The attendees demographic included a good mix of techies, innovators and social media folk.For more information about the winners projects go to the Catalyst awards winners page.
Contact a family has recently opened up a new virtual drop in centre within second life.
Contact a Family is a government funded initiative. They have embraced the platform and created a digital office for the parents of disabled children. The office opening times are 10am-4pm, Monday to Friday. However resources and information can be accessed out of hours. It allows parents of disabled children who are often homebound to meet and interact in real time through their avatars.
Contact a family have embraced the full social media spectrum with accounts and applications on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Youtube, Twitter and its own network, makingcontact.org.
The continual humanitarian struggle within Burma has been well publicised over the last few months.
However I thought it would be a good idea to highlight a number of recent events within the country that specifically relate to sharing information within the digital sphere.
Author and blogger Nay Phone Latt who has been in custody for six months has had the charges held against him changed from the crimes against ‘the video act’ to the ‘Emergency Provisions Act’. The hearing was due to be held this week and he now faces a maximum of 7 years in prison. Latts lawer claims that the Burmese law enforcement agencies “do not respect and abide by the law” as they “change their charge sheet again and again”. Meanwhile Latt’s eye condition continues to deteriorate and his mother fears that her son is slowly going blind due to the nonexistent medical treatment.
Meanwhile the famous on/offline human rights activist (and previous heart patient) Suu Suu New received a head blow whilst arguing with prison authorities in late June. She is currently suffering from high blood pressure as she sits in solitary confinement. Medicine has been sent to her however there has been no confirmation from the authorities or Suu Suu that they have reached her.
(Informaiton via Mizzima News)
The key topics revolved around the issues, roles and responsibilities that artists, activists and those within the media can and should embrace. The basic concept of the event allowed members of the auditorium to interact with the event only when sat on the large table in the centre of the room.
The events concept was conceived by Lois Weaver one of the founders of This is Live Art. The event explored the relationship surrounding art and theatre poverty from a number of angels and perspectives. These ranged from heartfelt personal experiences to wishy washy statements and points of view. The diversity within the crowd allowed for an interesting debate however there seemed to be a divide between those who wanted to make beautiful and interesting theatre and those who thought more pragmatically about how theatre and art can be used in order to evoke change. This divide seemed to stop the debate progressing and the conversation occasionally went stale in anticipation for a new subject matter or a controversial statement.
At one point I was gunned down by a theatrical purist seconds after suggesting the use of YouTube as a tool that the arts may wish to embrace in today’s video enriched society. Anyhow overall it was an interesting event with some interesting areas to take influence from.
