Author: admin-man

Are you seeing any bright ideas coming from out the last five years?

There’s some interesting activity around using the web browser as an environment for learning and making music. To me this is exciting because I think the developmental potential of music making should be available to everyone, and the web is available to more people than any single other computing platform. We (Ableton) have done some experiments in that space and the feedback has been very encouraging.

What’s the most interesting topic you’re thinking about this week?

This week, I’ve been in a workshop with the Ableton colleagues who are designing our virtual instruments and effects. We’re working out some principles to guide this work and encounter deep questions: because so many people use our tools, they influence the music that’s being made. How should we responsibly deal with this fact?

What were the most inspiring and the most disappointing moment in your career?

One of the most inspiring moments was to witness our products being used in a classroom. It was fascinating to see how this group of teenagers, with very little formal or technical training, was able to come up with music that they took pride in, in very short time. The excitement in the room was contagious. The most disappointing moments of my career? We have failed on some projects…including big projects. Very painful. Luckily, these failures didn’t affect anyone outside the company!

Gerhard Behles is the CEO and co-founder of Ableton, the pioneering company which makes products for music makers to create, produce and perform music.
On September 16 at Reworks Agora 2018, he is going to share with us his own experience in the making of some the most influential softwares in electronic music production.

Are you seeing any bright ideas coming from out the last five years?

I think that the blockchains are one of the most exciting technologies that have taken importance in the last five years. These technologies can be both used for good or evil, but the possibility that they offer to decentralize the internet (or at least some sectors and platforms) is good news. The music streaming platform Resonate, the decentralized journalism project Civil, or cultural oriented projects like SeaNaps are interesting, exciting and fun to follow and see how they develop and inspire newer ones.

What’s the most interesting topic you’re thinking about this week?

This week I’ve been thinking (and working) about pirate radio, and the hybrids that exist between online radio and traditional FM, SW and AM radio. Traditional radio seems condemned to disappearance in a few years, but technologies are as exciting when they appear as when they start to fade out or mutate into other things.

What were the most inspiring moment in your career?

Cultural changemakers go to festivals and they organize festivals. Festivals are the place to meet kindred spirits, for music, for ideas, for politics, for arts. They are the place to share cultural values and disseminate new ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem.

Antonia Folguera is Content Curator at Sonar+D and will moderate the panel discussion “Music Festivals: voice amplifiers that unite us” at Reworks Agora 2018.

Are you seeing any bright ideas coming from out the last five years?

I think the most exciting thing to have happened recently in technology is the range of voices from *outside* technology, particularly from the social sciences, who are getting involved in imagining, and critiquing the future of technology. In particularly, the new field of ‘Fairness, Accountability and Transparency’ in Machine Learning (https://fatconference.org/2019/cfp.html) and the work of communities such as ‘Theorizing the Web’ (http://theorizingtheweb.org/ttw18/) who are bringing all sorts of useful perspectives from other fields which challenge the received wisdom of the tech industry and help us develop technology and futures which are more focused on real human needs.

What’s the most interesting topic you’re thinking about this week?

The role of public organisations in making the Web a better place – we’ve been working on this for quite a while and have just published some detail on our work, which seems to have struck a chord with others outside thei organisation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/public-service-internet

What were the most inspiring moment in your career?

It’s so difficult to pick one, but presenting our work on making music with smart speakers at Sónar festival (https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2018-06-singing-with-machines) was definitely a highlight – it was a real privilege to be able to present our work alongside so many incredible artists and musicians whose work I love. Closer to home, I’m inspired on a daily basis by the trainees I supervise as part of our graduate scheme (https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes-and-apprenticeships/technology/research-technologists) – without exception they’re extraordinary people who teach me so many new skills and perspectives even while I’m meant to be teaching them!

Tim Cowlishaw is a Project Technologist / Senior Software engineer in the IRFS (Internet Research & Future Services) Experiences team at BBC. Through a presentation of the previous work and methods, Tim Cowlishaw will outline the ways in which creativity, diversity and general weirdness can be used to imagine and build just, inclusive, and fun future technologies.

September 16th at Reworks Agora.

Are you seeing any bright ideas coming from out the last five years?  

Technology moves extremely quickly. Practical augmented reality, real-time language translation; artificial intelligence in mobile apps, deep learning-based predictive analytics, 3D-printed things, cryptocurrencies. All these ideas are bright and created a new universe of possibilities. However, it is necessary to move from bright ideas to right ideas. To apply them to generate as much social good as possible. It is a new social responsibility.

What’s the most interesting topic you’re thinking about this week?

