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 Bilkent University's Department of Communication and Design hosted the third Video Vortex Conference, October 9 to 11. The main focus of this event, held in cooperation with the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam, was online video. Key issues emerging around the independent production and distribution of online video were analyzed. Distinguished scholars and artists discussed "navigating the database," p2p, art online, visual art, innovative art, participatory culture, social networking, political economy, collaboration and new production models, censorship and YouTube, collective memory, and cinematic and online aesthetics. Along with many students, private Turkish television station NTV, Radio ODTÜ and Radio Bilkent were also present during the conference.
A well attended workshop was held by Markus Schaal on "Open Collaborative Mapping/ OLPC Project." Afterwards, Schaal discussed collaborative mapping, using the creation of a map of Turkey and Bilkent as an example: "The key here is to make a general map using the views of the participants in regards to the place. Every single person has a different notion of their environment, so making a map where everybody makes just a small contribution gives us a map incorporating the visual understanding of the place by a group."
 Sabine Niedierer from the Institute of Network Cultures said that the institute's main concern is related to how people have shifted from watching television to watching database. Niederer presented the Video Vortex Reader to the audience, which is a collection of theories from previous conferences. As the co-organizer of the first two Video Vortex conferences, held in Brussels and Amsterdam, she stated she was very happy that this years event was held in Ankara.
The new media art exhibition accompanying the conference opened on Friday, October 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture Art Gallery. The program for the event can be found at http://std.comd.bilkent.edu.tr/videovortex/
Alev Değim (COMD/IV)
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