspace. We would like *you* to be part of the
first global portrait of human life in the digital age.  This site
will collect bits from October 1 through October 10. Results will
be published on the Web, in a subsequent book, and will become part
of a permanent archive.

Stop and think: five years ago, the internet for most people felt
like tin cans and string.  Two years ago the Web and Mosaic were
just beginning to be noticed.  Now, every day, something utterly
mindblowing turns up with a point and a click.  This is a pivotal
era, and a perfect time to ask the digital world to pause, and
ponder the implications of digital media on future world culture.

WANTED: DIGITAL PIONEERS ===========================================

We are searching for compelling stories about digital life. 


For example, we received an amazing message about how the Net is
being used to protect endangered mountain gorillas. As part of
NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, the space shuttle Endeavour made
radar scans of the gorillas' habitat near the Virunga volcano, in
central Africa. With handheld GPS satellite instruments, which
anti-poaching rangers have been trained to use in the field, daily
readings of gorilla movements and poacher activities are sent from
a portable ground station in the mountains to another satellite,
HealthSat II, and then over the Internet to the 3-D tracking system
based at Rutgers University.  There are only 650 mountain gorillas
left in the world, and this system is helping to save them.

What we need are *your* bits -- your stories, in text, sound, and
picture. How are global digital media affecting your life? Changing
the fabric of world society? Touching human interests? What might
the picture look like in 5 years? 50 years? Let us know, and quickly.

COUNT TO TEN =======================================================

During the days from 10/1 to 10/9 we focus on several themes:

 1 Privacy -- Anonymity, Security, Privacy & Trust in a Digital Society 

 2 Expression -- Digital Art, Entertainment & Community Creativity 

 3 Generations -- Kids & Childhood, Seniors, Life Stories and Family 

 4 Wealth -- Advertising, Barter, Commerce and Personalized Trade 

 5 Faith -- Religion and Politics and their Net Effects 

 6 Body -- Sex, Health, Your Body and Technology 

 7 Place -- Our Sense of Place in a Post-Digital World 

 8 Tongues -- Languages in the Global Village 

 9 Environment -- Coexistence and Coevolution of Natural and Virtual Worlds

For example, in "Generations" we'd like to hear from the youngest
kids on line, and connect them with the oldest senior citizens.
During the day on "Place" we'd like to collect images from every
netcam on earth, and bits from every country on earth with some
tie to the Net. Do you communicate with a friend in Antarctica or
Bosnia by e-mail? Did you find life-saving medecine in time, thanks
to the Net? Was your wedding online? Your newborn child?

10/10: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CYBERSPACE =============================

Then, on 10/10, live from the Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
teams of professional editors and World Wide Web hackers working
in "mission control" at MIT will collect, edit, and publish the
best of those bits on the net. Taken together, these bits will
create a mosaic of life at the dawn of the digital revolution that
is transforming our planet.

HOW TO DO IT =======================================================

1. Through the World Wide Web: http://www.1010.org
2. By e-mail, send specific remarks to:
      cyber@1010.org --- general reflections on digital life
      privacy@... --- comments regarding privacy, anonymity
      expression@... --- art, entertainment & community creativity 

      generations@... --- kids, seniors, life stories, family 

      wealth@... --- advertising, barter, commerce, personalized trade 

      faith@... --- religion and politics
      body@... --- sex, health, our bodies & technology
      place@... --- geography, telecommuting, mobility, virtual v. physical
      tongues@ --- languages and communications on line
      environment@... --- mixing of natural and digital worlds
3. For more information, mail to: info@1010.org
      

ABOUT YOUR BITS ====================================================

You are writing a community book.

Your input is being used to illuminate the stories of digital life.
Your bits will become part of a global, public, community event --
a canvas that we all paint together. The visualizations and time
capsules, as well as selected responses will be archived and may
be published by the MIT Media Lab or its agents in the future. Some
material will be selected, edited, and arranged for redisplay on
the Web on 10/10 and may appear in book form later.  You retain
all copyrights to your entries but by submitting them are granting
MIT a perpetual non-exclusive right, without cost, to use your
entries in all forms for purposes that will advance public
understanding of this event.

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© 1995 Peter Langston