Of old the structure of human societies is by large the result of the
communication systems and the information carriers they dispose of.
Their nature determines the way people interact and come to an
understanding of themselves and their environment. Notwithstanding
the introduction of new information carriers during the last century
and the recent breakthrough of ICT, the lay out of the world remains
strongly indebted to the former media revolution : the introduction of
the written word.
The big achievement of the literate revolution has been that through
the mental activity of writing and reading man succeeded to overcome
the contingencies of space and time ubiquity -, whereas communication
techniques that addressed the senses more directly remained dependent
on the physical presence of the transmitter and the receiver. In our
tradition, classical Greece marked the momentum in which space was
reconstructed to be in compliance with the message of the literate
revolution. It provided the west with a new epistemology, ethics and
aesthetics, and a paedeia to make people receptive to the demands and
novelties of literate society.
The literate revolution had as an effect, that in order to achieve
ubiquity, sensorial impressions had to be conveyed through writing and
reading, and that the body as a recipient of knowledge and information
came to be depreciated cf. the pervading iconoclasm in literate
cultures and the prohibition to signify the body with tattoos, paint
and incisions.
In view of the development of novel communication techniques and
information carriers : photography, the telephone, the gramophone and
with regard to the multimedia assets of ICT, the classical
intellectual apparatus and the way human space has been constructed
ever since becomes evermore obsolete. In the intelligent environment
which is under construction, now, people are already in a position to
experience sounds, images and to get tactile impressions without a
literate detour. Moreover, since intelligence is expanding to the
physical world, human space will increasingly start responding to the
electronic tattoos people wear.
Very much attached to literate standards, formal education and high
culture have been late to convey the significant changes that occurred
in the field of communication and knowledge distribution. Ever since
the late nineteenth century, innovative techniques in this field have
been the hallmark of low culture and to some extend of non formal
education. To make the public receptive to the changes of the
electronic society, and as a precondition for the computer to
disappear, education and culture will have to play a crucial role in
the re-mapping and reconstruction of human space, very much in its
mental and physical aspects.
In this workshop three fields of research and good educational and
cultural practices will have special attention:
The workshop will be multidisciplinary.
Besides the input of computer scientists, significant practical and
theoretical input from a wide variety of disciplines: education,
philosophy, architecture, the arts, etc. will be welcomed. Since the
overall scheme of the Spring Days is The Disappearing Computer, the
conditions of acceptance for this workshop will depend on how far the
input will enable educators and cultural workers to imbed the computer
in everyday life practices.
Workshop papers and participation from members in the greater i3
community as well as from outside this community are encouraged and
very welcome.