CPDP 2011 Conference Side Events

• Tuesday January 25th 2011
• Wednesday January 26th 2011
• Thursday January 27th 2011
• Friday January 28th 2011

Tuesday January 25th 2011

1.4. Evening Events Tuesday January 25th 2011
 

18.00 Sponsored drink and book launch of ‘Check in/check out. The public space as an Internet of Things’, Christian van ‘t Hof, by the RATHENAU INSTITUUT

• 18.15 opening prof Frams Brom, Head of Technology Assessment at the Rathenau Institute
• 18.20 Presentation “Check in / check out” Christian van ’t Hof, senior Researcher Rathenau Institute and autor of the book
• 18.35 First copy will be received by Gerald Santucci, Head of Unit Enterprise Networking and RFID, European Commission
• 18.50 Responses from expert panel
• 19.15 close

In public space we are increasingly surrounded by digital devices. Cameras guard over our safety, antennas and sensors keep track of our driving speed, and digital wicket gates determine whether or not we gain access to the train station. Provided with an ever growing arsenal of identification numbers in ID cards, mobile phones and vehicles, we prove who we are, that we have a right to be there, and that we paid for it.

This digitalisation of the public space marks a new phase in the Information Society: the rise of an internet of things. What will this new phase mean for us as users of the public space? Are these technologies liberating our live or restricting our privacy? An example is real time information plotted on maps. Now we exactly know where our friends hang out. Does this extra dimension just provide you with more options or do you rather feel the need to be left alone? Who are actually behind the network of digital devices and why do they want to look at us and judge us?

The authors of Check In / Check Out tackle these questions and deliver a set of design principles for the future. They map digitalisation with case studies from Japan, China, US and Europe, with a focus on the Netherlands – a country which turns out to take up the digitalisation in its own particular way.

Christian van ‘t Hof, Rinie van Est and Floortje Daemen (eds.) (2011) ‘Check in / Check out. The Public Space as an Internet of Things.’ Rathenau Institute and NAi Publishers

20.00 Public debate on surveillance in Flanders and Netherlands (in Dutch)
at Beursschouwburg, August Ortsstreet 20-28, 1000 Brussels

Co-organised by deBuren and VUB

Are we living in a control society in which Big Brother watches us continuously? Should we resist the upcoming surveillance society before it’s too late or is it a necessary evil to protect our security? Is it necessary to give up more and more freedoms (such as privacy and non-discrimination) to protect us from criminals and terrorist or are there alternative ways, which protect both our freedoms and our security?

During the debate these and other questions and several current surveillance issues will be discussed. There will be enough time for questions and reactions from the audience.

Moderated by Paul De Hert (Vrije Universiteit Brussel/Universiteit Tilburg)

Registration advised info@deburen.eu

Speakers Bart DE KONING, Journalist (NL), Quirine EIJKMAN, Dutch Section International Commission of Jurists (NJCM), Centre for Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Leiden University, ICCT-The Hague (NL), Bart JACOBS, Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), Raf Jespers, author Big Brother in Europa and lawyer Progress Lawyers Network, Christian VAN ‘T HOF, Rathenau Instituut (NL), Gerrit-Jan ZWENNE, Leiden University (NL)

People who wish to attend the evening debate (in Dutch) can register for a shuttle bus from Les Halles to the Beursschouwburg, leaving at 19.30.

20.20 Pecha Kucha at Les Halles de Schaerbeek

Organised by VUB, Crosstalks and Alok Nandi

Pecha Kucha, which is Japanese for the sound of conversation (bla bla), is a series of show-and-tell evenings for designers, architects, artists and creatives, started by Klein Dytham architecture in Tokyo in 2003 and now in 300 and plus cities worldwide. The Brussels edition is launched and organised by Alok Nandi, Architempo, as part of {creativity*conversation} series. It attracts a wide audience.

Info: http://pechakucha.architempo.net

Registration: http://pechakucha.eventbrite.com/