[csaa-forum] Vibewire.net and SOOB present the Virtual Think Tank, on now!

[Tom Dawkins]

>From the 18th to the 23rd of November, 2004, Straight out of Brisbane 
and Vibewire will present The Virtual Think-tank at 
www.vibewire.net/soobideas. 

The virtual think-tank is an experiment in online ideas generation. 
Starting on Thursday the 18th November, the virtual think-tank will 
open with three forums, each featuring special guests posting their 
ideas, responding to each others' comments, and answering questions 
by users. The forums will then remain open to general discussion 
amongst all users for six days. At the end of this time, the best 
comments and ideas will be edited into a publication that will be 
distributed free at the SOOB Ideas Program. Your comments and ideas 
will go from post to print in just over a week. The forums are: 


"You can't govern a nation by Google" The future of ideas online 

How will new technologies affect the way we produce and distribute 
ideas? In the 90s the rise of email & indymedia paved the way for 
campaigns without consensus (like the anti-globalisation movement), 
and conferences without conclusions (like the world social forum). 
What will new web applications, P2P programs, & the rise of peer-
edited websites bring? How might universities, NGOs, activists and 
think-tanks react? 

With Tim Parish, John Sutton, Damien Lewis, Sam da Silva, and Alex 
Burns 


Copywrite/Copywrong 

Culture is a dynamic, evolving organism that should be freely 
interpreted and reconfigured. How do exclusive rights on creativity 
effect the development of art and science? Has copyright become an 
instrument for censorship? This session will look at how ancient 
knowledge & new ideas get fenced-off, injected with growth hormones, 
& sold to the highest bidder. Our 'speakers' will introduce the 
latest tactics for rescuing the warm & fluffy creatures of 
intellectual capital. The big question: can you keep your 
intellectual property rights & share them too? 

With James Arvanitakis, Sarah-Jane Woulahan, Tim Parish, and Elliott 
Bledsoe 


What's on the cards? Long term agendas for change 

With a royal flush of Liberals in both houses, Australian laws will 
be changing faster than you can say "fold". Who has plans to change 
Australia over the next three years and beyond? How are they going to 
make it happen? How do political parties and lobby groups plan for 
the future? How can we look over the shoulders of the men who are 
holding all the cards - or even start dealing a few decks of our own? 
Is it time for the rest of us to start coming up with our own twenty-
year plans? 

With Mark Davis, James Arvanitakis, Graham Young, and Hamish Alcorn 


Straight out of Brisbane (SOOB) is a festival of emerging arts and 
culture, happening in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane from the 2nd-12th 
December. The SOOB Ideas program will explore issues emerging from 
Australia's intellectual undergrowth, drawing on the energies of 
independent thinkers who don't mind getting their hands (and minds) 
dirty putting great ideas into action. You can check out the full 
ideas program at 
http://www.straightoutofbrisbane.com/ideas/page_ideas_draftprogram.html