Pras is an exciting artist, inventor and kindred spirit. It was his work with digital media and the social computer that initially led to our collaboration. Since that time we have discovered a myriad of crossovers and connections.
For example, his work (goals) with social computer SoCo mirrors mine from the perspective of Community Enterprise platforms, intuitive virtual UI, SOA, the arts as context, and the emphasis of radical inclusion for collaborative creation to explore Practical Utopian ideals.
Pras Anand has agreed to connect his work with Social Computer and Practical Utopia with Cultural Fusion at Comfusion, as well as some other projects and
ideas which will be developed and explored collaboratively.
"You say you want some hope for the future? You'll find it in the likes of Mr. Pras Anand and his Social Computer. Hope depends not on the many who follow along in the dusty ruts that their elders carve out for them.
It depends on the few who have imagination and the capacity to articulate fresh new ways of thinking and doing. Pras 's Social Computer is not only interesting in terms of social theory, as a theoretical model of society itself.
More importantly, it focuses the search for change and reform in concrete mechanisms for democratic social interactions. Mr. Anand is a doer. Theory is not enough for him. He has his sights on the real world and we are all fortunate for that. Clearly, this project deserves support as a matter of the highest priority."
Daniel Rosen (Composer, Political Activist, Software Designer.) from Mr.Pras @ myspace
The new site is in development. It will better represent the concepts explored in this site. One of the outcomes will be research projects that are the result of collaboration with Pras Anand's social computer concepts.
Case Study inbred:TV Blueprint2001 (Karina)
By bringing together a team of over 100 people, all from various backgrounds, inbred increased the individual and collective knowledge of all participants. There were 35 people from Groningen (NL), 15 people from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), 15 people from Bremen (DE), 1 from London (UK), 1 from Helsinki (FI) and 4 from Amsterdam (NL).
The artists met in informal situations to exchange ideas and experiences in an open learning environment. The exchange was a great medium to stimulate awareness within the Groningen society about the large surfaces that digital media arts cover.
The workshops were given before the date of the dance event (the 8th of September 2001). Therefore the workshops took place in week 36, with the Tuesday (the 4th of September 2001) as the first date and the Friday (the 7th of September 2001) before the dance event being the closing date.
There was no set subject or goal; desirably all participants were inspired by meeting “like minded” individuals or groups. The workshops were set up to suit the artists’ expectations of the ideal atmosphere. So everyone was free to decide and help form the vibe of the whole Blue Moon exchange.
The resulting 15minute mini-documentary we produced is available online at Mr.Pras @ myspace (Blueprint2001) in windows media format. Together with the BBC we documented the Blue Moon Dance event from a political angle. As inbred:TV we also interviewed the Mayor of Groningen and some of his colleagues.
The budget was 45,000 euro and was provided by the Groningen City Council.
“It was clear that most of those taking part from outside the Netherlands were gaining valuable experiences, building networks, and finding ways of contextualising their own work in a valid international way.
The people I spoke to had a great time, worked hard, and would love to continue this type of exchange. If the European Community means anything culturally, it surely must emphasise those art forms and new media which are genuinely Europe-wide, and which can genuinely benefit from international exchanges.
This fits both those descriptions perfectly. It’s clear that many expressions of youth culture are not part of the mainstream, even of youth music chains, and the networks being built by inbred:TV are the way forward for them - to gain their own forms of internal criticism and expression, and validate their work in a truly European context rather than the isolation so many have felt previously.”
Mark Scrimshaw – Director, BBC North East & Cumbria, UK
More to come....
From Pras ' MySpace Blog:
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Social Computer project accepted for Global Forum 2007
Current mood: 
accomplished
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
The Global Forum is an event in Italy (Venice) in November. This document is a good place to start.
I've proposed making a short film their about their conference and about Social Computer. They have accepted and are also very keen to take the Social Computer project further by setting up meetings with Steven Adler of IBM - who is also on the conference steering group.
Organisers, Items International, are involved in many projects which directly relate to my work and they are excited at the prospect of realising the project.
Naturally, I'm positive about this
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Wrote my presentation for IEEE DEST 2007"Society is developing more rapidly than we can observe. Through the rapid ascent into intelligent technologies and the continual opening of political, media and other information-based services - we are in danger of being left behind. In this presentation I aim to describe my work on The Social Computer. A centralising, holistic repository for all kinds of societal change. Within this environment, change is encouraged, fostered and even innovated.
I will begin by telling a little history into the idea and the hurdles I have faced in trying to realise it. I will then focus on Digital Business Ecosystems, as the subject of this event. Then I will look into Digital Ecosystems: past, present and future. From there I would like to discuss briefly the general concept of Ecosystems and why I feel that it is important in the long run that Ecosystems must be designed in a holistic manner.
To really get the benefits of new technologies, it is my belief that we must create environments that are as broad and open as possible. In this way we can explore the fringes and emergent mutations which exist throughout the human species. This is not possible to do everywhere, but with an environment such as a Social Computer, this becomes a positive addition to the overall process and a source of innovations we could not have imagined without."
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