[PROGRAMME]

[Text from pre-festival website]

[On-Line]
For net.congestion the events happening in the media space are equally important as the events taking place in the real physical space in Amsterdam. The online aspect of the festival will be both a reflection of the activities in real space as well as an event in itself.

[Off-Line]
A unique festival infrastructure in the heart of Amsterdam will create the backbone of the streaming media festival. The famous concert and club spaces Paradiso and Melkweg, and De Balie - centre for culture and politics, all located within two minutes walking distance from each other, will be the main venues for the festival. These venues will host a diverse series of public events and presentations.

[Performances, Evening Programs, and Club Nights]
The cross-over terrain between new music, dance and club culture, and media culture is investigated through a series of club events, live concerts and performances. Live programming via the Internet is becoming highly popular in club and concert-spaces. The performance and club events will bring together distinguished performers from the contemporary music and club scene, as well as young innovative musicians, sound and performance artists who produce challenging work in this new field. These evening programs of net.congestion are a diversified mix of experimental performances, concerts, live net events produced at three of Amsterdam's most famous cultural venues: Paradiso, De Balie and Melkweg.

[Artist Presentations]
Leading individual artists and artist collectives around the globe are invited to present and comment their work.

[Panels and Debates]
Panels and debates will be held throughout the festival featuring some of the most interesting and articulate individuals in the topics described. Open discussion and feedback from local and remote audience is encouraged.

[Workshops]
The workshops are primarily intended for practitioners and hence will require a base level of understanding of streaming media. As one of the important aims of the festival is to provide an opportunity for streaming media organisations and individuals to develop their practice, we wish to offer moderate and advanced courses. The workshops will be moderated by invited international experts.

[Seminars]
Seminars are also intended primarily for practioners interested in issues surrounding streaming media such as copyright, privacy and hybrid media techniques.

[Post Festival Workshops]
Two post festival venues - De Waag, and Montevideo/TBA, will host post festival workshops. Montevideo will host a workshop to develop the idea and install a local Amsterdam node for an open network of connected mirror streaming servers for cultural and tactical streaming media projects world-wide. De Waag will host a two day seminar which will investigate the solutions available and suited to help develop european streaming media, into the creative medium it can be. The topics addressed include:
* the interface : its flexibility for streaming media, the browser vs the player
* the tools : which available solutions enable media-creation
* the content : which types of interesting European content are there or need to be invented ?


ON-LINE EVENTS
[Streamed Events]
All the public discussions will be streamed live for free access over the internet. In addition we intend to have online participation by invited remote guests. These contributors will present their work or thoughts to panel discussions, by way of live streamed video and audio, direct to the presentation rooms.

[Hybrid Broadcast Events]
The festival would like to follow the model for hybrid broadcasting asestablished by DDS' Virtual Media Lab. Within a small but open environment,we wish to melt different streaming and broadcasting media, to form hybrid outputs, online, on air, and via satellite. The public is welcome to occupy this space while this occurs, and of course there will be plenty of opportunity for participation by the online public.

[Remote Participation]
The festival is organised in close co-operation with a large and very international community of artists, media producers and activists scattered across the planet. It is obvious that it will not be possible for all these people and groups to visit the festival in person. The very nature of the festival, however, turns this liability into an opportunity. The net offers manifold possibilities for remote participation in live events, for re-mixing, co-creation, and mediated presentations. These remote contributions on-line will therefore add an important decentralised dimension to the festival.

Special remote connections will be set up with the Electrofringe Fsstivalin Newcastle, Australia, the Integrated Media Programme at CalArts in LosAngeles, and WMF Club & Tresor in Berlin.

The access page for all live streams is: http://net.congestion.org/live


OFF-LINE EVENTS
[Walk in Studio]
A walk in studio for broadcast and streamed representation of the realspace events will be created in the small hall (kleine zaal) of Paradiso. The public is welcome to walk through this space and observe the artists and technicians at work. The aim of this studio is to reduce and demystify the live content production process and offer the public the opportunity to see and understand this process. The studio will host interviews, music and sound sessions, and a series of micro performances, all sent out live over the net and other cross-connected media. Hosted by Bellissima.

Location: Paradiso (Kleine Zaal) - Continuous

[The Media Bank]
A major component of the festival will be 'The Media Bank', an exhibition medium presenting and contextualising diverse streaming video and audio projects from around the world. The Media Bank will exhibit work enabled by the new open distribution channels created by streaming media. In its early manifestations, streaming media catalysed a dynamic flurry of production in arts and music communities, leading to novel media formats as net.radio andweb-tv. This early artistic activity was quickly followed by the tremendous interest of tactical media initiatives, which work in a more decidedly social and political context. Later, club cultural scenes and documentary film makers began to experiment with streaming media.

