Free of value and just for fun! =============================== From Free Software to Free Society? =================================== 2. Oekonux Conference Invitation Free Software is a mystery to someone who thinks only in terms of labor and money. Thousands of volunteers build highly complex software, without which for instance the Internet would not even be imaginable - and the majority of them receive no money. Nonetheless the developers benefit from their doing: They are completely absorbed by it, it fits their personality to do precisely that - in short: It is their life. This opportunity for individual and collective self-unfolding is accompanied by global networking and self-organization, which evolves from the development of computer technology. Based on the new technology "Internet" a new form to produce what is necessary arises Free Software being a germ form. And with a great deal of creativity the new technical possibilities are employed to experiment with new forms of social interaction freely and easily. The Project Oekonux [http://www.oekonux.org/] does research on the economical, political and social forms of Free Software. Similar to the development of Free Software, here too different people with different reasons and different approaches get together in this project to build something new. One question, a lot of people are interested in, is, whether the principles of the development of Free Software can serve as a basis for a new society. The 2. Oekonux conference [http://second.oekonux-conference.org/] takes up the diversity of the project. It aims at learning something about how the example of Free Software is perceived and realized in other fields. And it already is being experimented with in many fields: o Education and school o Knowledge and information transfer and archiving o Technics and arts In addition the program [http://second.oekonux-conference.org/program/] of the conference will contain: o A discussion of the book "Empire" o Studies on Free Software itself o Contributions from the theory built in Project Oekonux We hope and expect that in an open atmosphere critical voices as much as the enthusiasm of the hackers will merge into a creative process. We hope and expect, that the wide range of presentations contributed by German and international guests will lead to new insights and broader understanding for all participants. We hope and expect, that the 2. Oekonux conference will be as great an experience as the 1. Oekonux conference [http://erste.oekonux-konferenz.de/] was. 2. Oekonux Conference 1.-3. November 2002 Technische Universität Berlin Please register http://second.oekonux-conference.org/registration.html