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WEB SQUARED, MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD THROUGH SHARED DATA

Session 1: The New Science of Data

>Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Indian Prime Minister - What can Indian innovation tell and teach the world?
>Yan Moullier Boutang, - How can we create and share knowledge out of the masses of data we collect on the world?
>Fabien Girardin, urban data researcher - From mobile data to visualizations of urban activity
>Jan Blom, Nokia research center - How can mobile phone users be more than sensors for data analysts?

Session 2: Open Public Data, a New Resource for Innovation and Participation

>Jarmo Eskelinen - Open public data: the finnish example, apps for democracy
>Michael Cross, The Guardian - How can open public data become reality? The "Free our data" initiative
>Hugues Aubin - Open public data and public transports in Rennes

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"FAB LABS", REINVENTING INDUSTRY

Session 3: Future things, future design process and challenges

>Matt Cottam, CEO Tellart - New material for physical computing and independent manufacture
>JL Fréchin & U Petrevski - Hacking industrial machinery to design desirable objects
>Amit Zoran, MIT - Personal fabrication: what does it mean? What are the opportunities?

Session 4: What If Anyone Could Make Almost Anything ?

>Adrian Bowyer, University of Bath - The RepRap: Towards open-source personal manufacturing?
>Ton Zijlstra, FabLab Foundation Netherlands - What does it take to BE a fab lab?
>Haakon Karlse, Fablab Norway - The global Fab Labs network

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"PEOPLE HACK", DISTRIBUTING CONTROL AND KNOWLEDGE

Session 5: Designing for implications

>Anab Jain, founder Superflux - Designing for 'implications': prototyping near future worlds with emerging technologies

We have finalized the program of Lift10, and all 60 sessions are now booked: 20 keynotes, 9 open stages, and 30 workshops will be held on topics like online communities, politics in the Facebook era, travel 2.0, social media and marketing, the future of books, usages and generations, privacy, the future of media and citizen journalism.

Here are the 20 keynotes, each presented in less than 140 chars:

• Jamais Cascio, Ethical Futurist, why prospective matters and how to anticipate the future.
• Rahaf Harfoush, New Media Strategist on the Obama Campaign: using Social Media for politics in the US, Iran and elsewhere
• Yeon-ho Oh, Founder of OhmyNews: the story and future of citizen journalism.
• Neil Rimer, Investor: Entrepreneurship and investment in today's world.
• Olivier Glassey, Social and Political Sciences researcher: myths and realities of online behaviors.
• Catherine Lottier, TV program foresight specialist: how contents are influenced - or not - by technologies.
• Amelia Andersdotter, Swedish Pirate Party Representative: how to leverage collective intelligence in politics
• Mercedes Bunz, New media strategist: what opportunities for media in new technologies?
• Christian Heller, Post-privacy optimist: the upcoming social norms, and how to navigate them
• Virginia Mouseler, TV program foresight specialist: future of TV content
• Felipe Fonseca, Brasilian media activist: hacking to climb the social ladder in Brazil
• Antonio Casilli, Critical thinker: debunking the myths of the forever young users of digital technologies
• Julian Zbar, Third culture student: how twenty years old use technologies
• Richard Murton, Social Media Expert: social media for businesses
• Russell Davies, Really Interesting Group: printing the internet out and into things
• Basile Zimmermann, Chinese studies researcher: how china adapts and reinvents western web services
• Aubrey de Grey, Eternal life advocate: aging as a disease, and how to curate it
• Katrin Verclas, Mobile services activist: what does and does not work in mobile participation
• Alice Taylor, Playful experiences builder: using games beyond gaming
• Jean Burgess, Media studies researcher: the evolution of YouTube usage

That's a great program (congrats Nicolas!), nicely complemented by workshops and open stage talks from the Lift community. Grab one of the 215 remaining tickets before it is too late!

The Lift10 program is now final. We received last minute workshops from Fred Destin (Atlas Venture) and Richard Murton (Accenture), and the open stages have been decided with speakers from NYU, Salvation Army, Orange Labs, theLivingCore, Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Tinker, Bonnier, Soundsgood, and an independent podiatrist!

Check the complete program of the conference, it will be an intense three days with 20 keynotes, 30 workshops and 10 open stages!

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet ("NKM" in the French media) is France's Minister of State responsible for the Development of the Digital Economy. Lift France 10 will happen under her high-patronage, and we will gladly welcome NKM for the second consecutive year to wrap up the conference. See her talk at Lift France 09 below (in French).

We had to move the fondue to the first day of the conference, Wednesday May 5th. After the traditional opening cocktails a shuttle bus service will bring you to the fondue location to enjoy the ultimate swiss cheese experience :)

More Lift10 social event news: Vernissage! We will have the official opening ceremony of the Lift experience exposition curated by Geneva University of Art and Design on Thursday evening, May 6th.