Recognising that these creative and tactical projects are seldom seen by large audiences, The Media Bank aims to provide a dynamic platform for artists, documentary makers, activists and other media producers to show their work to the diverse and critically engaged on-site festival audience.The Media Bank will offer visitors of the festival a chance at a first handexperience of streaming media. The Media Bank will comprise a centralised collection of computers connected to a localised server, running specially designed piece of software which will present and play back archived streaming video and audio. Audiences will be able to select and experience artists' works, online documentaries, activist videos, demonstrations and instructive material, and other streaming projects.

Location: De Balie (Grote Zaal) - Continuous



PERFORMANCES, EVENING PROGRAMS & CLUB NIGHTS
The cross-over terrain between new music, dance and club culture, and media culture is investigated through a series of club events, live concerts and performances. Live programming via the Internet is becoming highly popularin club and concert-spaces. The performance and club events will bring together distinguished performers from the contemporary music and clubscene, as well as young innovative musicians, sound and performance artists who produce challenging work in this new field. These evening programs of net.congestion are a diversified mix of experimental performances,concerts, live net events produced at three of Amsterdam's most famouscultural venues: Paradiso, De Balie and Melkweg.

[Opening Event - Zadruga]
The Belgrade artist collective Zadruga has been invited to design the opening event of the festival. On the Friday evening Zadruga will transform the theatre spaces of De Balie into a multi-sensory total environment that fuses high- and low-tech interfaces in the space with streaming media and performances. Zadruga is a collective of visual artists, musicians, writers, comicartists, and do-it-yourself new media specialists, with a great experience in creating both small and large scale public happenings, bordering between contemporary arts and club culture.

Date: Friday, October 6 - 20.00
Location: De Balie

[net.radio.web.tv.night]
The net.radio.web.tv.night will be a global re-mix, sound, music and image exchange. Exactly at midnight on Saturday night, a global net.audio.web.video jam session will start, in which artists dispersed around the globe will continuously repurpose each others sound and image materials streamed live over the net. A fascinating exploration of the dynamics of the networked communication space in sound and image.

The net.radio.web.tv.night is hosted by Xchange, the net.audio network http://change.re-lab.net, who in the past conducted a series of similar exercises, using net.audio (net.radio.nights). For net.congestion this concept will be expanded to include images for the first time.

Date: Saturday, October 7th @ midnight
Location: Mediabank - De Balie

[Club Nights]
The nightly club programs venture into the heart of the European technoscene.

[Tresor & WMF clubnight]
At Paradiso on Saturday night, live connections and DJ/VJ exchanges with famous Berlin clubs, WMF and Tresor, create a dynamic club atmosphere and an environment of remote collaboration.
With:
Manuela Krause (WMF): live i-mac streaming set.
+ resident Tresor DJs of the Sender Berlin label; HendriX, Stassy & Luke.
+ Diskordia (live on stage)
+ live streams from WMF, Berlin generated by Visomat.
+ F5, Riga

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7, 23.30

[Bass (on) Line]
On Sunday night, Paradiso will dive into the Hip Hop scene's massive net-presence, including a live networked free-style session, as well as the world's first ever live streamed break-dance instruction class.
With:
Screening: Slam Nation: The Sport of Spoken Word
Live on stage: Mike Ladd (USA), with DJ Fred Ones
+ in the walk-in studio: Turntablized Demo
+ Palabras on-line lounge & interviews
& @ 01.00: The Proov with band
+ DJs Wix & Mel, MC Murth the Man-o-Script

Location: Paradiso
Date: Sunday October 8, 21.00

[Underworld: Everything Everything - DVD launchparty]
At the Melkweg on Sunday, the launch party for Underworld's new DVD release, 'Everything Everything' will kick off an evening of electronic disturbances and high energy breaks.

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8, 21.30

[Speedy J + dj Eva]
Dutch electronic pioneer, Speedy J will perform a specially developed performance featuring samples and cuts direct from the .net.

Location: Melkweg The Max
Date: Sunday October 8, 21.30

[Performance Night @ Melkweg (The Max)]
A selection of internationally renown performance and media-artists will create a unique performance program involving all kinds of streaming technologies and streaming components on the Saturday night in the mainhall (The Max) @ Melkweg. The performance night will include:

Sarah Teitler & Jade Jossen, New York, 'The Silent Show with Sound' Puppet
Theatre Show streamed live over the net.

