October 17+18, 2010
Cambridge, MA USA

Come to an invitation-only extended two day conversation with an exciting mix of architects, writers, engineers, artists, performers, sociologists, game designers and thinkers!

Much ink has been spilled over the changing nature of space and place, the role of networked communities and the necessity of interaction between the physical and the virtual. Despite this, professional practices remain somewhat separate. Architects design physical spaces, software engineers design virtual spaces, communities of users form in these spaces over time and historians and sociologists reflect on them. Government manages (or attempts to man- age) such constructs, and all of us inhabit, traverse and occupy these spaces, often several at once, in our daily lives and work. Isn’t it time we had a conversation?

Questions for thought: Are places the same thing as contexts? How do you draw a map of the internet? How do you occupy virtual space? Can you visit a file? Does architecture matter anymore? Is there such a thing as “site-specif- ic?” Can artistic practice influence software design? What can history tell us about how people occupy space? Does our engagement in online communities strengthen or intrude on our “real” relationships? Where is the line between public and private? Do social networking terms of service impact the way we form communities? Do GPS enabled devices change the way we experience our environment? Does geotagging encourage or confound civic engagement? Do alternate reality games engage us in or distract us from our physical surroundings? What does it mean to “be” somewhere?