some months ago, after a short&sweet donation appeal, UpStage got a shiny new server; this was very cool & exciting, & the transfer seemed to go completely smoothly. that was until i tried to ftp web cam images to the server for my live feed web cam avatar. it didn't work. douglas assured me that nothing had been changed in the way of settings, passwords, etc & that it *should* work (should being one of doug's favourite words ;)

V. && ARTWARE RSS projects by Jake Elliott

a. "i know, LOL!"






in Chicago, during the last daze of 2008 && the 1rst daze of 2009, Jake Elliott + Nicholas O'Brien created a short-lived Twitter Art project/account called "i know, LOL" was an account by the same name which was based on the Twitter API + listened for ppl saying "LOL" + then automatically replied to those Twitter users, saying "i know, LOL!"

this morning the heat has broken with a bit of a thunder storm - cooling welcome rain, but it hasn't lasted long & i suspect the afternoon will be hot again. it's the last day of the sprint. for some reason i woke up at 7.30am, ridiculously early as we didn't go to bed until nearly 2am, but i was wide awake so enjoyed a couple of hours of quiet before everyone else awoke, drinking coffee & answering emails. yesterday agnez & i got up early & did yoga on the terrace, but the rain prevented that today.

it's wednesday afternoon & the heat is pretty oppressive - i've put a little rack under my laptop because she's so hot, & my hands are too sweaty to use the trackpad. it's not just madrid's weather that is making me sweat - we've all been working hard on the new /etc site since our late start this morning (we had a late night, ok?).

i am in madrid; it's hot - pero tengo cervesa. i am here for the /etc web site workweek - the collective effort of 5 women to spend a week together rebuilding the group's web site. this is sprint methodology - a concept that i first met in agile software development, but one that is being increasingly applied as a successful creative collaboration methodology.

How could anyone resist being enchanted by so much enthusiasm, so much passion and dedication? It felt like a privilege to be at the Libre Graphics Meeting and sense so much energy and warmth. Even though I didn't understand all of the technical details, it was good to hear the people who make the tools I use talk about them, how they make them, how much they care about them. I found myself wondering how many other people in the room felt the same way. I wished I could bring everyone who uses these tools for the work they care about into this space, urge them to listen, to think about how we, as users, can respond to this dedication and commitment, find other ways to share in the responsibility.

i am at the libre graphics meeting in brussels; this is the 5th annual gathering of people who use and develop open source tools for graphics. like the software, the event is free, & pretty well organised - the programme is packed but femke's excellent time-keeping skills are keeping the presentations moving along.

the call for the 101010 UpStage Festival closed on 31 march, & over the last few weeks vicki, dan & i have been going over the proposals received. every year we get more, & again there is a fascinating variety in ideas and content, & plenty that promises to be great. but also this year, we've noticed an increase in proposals from people who have assumed either that UpStage is a web-casting platform, or that the festival is for web-cast performances using any software.

yesterday i was one of four artists who collaborated in an improvised sound piece, initiated & coordinated/directed by annie abrahams as part of her current exhibition "if not you not me" at HTPP gallery in london.

Initially, I didn't even want to know about the climate summit in Copenhagen in December. I felt that it was inevitably going to be so hopeless and futile that I didn't even want to watch, and discussions weeks ahead of time on various mailing lists about the Danish police being given special powers only suggested that too many idealistic and caring people were likely to get hurt.