FutureEverything: GloNet (Globally Networked Event) Conference May 13, 2010

FutureEverything is changing the DNA of its Conference, shifting from a single city model to one taking place simultaneously at venues around the globe. We have created a new type of global event, a Globally Networked Event (GloNet), supporting co-present experience and interaction for remote groups, taking FutureEverything to new corners of the globe and reducing air travel.

GloNet is is being developed by FutureEverything in collaboration with the British Council and international partners. The prototype event will take place in Manchester UK on 13 May, as part of the inaugural FutureEverything Festival. The event will be integrated into the conference and will explore creative ways of using telepresence to engage with groups remotely and establish new forms of international collaboration. The event will include four international partners who will deliver a networked satellite event in Sendai, Japan; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Istanbul, Turkey; and Vancouver, Canada.

Focussing on the conference, the GloNet will involve content viewed by participants across all sites, plus opportunities for groups to collaborate on a theme or make a proposition to groups in remote sites that can be handed on across time zones. We will also link the social spaces in the remote venues to provide more informal and spontaneous interaction across the sites. This will be done by using custom designed technology by Distance Lab, which will offer continuous video conferencing in the form of eye-catching objects with multiple headphones so that people can chat or even flirt with people in the cafes and bars at the remote sites.

We will also grow a network of 'Innovation Champions' who will each go out to an international city to develop thelocal partner and to participate in the remote satellite event during the networked event. The Innovation Champions are early career researchers and innovators ('rising stars' - future leaders). They will be the evangelists for the project, and will be briefed to seed collaborations in the remote cities relevant to their own practice, which will internationalise their work.

British Council is working in partnership with FutureEverything to develop the GloNet model as an alternative means of delivering international engagement, and NorthernNet has sponsored the GloNet to promote and create an international exemplar for new forms of culture and communication that are only possible via networked infrastructure. Distance Lab is working in partnership with FutureEverything to develop the technical platforms for creative interaction.

Official Website: http://www.futureeverything.org/festival2010/GloNet