Experience & Learning

Cybersalon will be beginning its new series of monthly events entitled Digital London Then & Now in January 2013. These events will launch the New Media Memory project which is dedicated to archiving and analysing the development of Net culture in the city over the past two decades. Due to the constant improvements in hardware and software, many of the digital artefacts which have shaped today's new media scene have not just been forgotten, but are no longer even accessible. Cybersalon's 2013 events will revisit the recent past to inspire contemporary designers, entrepreneurs, techies, academics and activists to build a better and smarter future.

Cybersalon's goal is to create an active network of people interested in the project and to develop a process for crowd-sourcing of the assets for a New Media Memory archive.

The Digital London Then & Now events will raise awareness of the New Media Memory project, develop a taxonomy for collating material and form alliances with academic institutions for the long-term maintenance of the completed archive.

Cybersalon events will take place on the last Wednesday of each month from January to July 2013 at The Arts Catalyst in Clerkenwell. The evening will consist of guest speakers followed by a discussion along with exhibits, presentations and performances. The provisional programme is:

29 May - Digital Storytelling

Sleeping with the enemy, can interactivity and stories get along?

How do brands create meaning in an interactive world?
How can multiple authors create a compelling story?

Nik and Tom Roope, leaders in interactive storytelling for brands, will look back at their story of interactivity over the last 20 years from Antirom and Tomato Interactive to Poke and the Rumpus Room.  They’ll also share their insights on what consumers are really looking for through digital media, and how best to give it to them.

Can interactivity tell a good tale? How do we tell online stories that speak to the human condition?

“I’ve always said every time we try and combine games and stories to make something new – an adventure game or interactive cinema – it doesn’t work. But I’ve secretly hoped to be proven wrong…”
- Andy Cameron (co-founder of Antirom, Creative Director of Benetton’s Fabrica Lab and Weiden + Kennedy)

Come along for a lively debate on the future of story-telling!

Bring your boxing gloves!

The narrative is dead! Long live the narrative!

Speakers

Tom Roope- co-founder Antirom/ co-founder and Creative Director, The Rumpus Room

Nik Roope- co-founder Antirom/ co-founder and Creative Director, Poke

Nicolas is an artist, and one of his materials of choice is interactive media and the communities and businesses that drive it. A lot of this interest is expressed through Poke, a vibrant, rigorous creative company that believes in the power of creativity as a force for unlocking and creating value. Poke are highly acclaimed by creative peers in the field and also by long standing clients who repeatedly witness the results of their deep, honest approach.

Nicolas was included in The Wired 100 and Adage Creative 50 lists in 2011 and inducted into the BIMA Digital Hall of Fame in 2012.

Chair: Niki Gomez (Cybersalon)

Niki is an independent digital strategist, co-founder of Cybersalon and an MIT graduate. Andy Cameron and the members of antirom were her inspiration to enter the field of digital media, discovering them whilst working at the Cybertheatre, an early experimental net cafe in Brussels.

For more see: http://www.cybersalon.org/

26 June - Mobile Culture

Sophia Drakopoulou (Middlesex)
Dr Yanna Vogiazou (Nokia, T-Mobile)
David Plans (Middlesex)
Mobile telephony from text-me to tag me.

Cybersalon will restart in autumn 2013 with events on wearable computing; innovative technology; creative cities; and digital music. The Digital London Then & Now series will culminate in a conference on the archiving of new media cultural artefacts at a major London academic institution.