Have a look at the full program to know more.

^{Lift09 Fondue, picture by Ivo Näpflin}

Lift10 will welcome 1000 participants from 40 countries to explore the most overlooked aspect of innovation: people. Known in the techno-parlance as users, consumers, clients, participants, prosumers, citizens or activists, people ultimately define the success of all technological and entrepreneurial projects. They adopt or refute, promote or demote; embrace, reject, or re-purpose. Their approaches are unique, influenced by cultural and generational diversity. A decade after the rebirth of user-centered design and innovation, it's time to explore the myths and uncover the reality behind the "connected people".

The conference will host sessions on:

Generations and technologies
How to go beyond the usual clichés on generations, with Seniors unable to use technology and Millenials ruining their future careers on Social Network? How to take a generation’s specific needs into account? Who are really the "digital natives", and the "grey generation"?

The redefinition of Privacy
What is privacy in the 21st Century? Is personal security threatened by the massive collection of personal data by CCTV, GPS, mobile phones and web browsers? What is the situation in 2010? What are the implications?

Communities
Since 2006 Web 2.0 has celebrated the so-called "amateur revolution". Did this revolution really happen? What did we learn in the past 5 years? Are we reaching the limits of web 2.0? How to create value for all parties involved?

Politics
Beyond the much talked-about political campaigns on Facebook, how to turn users into engaged citizens in public action? What are the opportunities and challenges of this evolution of politics?

The old new media
Newspapers are struggling, TV is not sure of what the future holds. What is at stake nowadays when informing, reaching and involving people? Did the so-called "old media" evolve? What will the media landscape look like in ten years?

Stories
Lift traditionally closes on a session dedicated to inspiring projects and perspectives. The speakers provide a unique point of view sure to make participants react and come up with new ideas of their own.

This year, the format will also evolve a lot, with the most notable changes being a totally new way for the audience and speakers to interact (more on this soon), and a new agenda based on the previous years feedback. Workshops will be spread more wisely, sessions will be more interactive, you will be able to travel on Wednesday morning and leave on Friday early afternoon, and much more. Check the full program here, and the first ten speakers!

We look forward to welcome you in Geneva :) Do not forget to register early, it helps us and you pay the cheaper early bird price!

Design hero Laurent Bolli just put the finishing touch to the Lift Asia 09 program, available in both Korean and English. Paper version will be provided to attendees but you can also download the file and print it to read it on your way to the conference!

Available in English and Korean.

We have a last minute addition to the Lift Asia 09 program, a panel with three of the pioneers who helped create the internet industry in Korea!

20 years of Korean internet
The pioneers who built the Korean internet will share their story, reflecting on a soon-to-be 20 years old industry, offering insights on the future of a media that went from being an early adopter tool to become a society changing technology used by 40 million people in Korea.

Speakers:
• Jin Ho Hur, CEO of Neowiz, operators of Korea's second largest social network.
• Jaewoong Lee, Founder of Daum
• Soon Hyun Hwang, Vice President, NC Soft

This is quite big to have these guys on stage sharing their experience on how they helped make Korea the world's most wired country! Grab one of the remaining tickets and join us at Lift Asia on Thursday!

We are very happy to announce that Chul Shin has accepted our invitation to participate as a speaker at Lift Asia 09. The legendary film producer, who created with Taekon V on of the most beloved characters in anime, will share with the audience his experience in film production.

Chul Shin will speak in the Storytelling session on Thursday afternoon with TED video director Jashon Wishnow and Julian Bleeker from Nokia Design.

Learn more about Chul Shin on his speaker profile and see some Taekwon V taekwondo movies here and here and here on Youtube :)

As I arrived in Korea, I met several friends who told me the theme for Lift Asia 09 was not clearly communicated. So here come an updated home and program page, hopefully providing a better look at why we chose "Serious fun" as the theme for our next event:

Social networks, online games, robots, communicating objects: these technologies and services were originally designed for entertainment purposes. They are now giving birth to a whole new range of opportunities and challenges. Games are used for education. Robots are linking patients and doctors. Social networks are the playground of marketers and recruiters.

Are these "fun" technologies changing as they become more and more "serious"? What new opportunities and challenges are arising from this ecosystem in the making?

Lift Asia 09 will explore these questions, and focus on the examples provided by communicating objects, social networks, design, architecture, storytelling and community engagement. The conference will also feature an open program where members of the audience can present their ideas and projects, and we will have our traditional sessions on sustainable development and inspiring stories.

Link

If you live in Seoul and need more explanation don't hesitate to contact me, I am in Korea until next week :)