Snowcrash, Amsterdam, Netherlands / Honk Kong - 'Snowcrash'
Co-operative real-time performance between an Amsterdam band and a singer in Hong Kong

Arcangel Constantini, Mexico City, Mexico - 'Bakteria'
Live interactive visual music performance + audience installation.

SOUND GRAFFITI (conceptualy innacurate & rhitmic minimalism)
Sound: CLAUSTHOME (riga), video: vj nei & mr/F5 (riga)
Electronic audio-visual performance -- by computer and in real audio loops generated sound - and - video mix using real video content available on the net combined with F5 created animations and digital video.
http://ozone.re-lab.net/sessions/08aug2000.ram

eset, New Zealand, 'return to 0'
Live Software Construction-Performance

Time's Up + Friends, international - 'trans'ient'
Live collaborative sound performance created by musicians and sound artists from around the world.

nzy'M [ ], ':: '.; :':''++ : '; .:+:'
Silt + glacial interference patterns. [local|remote]

Date: Saturday October 7 - 21.00
Location: Melkweg

[Special Event: O + E: a connected concert between Amsterdam & London]
De Waag, Society for Old and New Media, together with Audiorom present: O+ E: a connected concert between Amsterdam and London using KeyStroke. KeyStroke is a multi-user crossmedia synthesizer developed at Waag Labs.

Location: NEMO Oosterdok 2.
Date: 7 + 8 October
Starting time 9.30pm.

Admission by special ticket only: Dfl.20 / 16.50
Ticket reservation: tel. 020 - 531 3118 or tel. 557 9898

More info: http://www.keyworx.org

[Screening Cinema De Balie]
It's the End of TV as We Know It
Femke Wolting en Bruno Felix, Nl., 1999, Beta, 100 min

A documentary questioning the digital revolution and its implications forthe future shape of broadcast media, through a series of interviews and portraits of key personalities in the field of digital media.

Location: De Balie Kleine Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 20.30

[Moving Stamp: Best of the On-Line Film Festivals]
A critical selection of recent projects presented at various internationalon-line film festivals such as Bit Screen, Atom films and others. The screening is followed by a discussion with organisers and curators of on-line film festivals and film web sites about the future of the medium and the future of the presentation formats of film on-line and/or in the cinema.
With:
Nora Barry: The Bit Screen, Narbarth, USA
Nina Schulz, Bitfilm, Hamburg, Germany

Location: De Balie - Kleine Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 20.30


ARTIST PRESENTATIONS
Saturday October 7 - 12.00:
Borut Savski: Radio Student Ljubljana, Slovenia
Mike Riemel: Klubradio.de / Border2000, Berlin, Germany
Kate Rich: Fall Out, London, UK

Saturday October 7 - 14.00:
Martin Thompson: nervous_objects, Adelaide, Australia
Ad de Bont: Radio Interference, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Marcell Mars: radioACTIVE: Zagreb, Croatia [tbc]

Saturday October 7 - 16.00:
Nora Barry: The Bit Screen, Narbarth, USA
Dimos Dimitriou: Balkan Art Streaming Alliance, Athens, Greece
Vencislav Zankov: clt-Z, Sofia, Bulgaria

Saturday October 7 - 18.00:
Peter Notari: Pararadio, Budapest, Hungary
Thomax Kaulmann: OMA - Open Meta Archive, Berlin, Germany
August Black, Markus Seidl and Denis Roio: MuSE, Vienna + Linz, Austria

Sunday October 8 - 12.00:
Heath Bunting: World Service, global
Tim Boykett: Times Up, Linz, Austria
Bruno Beusch & Tina Cassani: TNC Network, Paris, France

Sunday October 8 - 14.00:
Walter van der Cruijsen: Streaming Ascii, Berlin, Germany
Rachel Baker: irational.org / TM Selector, London, UK
Nick Crowe: nickcrowe.net, Manchester, UK

Sunday October 8 - 16.00:
Zina Kaye & Mr. Snow: l'audible, Sydney, Australia
Arcangel Constantini: Bakteria, Mexico-City, Mexico
Krassimir Terziev: Interspace, Sofia, Bulgaria

Location: Media Bank - De Balie


PANELS & DEBATES
[introduction]
Welcome and introduction to the festival themes and program.