How artificial intelligence (AI) and collective intelligence (CI) can complement one to each other. AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. From chess-playing computers to self-driving cars. Direct democracy may have seemed nearly impossible for a variety of reasons. But some tech innovation labs start to suggest that suggests countries could use predictive algorithms to learn individuals’ patterns of behavior and vote on their behalf, thereby creating legislation through direct democracy. The speakers and voice assistants like Alexa could soon intervene crucial city services like animal control and garbage disposal, but also to reduce bureaucracy and give citizens a way to voice opinions. CI is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration of many individuals. CI is the capacity of groups of people to understand things and make correct decisions together. Open all law and policymaking process to CI, well designed, can improve the quality of the resulting laws and policies. AI is powerful but CI is even more powerful. Thus, CI and AI may work together in order to produce better and more legitimate results.

Will the advancement of blockchain technology disrupt and strengthen democracy in the future? And how?

Blockchain offers the opportunity to securely record transfers of any type of asset and this has a lot of possible applications that can strengthen democracy. For example, it allows us to capture securely and permanently fundamental assets for democracy like identity or votes. It also allows us to build trust through mass collaboration leaving aside powerful intermediaries like governments and banks. However, technology is a powerful resource but it cannot achieve alone the change we need. Like Don Tapscott said, “The future is not something to be predicted, it’s something to be achieved.” We need to reinvent the way we govern for a new era of trust, legitimacy and efficiency.

Dr. Alsina is a Democracy Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. At Reworks Agora 2018, she will speak to us about how new technology offers the opportunity for public institutions to learn from our collective wisdom, reviewing good practices from around the world: from e-consultation platforms and open innovation initiatives to cryptocurrencies. Redesigning our governing practices to solve the complex policy challenges of the 21st century (and to repair the social contract!) urgently demands creating a two-way conversation between government and the governed. Let’s talk about it!

Τhis panel will showcase the voices and activism of creatives from Thessaloniki, who prefer to reply to issues with actions. From these local personas, we will learn what activists like them are doing to challenge big problems, their inspiring solutions and how we can help activism moving forward and engage new young audiences take the lead in the future.

Speakers
GIORGOS MAVRIDIS – Tattoo Artist / TV Host
GIORGOS TOULAS – Journalist / Publisher of Parallaxi Magazine
NIKOS KALLIGAS – Urban Planner / Civil Engineer

Συντονίστρια:
ARGYRO BARATA 

Click here to see the full schedule and speakers of Reworks Agora 2018.

LABattoir project in collaboration with Reworks Agora and THEMA, invites you to the workshop Μusic production & Ableton Live and Push workshop with AND.ID
AND.ID, an experienced Ableton user will show how to make music with Live and Push by using the computer as an instrument.
He will go through the basics of electronic music production as well as demoing different features of the software.
– Presentation of Live basic features
– Capturing ideas, Recording instruments (trumpet) & sounds (voice, ambience) and manipulating audio in Live
– Creative workflow, Song built up using Live’s instruments, midi, drum racks.
– Advance features – Using effects & mixing in Live
– Live performance using Ableton Live

About Ableton:
Ableton makes products for music makers to create, produce and perform music. These include Live, a software that combines traditional studio technologies with the freedom of working without a timeline; Push, a hardware instrument for hands-on playing and composing with Live; and Link, a technology that allows multiple devices to play in time together over a wireless connection.
Ableton was founded in 1999 by musicians in need of new creative tools. The first version of Live was released in 2001. The company is led by its founders from its headquarters in Berlin, and has additional offices in Los Angeles and Tokyo. About 300 people work at Ableton across the world. www.ableton.com

WORKSHOP MODERATOR
After attending a multitude of jazz concerts and finding himself absorbed in his father’s large record collection, Thessaloniki-bred AND.ID started producing his first batch of tunes and his debut EP was released in 2003 on Thinner Records, followed by a string of 12“s and EPs Ware records. AND.ID hit his stride in 2008, when he released his debut for Berlin’s Mobilee imprint, followed by a bunch of critically acclaimed releases. Besides that, he gathered quite a reputation on the road, putting on performances based on spontaneity, live brass action, and a high level of interaction with the audience, which landed him guest spots at international festivals such as Sónar, Nuits Sonores, or Synch and Reworks, as well as making him an in-demand remixer. More about his work can be found here:
www.discogs.com/artist/128161-AndId
soundcloud.com/and-id
www.facebook.com/And.idOfficial

PRACTICAL INFO

Date & Time: Thursday 13/09, 18:00-20:00
The participation in the workshop is free of charge.
The number of participants is limited.
Ableton will give merchandise to the participants of the workshop.

You can apply through the following link until 07/09.
www.labattoir.org/current-open-calls

CO-ORGANISED BY:
LABattoir // Reworks Agora // THEMA