We invite you to participate at the 27th Chaos Communication Congress, focused on advancing the state of the art in hacking, making, and new perspectives on politics and privacy in the information age. Proposals of about 300 words for talks lasting either 30 or 45 minutes should be sent to our Pentabarf submission system by October 9, 2010. A notice of acceptance or decline will be sent out until November 9, 2010 by e-mail.

The Chaos Communication Congress is an annual meeting of the international hacker scene, organized by the Chaos Computer Club. The congress features a variety of lectures and workshops on technical and political issues. The theme and details of the 27th congress can be found here.

Submission deadline: Saturday, October 9, 2010.

TechCrunch is a blog company that profiles startup companies, products and websites. You can get up-to-date with the latest development in the Internet and social media industries from TechCrunch.

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Culture jamming, a tactic used by many consumer social movements, is a mechanism in which an activist attempts to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions or corporate advertising. Culture jamming is often seen as a form of subvertising.

Many culture jams are simply aimed at exposing questionable political assumptions behind commercial culture so that people can momentarily consider the branded environment in which they live.

Culture jams re-figure logos, fashion statements, and product images to challenge the idea of “what’s cool,” along with assumptions about the personal freedoms of consumption.

Culture jamming is usually employed in opposition to a perceived appropriation of public space, or as a reaction against social conformity.

Culture jamming sometimes entails transforming mass media to produce ironic or satirical commentary about itself, using the original medium’s communication method.

Adbusters is a popular magazine/website on culture jamming.

Universal design refers to a broad-spectrum solution that produces buildings, products and environments that are usable and effective for everyone, not just people with disabilities.

It emerged from “barrier-free” or “accessible design” and “assistive technology” and recognizes the importance of how things look. For example, while built up handles are a way to make utensils more usable for people with gripping limitations, some companies introduced larger, easy to grip and attractive handles as feature of mass produced utensils. They appeal to a wide range of consumers.

In the Web context, W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) works with organizations around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities. BBC’s Future Media Standard & Guidelines also provide comprehensive guidelines to accessibility (designed for their websites, but applicable to yours as well).

Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University outlines the principles of universal design, these principles are broader than those of accessible design:

The authors, a working group of architects, product designers, engineers and environmental design researchers, collaborated to establish the following Principles of Universal Design to guide a wide range of design disciplines including environments, products, and communications.

1. Equitable use
2. Flexibility in use
3. Simple and |intuitive
4. Perceptible information
5. Tolerance for error
6. Low physical effort
7. Size and space for approach and use

Paper Tiger has been creating fun, funky, hard-hitting, investigative, compelling and truly alternative media since 1981! The programs produced at PTTV have inspired media-savvy community productions and activism around the world. Our archive includes shows that provide critical analysis of media, educate about the communications industry and highlight issues that are absent from mainstream information sources. Through the distribution of our short documentary programs, media literacy/video production workshops, community screenings and grassroots advocacy, PTTV works to expose and challenge the corporate control of media. Because of the bias and misrepresentation of issues in mainstream media it is critical to include diverse perspectives in the process of making media. PTTV strives to increase awareness of how media can be used to affect social change. A public that can strategically and creatively use the media is necessary for a more equitable and healthy democracy.

Television is still a popular ‘one-way’ medium in many areas of Mekong sub-region. With being a ‘local media,’ a community television could possibly narrowing the distance between audiences and producers, and made it possible for audiences to be producer themselves, speaking what matters to their lives.

“The rationale for public access television was that the airwaves belong to the people, that in a democratic society it is useful to multiply public participation in political discussion, and that mainstream television severely limited the range of views and opinion. Public access television, then, would open television to the public, it would make possible community participation, and thus would be in the public interest of strengthening democracy.”

Television in read/write, do-it-yourself culture. Audiences are no longer just audience, they are now also able to be producer. Public access, community access television allows community to speak for themselves, by themselves.

Several definitions of public-access tv from: Wikipedia, Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Examples of public-access tv: worldwide links to 700 community & public access television sites.

The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice in the Champaign County area. We foster the creation and distribution of media, art, and narratives emphasizing underrepresented voices and perspectives and promote empowerment and expression through media and arts education.

The IMC building, converted from old local post office, also provides space for art exhibition, performance, community meeting, activism, and etc. It also has a library, theater, art studio, and recording studio for the use of community.

The idea is probably a ‘expanded community center’. A place and space. Physical and media. Bring people together, communicate to each other, and take action.

“What’s missing is a bit of communication between the two, more communications between hackers and journalists.”

“Exciting Tales of Journalists Getting Spied on, Arrested and Deported: How their own data was taken and used against them”, – a very interesting and exciting talk from 26C3 (26th Chaos Communication Congress) by Bicyclemark.

Continue another four parts: -2- -3- -4- -5-. More info of the talk & downloads.

A week after, Mark wrote a piece published in The Guardian newspaper, titled “Hackers of the world unite”, again, a good read on hackers movement, of people who wants to change the world with their own hands. DIY rules.

“We like journalism. We need journalism. Be we hackers. Be we farmers. We need good journalism. We have a certain amount of knowledge about security. They have a certain amount of knowledge of the world.”

“If these two things could come together, we could get more probably of both, but we can definitely get better quality journalism, more journalism, and a better future. So, go out and be friend with journalists. Go.”

(Thanks. Now go forth… and don’t let your laptop get shot.)