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 10.00

Topic I: "The changing shape of things that flow"

[The Network is the Narrative]
Online media streams are multiplying access points to the already explosive proliferation of narratives. In the face of the fact that we are living aprovisional and in-deterministic reality, supported by new media whose databases allow for multiple trajectories, there is something almost joyously perverse in the unflagging popularity of the classical narrative,with its fixed geometry of beginnings, middles and endings of heroes and villains. Despite modernist experiments and the technology of the database, the narrative remains one of our societies dominant ways of knowing. A form of knowledge whose propositions unfold through progression,through temporal sequence. The panel's presentations and discussion will seek to clarify the way in which longstanding questions about the relationship between the net and the narrative are both heightened and popularised by the emergence of streaming.

Participants:

Lev Manovich: San Diego, USA (remote presentation)
Nick Crowe: nickcrowe.net, Manchester, UK
Nora Barry: The Bit Screen, Narberth, USA
Fabian Wagminster: Los Angeles, USA / Argentina
Philip Pocock: Karlsruhe, Germany

Chair: David Garcia: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 10.30

[Bandwidth Aesthetics]
An artist lead discussion about whether production values and technical quality are essential for audio and video streaming. Is it the medium or the message that is crucial in artistic expression? Is there such a thingas 'narrow-band aesthetics'? Video artists from the early 1960s exploited the technical limitations of video technology in creative ways, leading to the development of aesthetic trends within video art. Can a critical investigation of the formal and aesthetic qualities of streaming media reveal similar idiosyncracies? Do the current characteristics of narrow-band streaming constitute a particular streaming media aesthetic?

Participants:
Alexander Gubas: Low Fi Video, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits: Radio OZOne, Riga, Latvia
Menno Grootveld: Lost & Found, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Prema Murthy: Artist, New York, USA
Walter van der Cruijsen: Streaming ASCII, Berlin, Germany

Chair: Honor Harger: r a d i o q u a l i a, New Zealand / London, UK

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 12.15

[The Hybrid Media Show]
A dazzling show of successful and innovative hybrid media formats from around the globe, interfacing the networked media with traditional broadcasting formats, and fusing the digital with the analogue. The show is followed by a debate on the ratio of hybridisation of digital and analogue media. What are the tactical advantages of creating hybrid fusions of digital and non-digital media? Does it lead to new models of media production and distribution? How can hybridisation help to reach new and larger audiences?

Presentations:
Frequency Clock: global
Agent Radio: Netherlands
Radio B92 / ANEM: FR Yugoslavia
media.live.nu: Netherlands
Interface Pirate Radio: UK
Radio 90: Canada
Observatine: Australia
DFMrtv: Netherlands

Host: Micz Flor: Berlin, Germany

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 14.00

[target.audience=0]
A panel discussion by leading streaming artists about whether they create for a particular audience or if the process of streaming is an end in itself. Are artists really interested in "communication" with an audience or is there something at stake which escapes the traditional broadcasting formats? How do artists treat the Internet - as an extension of old media or as a media space with a new quality of its own?

Participants:
Rasa Smite: xchange, International
Heidi Grundmann: Kunstradio, Vienna, Austria
Eric Kluitenberg: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Peter Mertens: Park4dtv, Netherlands
Mauzz, Media.Live.Nu / DDS Studio, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Raul Marroquin and MauzZ: Hoeksteen TV, Amsterdam, Netherlands
+ Allan Steed & Mike Weisman, Netcasterz (remote)

Chair: David Garcia: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Saturday October 7 - 18.00

[Web Documentaries]
Documentary film is discovering the web. How do documentary film makers use the new channels opened up by the internet? Distribution platforms on the net offer new opportunities for traditional film makers and communities to organise themselves, and provide more radical documentary makers with the opportunity to subvert and evolve the format of the documentary. This panel analyses examples of documentary projects on the web, and focuses on new documentary formats and net-specific projects with documentary elements. Early practitioners in the field will meet contemporary artists and film makers in a presentation about what constitutes the format and content of online documentaries.

Participants:
Robert Mudge: initiator of BBC Online, London, UK
Manu Luksch: Ambient TV, London, UK
Femke Wolting: Submarine, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Monica Narula, Raqs Media Collective / Sarai, New Delhi
Alain Fountain: MondialOnline, London, UK

Chair: Sandra Dametto: Montreal, Canada

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 15.00

PANELS & DEBATES

Topic II - "Streaming Media for Social Change"

[Tactical Streams]
How can streaming media contribute to address issues of vital social, political and human concern? Is the net the appropriate channel to give voice to the voiceless, or is the threat of ghettoisation paramount? Many people feared that the emergence of streaming technology, broadband internet, and the fusion of internet and broadcasting, would mean that the celebrated democratic, open and decentralised character of the Internet would be sacrificed to create the ultimate entertainment machine. Recently, however, it has transpired that many of the aspirations of the entertainment industry have not been met with the ring of the cash box. Meanwhile a host of alternative outlets and fringe media players emerged who exploit the tactical potential of streaming media, and reach a wide audience. This panel presents and explores exemplary initiatives and challenging models of tactical uses of streaming media.

