Another event: Futuresonic Environment 2.0

The annual Futuresonic event is coming up in Manchester in May... this one includes a strand called Environment 2.0, blurb below:

Environment 2.0 is a new international initiative seeking to explore the sustainability of future arts and technologies.

The project will seek to minimise the environmental impact of the Futuresonic festival and also to explore broader issues connecting Futuresonic's interest in mobile and social technologies with the new urgency surrounding climate change.

In Environment 2.0 two worlds collide. When the environment is mapped, tagged and digitised it becomes navigable, computable and manipulable. How can this approach to environment, one which is iconic for our times, be reconciled with the need to address climate change? Environment 2.0 will also explore Open Source Energy, looking at low cost and free ways that people can generate energy locally.

This mirrors some of the concerns of this blog-- what happens when information about our environment is easily available through digital means? Will we change our behaviour? How can this information be made available? Who will control it? Participatory Urbanism points to a future where citizens will be able to access and create this information, but is this valid for all situations? How will the political context adapt to coopt or corral this movement?

It sounds like a very interesting meeting-- unfortunately (again) I can't make it, but keen to hear about it from anyone who can...