Hi LAUsers, although not explicitely audio-related, this seminar could be interesting for those involved in related creative fields such as design. I am also particularly interested in the comments about design and usability in Free/Libre/Open Source software which will be addressed here. I am sure everyone here can think of their favorite Linux sound app which could use a dose of design and usability to make it even better. d. ----------------------------------------------- Freestyle - FLOSS In Design A seminar on Free, Libre and Open Source Software in Design Time: 10.30-17.00 Date: Wednesday 19th May, 2004 Cost: 5euro, 2.50euro concessions Location: V2 Eendrachtstraat 10, Rotterdam Over the last few years ‘Free Libre and Open Source Software’ FLOSS, a form of collaborative software development has proven itself as a driving force of digital networks, especially the internet. Now this approach is beginning to open up new approaches in design and visual culture. This seminar will present clear information on this software and how it both challenges and provides new opportunities for media design. Art and design work using computers can often get stuck in the use of the same old tools. One thing that FLOSS does is to allow for new ideas to become software on a much faster timescale and with less reliance on conforming to a ‘mass’ market. Learning design increasingly means learning to use the applications of a smaller and smaller amount of companies. FLOSS offers one possibility for escaping such a trap. At the same time FLOSS itself could do with a good dose of design. Born as it is through the energy and imagination of software developers, FLOSS can in some cases fall behind in meeting the needs of users who aren’t also programmers. On the one hand this creates an important demand for greater technical literacy amongst users, but it also means that interfaces to, for instance, cultural practices, need creating. The morning session will present an introduction to FLOSS software in design. The emphasis is on a realistic survey of the possibilities this way of working is opening up. The afternoon will present a number of case studies. Artists and designers using FLOSS software will show and talk about the tools they work with, the culture of use of the software. Software developers will present their projects and open them up to questions and debate. Confirmed speakers: Kit Blake – Silva, content management system, Rotterdam; http://www.infrae.com Erik Dooper - Open Source Software Lab, Amsterdam, will demo Scribus, SodiPodi and Inkscape. http://www.ossl.org/ Rishab Aiyer Ghosh - Economist and editor of FirstMonday, Maastricht; http://orbiten.org/rishab.html Graham Harwood - artist, London, speaking about The GIMP http://www.scotoma.org/ Jaromil - GNU/Linux developer, South Italy, currently resident at Montevideo, Amsterdam; Dynebolic, http://www.dyne.org/ Roger Teeuwen – Graphic Designer, Rotterdam Other speakers are to be confirmed. This seminar is jointly held by: Media Design Research, Piet Zwart Institute, the institute for postgraduate studies and research of the Willem de Kooning Academy Hogeschool Rotterdam http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/ Interactive Media, Hogeschool van Amsterdam V2_Organisation, Institute for the Unstable Media http://www.v2.nl/ -- derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl ---Oblique Strategy # 38: "Courage!"