Participants:
Gordon Paunovic: FreeB92, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Mr. Santoso: Kantor Berita Radio 68H, Jakarta, Indonesia
Bruce Girard: Comunica, Delft, Netherlands
Arun Mehta: New Delhi, India
Howard Jones: International Humanitarian Aid Communications, London, UK

Chair: David Garcia

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 11.00

[Campaigning]
Streaming media has become an ever more important tool for social and political campaigns. This has become clear during anti-WTO / G8 actions, such as the recent protests in Seattle, Washington, and this September in Prague, but also in immanent crisis situations such as the Kosovo conflict (HelpB92 and Open Channels for Kosovo), or most recently in the counter-campaign to the US Presidential elections media machine (MicroRadioNetwork). This panel will take a careful look at how these campaigns are constructed. How successful are they? What are the limitations of this new type of global (micro) media campaigns?

Participants:
IndyMedia Network: International
Brian Drolet: FreeSpeech TV: Boulder, USA
Albana Shala: Open Channels for Kosovo / Press Now, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gilberto Cutrupi: Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Manse Jacobi: Beirut, Lebanon
Ed Marszewski: Supersphere: Chicago, USA
Electrofringe: Newcastle, Australia (remote presentation)

Chair: Eric Kluitenberg: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 13.00

[Intellectual Property Stands Trial: The Court Case]
On the Saturday afternoon the main hall of Paradiso will be transformed into a temporary court room. While the legal battles against Napster,MP3.com, Scour.net and others rage on, the net.congestion festival wishes o reverse the charges. Who is operating in the public interest here?

As a reply to the legal theatre in court rooms world-wide, net.congestion holds its own trial and puts Intellectual Property on the stand. In front of our honourable upper judge, and a strictly impartial jury, we will call a series of expert witnesses to testify for and against the current practices of copyright and the legal protection of intellectual property.

The positions represented in the court case will include:

Prosecutors expert witnesses on:
- Copyleft and the freedom of information
- Open Source
- Public Licensing

Expert witnesses for The Defence on:
- the rights of authors / artists
- the interests of publishers
- the music industry

The protagonists of this legal battle will be:
Mr Chr. A. Alberdingk Thijm: XS4ALL, Amsterdam, Netherlands as prosecutor for the plaintiff: copyleft.
Mr E. Engels: Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP, Amsterdam, Netherlands as lawyer for the defence: copyright.

The following expert witnesses are called to the stand:
- Janus Friis van Fasttrack: KaZaA, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Manse Jacobi: Freespeech TV/Indymedia Network, Beirut, Lebanon
- Wilfred Dolfsma: Economist and researcher, Technical University of Delft, Netherlands
- Okke Delfos Visser: BUMA STEMRA, Netherlands
- Zina Kaye: The House of Laudanum, Sydney, Australia

Presiding Judge is the honourable Mr. P. Ingelse - Justice to the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam.

The proceedings of this court case will be carried out on the Saturday afternoon and streamed live over the internet in its entirety. The verdict of the jury and the sentence by the judge will be pronounced the same evening.

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 16.00

[Follow up discussion: Legal Constraints]
A follow-up discussion will be held in Paradiso following the proceedings of the court case, about the legal requirements and constraints surrounding streaming media, the relationship between traditional broadcasting legislation and streaming media, and general concerns of freedom of expression, patenting, copyright and the freedom of information. What kind of challenges does streaming media present to copyright, freedom of information, and broadcasting legislation world-wide? The battle over Napster has outlined the stakes for the game: is the future media landscape going to be dominated by the copyright protected interests of the mainstream media players, or by the representatives of free speech on the word-wide networks? What about the position of the artist?

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - appr. 18.00

[Open Streaming Alliances]
To coincide with the inaugural meeting of the 'Open Streaming Alliance' at Montevideo during the festival, this panel discusses new models, approaches, networks and ideas for streaming collaborations. Can an open streaming architecture be conceived of that will allow for the creation of a public domain channel for not-for-profit and non-wealthy organisations and individuals? Is it possible to create a channel for effective streaming, without interruptions and "net congestion" errors?

