Next 5 Minutes 3
Conference on Tactical Media
Amsterdam & Rotterdam, 12-14 March, 1999

http://www.dds.nl/~n5m

The third Next 5 Minutes, an Amsterdam based conference on tactical
communications culture, featuring DIY media, dissident art and
electronic media activists from around the world, will take place on the
12th, 13th and 14th of March 1999.

The term "tactical media" refers to a critical usage and
contextualisation of media practices that draw on all forms of old and
new media for achieving a variety of specific non-commercial goals and
pushing all kinds of potentially subversive political issues. The net as
a medium has by now been well established, both in discourse as well as
practice. N5M3 will move beyond the mere assertion of this new medium
and question what the wider social, cultural and political impact is of
the fact that virtually all media are now turning digital, and of the
new political and economic constellations that evolve around the new
(global) information and communication structures. The necessity of a
heterogeneous media culture does not end with digital convergence, on
the contrary; the homogenising forces of convergence show how important
it is to maintain disparate, varied and independent media practices that
make tactical usage of any kind of medium. This subject matter will be
taken on at two levels: a structural examination of empowering
strategies in the new informational environments which focuses on the
notion of "Tactical Networks," and a more intrinsic analysis which
concentrates on the idea of "Electronic Borders." The latter refers to
the fact that in the information societies, social, political and also
cultural divisions are increasingly drawn along the lines of electronic
media. In discussing this, we are also looking beyond the West,
highlighting the significance of different media in different political
and economic environments.

N5M3 is centered around four topics for discussion:

The Art of Campaigning

The "Art of Campaigning" focuses on the media strategies employed by
groups around the world who are fostering their social and political
aims via media campaigns. There are a number of examples of such
campaigns that use highly diverse strategies and types of media, like
the Clean Clothes Campaign, the Bandwidth campaign, the McLibel-case and
the Sans Papiers campaign. Campaigns like these and the specific media
strategies they employ will be an important topic for N5M3.

How Low Can You Go

In several conferences and campaigns, for instance in the Bandwidth
campaign, the economic and political structures of access were
investigated. Discussions and campaigns like these revealed how deeply
political the construction of technology is and how dramatic its effects
in terms of both social exclusion and inclusion. Therefore, instead of
merely focusing on the tactical possibilities of new digital media, new
movements for the specific promotion of low-tech, i.e. cheap,
established and accessible technology, will be presented, discussed and
developed at N5M3.

Tactical Education

Besides the formal learning institutions, education is happening all the
time in cultural and social contexts where people exchange ideas and
experiences in a concentrated way. Art, culture and social action in the
field of new media technologies contribute in an important way to
creating awareness about the powerful effects of media, and help to
raise media-literacy N5M3 wishes to explore new models of education that
can play a critical role in processes of social and political change.

The Post-Governmental Organisation

NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) have become important actors in
the arena of international and global politics, taking over tasks that
traditionally were the domain of nation states. As such, NGOs are part
of the re-definition of the role of national governments which combines
the advantage of greater international control of global issues like
human rights and the ecology, with the disadvantage of a decrease in
democratic accountability of some of the global actors. The debate about
such Post-Governmental Organisations deals with the double-edged nature
of this new form of governance, for which the tactical use of networking
technologies and other media has proven to be a powerful tool.
Concentrating on the opportunities and dangers of organising social,
cultural and political action beyond the politics of the nation state,
N5M3 will host a unique "PGO Contest," in which contributors will
present the most and the least effective strategies for achieving global
presence.

Structure of the Event

N5M3 will be a working conference, which will consist of a focused
public program surrounded by many smaller scale working sessions,
seminars and workshops. The focus of the event will be on exchange of
ideas, experience, working methods, and the construction of long-term
partnerships and network structures. A series of follow-up workshops
about tactical uses of satellite technology and other topics will be
held at V2_Organisation Rotterdam between the 15th and the 19th of March
1999.

For more information please contact: The Next 5 Minutes email:
n5m3@waag.org web: http://www.dds.nl/~n5m Society for Old and New Media
Nieuwmarkt 4, 1012 CR Amsterdam, The Netherlands Phone: +31-20-5579898,
fax +31-20-5579880