Playful Cities. How Smart Tech Alters Urban Living.

Mai 3rd, 2010 • 1 comment Location
Tags: Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Ideas, Lifestyle, Location, People, Presentation, RP10, Trends, Underway, Urban, World

Two weeks ago I returned from one of Germany’s best digital conferences – re:publica 2010 in Berlin. One of the sessions I liked most dealt with Playful Cities. And it was hosted by two friends of mine. Johannes and Igor gave a great overview about some exciting location-based tools beyond Gowalla and Foursquare. Tools that make our cities more worth living. Check out the nice projects they listed here and follow their talk. And maybe they might even prepare a Playful Cities Conference later that year.

Re:publica 2010. Going NowHere Fast.

April 14th, 2010 • 6 comments Allgemein
Tags: Berlin, Re-publica 10, RP10, Underway, World

After returning from Berlin yesterday I was asked by my father if I had been to this blogger conference which he had seen in the news the day before.

‘Kind of’, daddy. Even though you’ll find a lot of bloggers there, Re-publica 2010 was again an event that focused on anything that influences us as citizens of this continent called internet. A good chance to step back and find a broader perspective. Well, and maybe to get to know some of your twitter friends live.

This year’s subtitle was ‘NowHere’. A term for the multiple facets of living real time – Now, Here and Nowhere. And Re-publica has grown big since it has started four years ago with 165 differerent events and more than 260 speakers, taking us though many many intellectual ups and downs from April 14-16 in Berlin.

It was the most disputatious Re-publica so far. No doubt, times are a changing and as we explore more and more of this continent, we, its inhabitants, got to one thing in the first place, an intense debate. Its key question – Is the glass half full or half empty?

• Privacy vs Public?
• Chance vs Threat?
• Playing vs Misuse?
• Transparency vs Exhibitionism

Position 1 is playful and concentrates on the chances of the web – maybe a little naive sometimes. Position 2 wants to defend the user from unethical and illegal mistreatment while the web supports him in his life. A not so very progressive position once in a while.

And we debated…we debated a lot.

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