Participants:
Jesse Reynolds: Virtual Artists, Adelaide/Sydney, Australia
Dimos Dimitriou: Balkan Streaming Alliance, Athens, Greece
Thomax Kaulmann: OMA / OVA / Orang, Berlin, Germany
Heath Bunting: World Service / Irational.org, non-located
Marcell Mars, radioACTIVE, Zagreb, Croatia [tbc]
Alan Steed: HugeCaster, Seattle, USA (remote presentation)

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 12.00

[Protocols & Alternatives]
Presently proprietary streaming architectures developed by large commercial companies such as Microsoft (WindowsMedia), RealNetworks (RealAudio, ealVideo) and Apple (Quicktime) dominate the production of streaming content. This panel discusses and explores alternative streaming technologies. What is the significance of researching and implementing alternatives? What open source streaming tools exist?

Participants:
Lynn Winebarger: free-expression.org, Boulder, USA
Rene Liethof: XS4ALL, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Daniel Ockeloen: Submarine, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jesse Reynolds: Virtual Artists, Adelaide/Sydney, Australia

Chair: Adam Hyde: XS4ALL, Amsterdam, Netherlands / New Zealand

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 14.00

[Shifting the Frame: Alternative Audio-Visual Networks]
This panel reviews different modes of distributing media, which are not technically streaming, but replicate the functions of streaming media. Doviral networks such as bulletin boards and newsgroups, that create alternative distribution channels, provide a viable alternative to streaming? Is there existing technology which distributes audio-visual material better than streaming media? In short, is streaming technology really the killer-app?

Participants:
Rene Liethof: XS4ALL, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Egon Verharen: SURFnet, Utrecht Netherlands
Igor Djordjevic: CoRRoSioN, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Erik Huizer, NOB, Hilversum, Netherlands

Chair: Marleen Stikker: de Waag, the Society for Old and New Media, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Saturday October 7 - 16.00

[net.congestion - The Doom Scenario]
This panel takes a critical view point about the impact of streaming media on internet infrastructure. Is the future of the Internet with streaming technology is its ultimate break-down? With only 6% of websites containing streaming content, but being responsible for no less than 56% of the total net.traffic, a safe prediction for the future can be made: if streaming truly becomes the trend in the future, and no self-respecting website can do without it, the net may well break down in complete congestion. In this panel, the title of the festival will be addressed, providing ten reasons why streaming is not going to dominate the internet.

Participants:
MichaÎl van Eeden: de Waag, Amsterdam, Netherlands
James Wallbank: Redundant Technology Initiative, Sheffield, UK
Calin Dan: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Chair: Eric Kluitenberg: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Paradiso Grote Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 17.00

[Greetings from Prague]
A world premiere of a video report on the recent protest at the World Bank & IMF meeting in Prague, including exclusive footage compiled at the net.congestion festival. Followed by a discussion lead by Indymedia collaborators from Europe and the US on the challenges facing this rapidly expanding network, such as conent sharing and production in phsyically and linguistically varient localities.

Participants:
Han Soete, Belgium IMC / Matteo Pasquinelli, Italia IMC / Gilles Klein, France IMC / Andrew Nicholson, Sydney IMC (remote - tbc) / Arthur Foelsche, non-located / Thommy Kreiseder, Radio Fro, Austria / and others from IMCs in Praha, Portugal, UK, and Germany.

Location: De Balie Salon
Date: Sunday October 8 - 20.00

PANELS & DEBATES

Topic III: - "Industry Standards"

[Commodifying Culture]
As the number of websites continues to rapidly expand, the search for new and innovative content has become one of the major concerns of the commercial sector. In this paradigm artists are metamorphosing into'content providers', problematising the very notion of cultural production. This panel looks at major sites producing, commissioning and presenting streaming media content. How do Internet Service Providers, Portal sites, Broadcasters, Search Engines, Technology sites, and Online Music Industry sites relate to the producers of streaming content?

Participants:
Robert Mudge: initiator of BBC Online, London, UK
David Sinden: Lux Centre, London, UK
Andrew Bullen: Amsterdam, Netherlands
William Rowe: Protein, London, UK
Laurence Desarzens: BoomBox, Zurich, Switzerland
Marcel Brouns: D:on, Utrecht, Netherlands

Chair: Alan Fountain: MondialOnline, London, UK

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 12.00

[Tune in or Download]
In the age of the convergence between the internet and broadcast media, how do audiences - or users - interact with different types of media? Does the behaviour of users change depending on what type of media is being consumed? How does the act of watching television or listening to the radio differ from experiencing audio or video online? This panel will analyse the shape of our media consumption space, and explore how audiences respond to, use, and behave toward different forms of media.

