[NetBehaviour] You are invited to Knowledgelab 4

[marc]

*You are invited* *to Knowledgelab 4*, a weekend-long open gathering for 
those who want to think, talk and explore. The topic this time round is 
'How do we know?', which will be investigated through practical 
workshops and discussions. It will be held over the weekend of 16th - 
18th February at Nottingham University.
*

What is Knowledgelab?

*

Knowledgelab tries to situate itself at the boundary between the 
University and the activist network. It is a chance for us to escape the 
confines of the institution, to resist its exclusivity and to challenge 
the hierarchical nature of a typical conference/lecture type situation. 
With these objectives in mind the organisation of the event is left up 
to (as much as possible) the participants.

*

'How do we know?'

*

Saturday 17th will be split up into themed 'streams', each a set of 
workshops continuing throughout the day, which will run in parallel to 
one another. This time round we would like to open up a forum for 
discussion and practical investigation around the subject of knowledge 
itself. 'How do we know?' is the question. We hope to see workshops 
which address this question from all angles. Here are some ideas as to 
the areas of discussion which we envisage:

Media control & alternative media

Epistemology – the philosophical investigation into what 'knowledge' is 
and the mechanisms within which it operates

Facilitation – how can we share knowledge most effectively – practical 
experiments – consensus meetings etc

Human behaviour – how does knowledge and life experience affect behaviour

Knowledge in the political sphere

Ownership of knowledge – eg patents, copyright, copyleft etc

Inner knowledge, or knowledge of oneself

Internet – the world wide brain - how does this affect our learning 
patterns?

The climate change 'debate' – how is knowledge dealt with in this realm? 
– Studying the current surge in common consciousness of the situation – 
how can we best argue for sensible reactions to climate change? – 
debrief from the camp for climate action in September

Creativity – how do we optimise creative potential?

Anti-authoritarian struggles – what prospects are there for 
disseminating subversive knowledge? How can we optimise these?

Knowledge/dissemination of radical ideas in the arts - Interactive 
session on radical music – bring your favourite music to discuss its 
political influences and effects. – links between raising consciousness 
and art.

*

Thinking for Solutions

*
The unique human ability to acquire, manipulate and utilise 
thoughts/facts/observations/knowledge affords us great power. Where is 
it misused? How can this be rectified? We hope that Knowledgelab will 
not only be a talk-shop but will serve as a catalyst for people to 
devise positive, tangible solutions. Thinking means nothing without 
action and an emphasis on finding practical solutions will hopefully 
permeate the event. To this end there will be a few practical activities 
on the Sunday which people who are interested can get involved in. A 
wind-turbine building workshop will be run by V ^3 power, a local group 
of wind turbine enthusiasts and there will be a visit to a local 
community organic gardening project called Ecoworks. On the Saturday we 
are also planning a 'Hacklab' stream - pop in and learn about Wikis, 
free software and net-based activism.
*

Get involved

*

In order to produce a varied and interesting programme we are still 
looking for people to 'adopt' workshops. Adopting a workshop can mean 
anything from giving a presentation to teaching people a new skill to 
simply addressing a question or issue which you would be interested to 
begin a discussion around. The emphasis is on non-hierarchical 
participation and open discourse but once a workshop is adopted it is up 
to the foster(s) to work out how it will proceed.

If you would like to adopt a workshop, or just suggest a topic which you 
would be interested to pursue, then please let us know prior to the 
event (before the 8 ^th February as a guide). This will allow us to draw 
up a time-table for the day and to circulate any readings or other 
material which you would like people to see before they come to 
Knowledgelab. We also need people to offer their help if they have 
experience of facilitation in consensus style meetings. (There will be 
workshops which concentrate on meeting styles and practical facilitation 
training for anyone who is interested.)

*

Practicalities

*

Knowledgelab will be held at the Portland Building on Nottingham 
University Campus. Registration will start at 9am on Saturday 17th and 
an introductory session will begin a 10am so those planning to travel 
would be advised to get to Nottingham on Friday night. If you need 
accommodation for either the Friday or Saturday night, or both, please 
get in touch as soon as you can so that we can arrange for enough space 
to be available. Bring a sleeping bag.

Food, provided by veggies, our local vegan catering company, will be 
available for all participants on Saturday and Sunday. If you are 
arriving on Friday evening we can also arrange dinner. The venue is 
fully wheelchair friendly. If you are interested but need to look after 
children please get in touch before coming. We will be able to set up a 
kids programme if there is enough interest.

Food and logistics will be our main expense and we would ask that people 
donate in the region of £20 waged and £5 unwaged for participation in 
the event. Hopefully this will cover expenses. We will update people on 
the progress of the financial situation on the day. There is no funding 
coming in for this event so we regretfully cannot offer to help people 
out with travel expenses. We'll be more organised next time!


Please contact Rhiannon at _rhiannonfirth at gmail.com_ 
<mailto:rhiannonfirth at gmail.com> or Matt on _mrmattypants at gmail.com _ 
<mailto:mrmattypants at gmail.com> for more information, to book a place at 
Knowledgelab or to adopt a workshop. You can also ring Matt on 07962 428 
333. The timetable of workshops will be circulated at a time closer to 
the event.

For more info on Knowledgelab go to _www.knowledgelab.org.uk_ 
<http://www.knowledgelab.org.uk/>.