What?
Facebook Resistance is a research initiative accepting the status quo of Facebook being the dominant social identity management system, researching on ways to change its rules and functionality from inside the system, locally via Browser App. FB sets the rules of how-to behave, so we’re asking: Are we happy to live in their visualisation of our online identity or do we want to change it? A change can be as trivial as adding a background-image. Facebook designing your online identity is like IKEA designing your appartment. The only individuality lies in the family pictures standing in your BILLY shelves.
While early www networks like Geocities.com encouraged its users to entirely modify their online presence, Myspace.com and Web 2.0 have steered this “user generated content” into a commercially valuable structure. Facebook has finalized this “evolution” by disabling the user to do anything but feeding the system that gives FB it’s estimated value of 50 Billion US$. Facebook is taking over the social web, and it’s design follows Mark Zuckerberg’s ideals. To quote Lawrence Lessig: “The code is law. The architectures of cyberspace are as important as the law in defining and defeating the liberties of the Net.
Trainer
Tobias Leingruber (@tbx) is an artist and free communication designer working in viral media, popular culture, amateur aesthetics and browser apps. As an advocate for openness and freedom online he has worked with many artists and organisations including the F.A.T. Lab, Artzilla.org and Mozilla. Best known for Pirates of the Amazon and China Channel he has exhibited work worldwide and has been featured by the NY Times, LA Times, Wired, Spiegel, 3sat(TV) or Liberation.fr.
Example Ideas
- Dislike Button
- Graffiti Wall (based on GML/webmarker.me)
- Auto-comment generator (e.g. LOL or Kanye West speak)
- Custom background images and visual css styling for your visitors
- Themes, e.g. change your FB’s color: pink, yellow…
Skill-set participants
It would be great to have a few people with some web development experience (html/css/javascript), or Photoshop skills, But also people who can write good (philosophical) texts are very welcome. In the end everyone who really uses web 2.0 will fit in, so just come and join us! Please bring your laptop.
Information and registration
We have place for 20 people. You can click on 'buy a ticket' to claim your ticket. If you choose the 'invoice' option your registration is not official until we received the payment, this means your spot can still be claimed by someone else. The workshop takes place in Mediamatic Bank from 10.00 to 18.00. Price is € 60 incl. VAT. If you have questions please contact Deborah Meibergen.