Participants:
Duncan Arbour: Oyster Partners, London, UK
Zina Kaye: Laudanum, Sydney, Australia
Andy Stamp: Bastard TV, Sheffield, UK
Susan Kennard: Radio 90 / Banff Centre, Banff, Canada
Bruno Felix: Submarine, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Chair: John Wyver: Illuminations, London, UK

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 13.30

[The Art of Making Money]
With the new reign of globalised neoliberalism, countries with a tradition of government support for the arts are forced to cut budgets. Some online artists are making money selling their content to advertisers online, while others give away their product to the "public domain." Can artists create authentic and unbiased work in a hyper-competitive marketplace? Can a balance be struck between the financial needs of the creator and the market demands of the consumer that respects the creative process? Are there viable non-government non-commercial alternatives to corporate sponsorship or governmental arts funding agencies?

Participants:
David Guez: TV-Art / Teloweb.org, Paris, France
Joe Pezzillo: Gogaga.com, USA
Raoul Cannemeijer: BoomBox, Zurich, Switzerland
Arun Mehta: New Delhi, India
Mike Riemel: Klubradio.de / Border 2000, Berlin, Germany

Chair: Manse Jacobi: Beirut, Lebanon

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 15.00

[the toy show: "As seen on port 80"]
The Toy Show will be a showcase of some of the intriguing, quirky,innovative and oddly superfluous gadgets manufactured for streaming media. Internet appliances represent a major new direction in the commercial'convergence' environment, with web-based tools being integrated into domestic home entertainment devices. The portable streaming media players, internet radio appliances, remote controlled streaming encoders, and wireless-controlled- software-tuners on show here, articulate strange and wonderful visions of a future in which internet and broadcast media mechanisms will integrate with everyday life.

Presentations of:
WAP Cam
iTuner
SonicBox
Behere.com
Kerbango [tbc]
Apple Airport
Infrared USB
Marvin the Remote Control Lego Robot

Host: Adam Hyde: XS4ALL, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Melkweg Oude Zaal
Date: Sunday October 8 - 16.30


WORKSHOPS
Hands-on workshops form a core part of the program of net.congestion. The emphasis of these practitioner led workshops is on the transference of practical knowledge and skills. Workshops will focus on many aspects of streaming media, from introductory sessions on the nature of the technologies involved, to more in-depth technical sessions about compression codecs, presentation and storage mechanisms, such as databases,and new user-friendly approaches to programming languages.

[Scripting]
Presented by: Cristoph Kummerer: Vienna, Austria & Heath Bunting: global
What is scripting (vs programming)? An introductory look at how PERL can beused in your streaming media applications including a look at the WorldService by Heath Bunting as a case study.

Location: De Balie Kleine Zaal
Date: Friday October 6 - 10.00-12.00

[Software Development: Interfaces & Customised Players - Visual Basic]
Presented by: Ray Selby: Amsterdam, Netherlands & Nic Limper, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Basic principles of Visual Basic and how to make customised Real and WindowsMedia players. The workshop will also explore how to embed streaming media content with web pages, and how to create media tools with standard web browsers.

Location: De Balie Kleine Zaal
Date: Friday October 6 - 12.00-14.00

[QuickTime Workshop]
An introduction on how to use Quicktime to develop your own streaming content.

Location: Montevideo
Date: Friday October 6 - 14.00-16.00

[What is Streaming Media?]
Presented by: Kees Vos: Amsterdam, Netherlands & Martin Thompson : Adelaide, Australia
Why does streaming media exist? This workshop examines what streaming mediais from a technical perspective. Topics include unicasting, multicasting,RTSP, Quicktime, Real, WindowsMedia, MPEG, bandwidth, and a short look atsome broadband initiatives.

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Saturday October 7 - 12.00

[How to Stream Video - a beginners guide]
Presented by: Gerbrand Oudenaarden: Utrecht, Netherlands and Bas Jansenn: Amsterdam Netherlands
This workshop is aimed at introducing those that have no experience with streaming media to the basic concepts and practices of streaming live video. Participants will learn how to set up a video camera, how to take the video source into a computer, and how to configure the encoding software to stream live on the internet.

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Saturday October 7 - 14.00

[How to Stream Audio - a beginners guide]
Presented by: Rasa Simte, Raitis Smits & Rachel Baker
This workshop is aimed at introducing those that have no experience with streaming media to the basic concepts and practices of streaming live audio. Participants will learn how to set up a small mixing desk with simple audio sources, how to take the audio source into a computer, and how to configure the encoding software to stream live on the internet.

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Saturday October 7 - 16.00

[Producing On-demand Streaming Material]
Presented by: David Guez: Paris, France & Jesse Reynolds: Sydney, Australia
The workshop deals with ways in which existing audio and video materials can be presented on-line. Issues considered are a.o. how to convert existing audio and video materials into streaming files, how to create on-line video and audio archives, and how to create audio and video on-demand services for non-commercial purposes.

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Sunday October 8 - 12.00

[The Power Of The Database]
Presented by: Thomax Kaulmann: Berlin, Germany & Walter van der Cruyssen: Berlin, Germany
A workshop about interesting and dynamic uses of database driven sites that offer streaming content.

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Sunday October 8 - 14.00

[Audio and Video Compression]
Presented by: Paul Stellingwerff (Transtec): Amsterdam, Netherlands
What is compression and why is it necessary? The focus of this workshop is to give participants a basic understanding of video and audio compression theory and techniques.

Location: Melkweg Theater
Date: Sunday October 8 - 16.00

SEMINARS
[Hybridising Media]
A seminar that looks at the practical questions of how to connect analogue and digital electronic media. It will explore a series of case studies presented by experienced practitioners in this field.

Participants:
James Stevens: Consume.net + Backspace.org, London, UK
Mauzz: media.live.nu, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Heath Bunting: Irational.org, London, UK
Toek: DFMrtv, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Adam Hyde: r a d i o q u a l i a, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Chair: Susan Kennard: Banff Centre, Banff, Canada

Location: De Balie Salon
Date: Saturday October 7 - 16.00

[Wireless Streaming]
A discussion about methods and techniques of wireless webcasting. The mobile net.cast reporter has been around as an idea for quite some time. Various prototypes have already been developed. But also the idea of non-located mobile media-art projects has been a continuous fantasy. An appraisal at the dawn of mobile internet.

Participants:
Stefan Wray: Electronic Disturbance Theater, USA
Elias Manousous: Supersphere, Chicago, USA
Hans Kerkhof: TV 3000, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gerbrand Oudenaarden: Engage!, Utrecht, Netherlands
James Stevens: Consume.Net, London, UK

Location: De Balie Salon
Date: Saturday October 7 - 17.30


POST FESTIVAL WORKSHOPS
[The Future of Streaming Media in Europe]
'The Future of Streaming Media in Europe : Creative force for interactive European content or ubiquitous extension of passive consumer entertainment'
Forum, Monday 9 October 2000, de Waag - Amsterdam NL

Net.congestion follow-up forum organised by the Society for Old and New Media and DreamStream to bring together commercial, artistic and social perspectives from across Europe to consider visionary products, projects and alliances. This one-day meeting will take place on October 9th in the Waag, the oldest (1485) secular building of Amsterdam, posing a pleasant contrast to the latest technology being adressed, and will be live-streamed on the web. Within the context of a forum made up of experts from the industry and the creative community the aim is to explore and promote the development of streaming media as a creative and interactive force producing compelling European content.

The forum aims to:
- Remove barriers and promote the creative fusion of social, artistic and commercial interests in the development of European streaming media

- Identify positive existing solutions and products, future development opportunties and potential cross-discipline synergies

- Initiate further practical trans-European collaboration across the related areas streaming interface, open access to productive streaming tools, European streaming content, and open network infrastructure.

Particularly, the forum will do so by holding 3-4 sessions looking into key topics, all of them being introduced through short attendee presentations of existing solutions or initiatives:

- Open Streaming network infrastructure: 'How accessible are broadband streaming facilities ?'
   - openness of the network needed for streaming technology
   - availability of necessary bandwith

- The Streaming Interface: 'Going beyond the window-based browser ?'
   - flexibility, customization and personalisation
   - player vs browser, player = browser ?

- Streaming Tools: 'Which practical tools enable quality production ?'
  - online and offline production tools for both specialist and end-user
   - editing, mixing, storytelling tools

- Streaming Content Creation: 'Which types of interesting (Euro-)content are on offer ?'
   - streaming suitability, interaction between streamed and static material
   - multi-language streaming for European needs

The invitation-based forum will consist of approx. 20 attendees and will be held in English. Be inspired by the visions of experts in their field and meet international colleagues. The day will be closed off with informal drinks and a (net)'working' dinner.

Organisers:
Waag / Society for Old and New Media
DreamStream

Contact/info:
Aske Hopman (coordinating producer)
aske@waag.org

[OPEN Streaming ALLIANCES]
A workshop to develop the idea and install a local Amsterdam node for an open network of connected mirror streaming servers for cultural and tactical streaming media projects world-wide.

Location: MONTEVIDEO
Date: FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 & MONDAY October 9


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