Soulitarian City? Looking for the 'hacker ethic' in Glasgow

Pat Kane, Play Ethic

19 October 2006, 10am-1pm Cost: Free

We seem to be living in an age of 'digital activity', occurring on a widespread scale – whether in blogging, in social networking sites (like MySpace or Bebo), in music and content downloading, the ubiquity of mobile texting. In Glasgow, much of this activity uses well-designed platforms or services, generated and produced in the US.

But what about those who aren't satisfied with the services they're given, and want to design and build something else? Where are the 'hackers' in Glasgow who have made the next leap up in digital creativity – from using other people's coding and designs, to coding and designing themselves? What challenge do they present to our received ideas about learning and its motivations?

Pat Kane discussed the issues raised by his paper, Soulitarian City, for Urban Learning Space.

Biography

Pat Kane is a musician, writer, consultant and activist. His most recent production is The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living. Pat is also a creative and organisational consultant and co-director (with Indra Adnan) of the human potential consultancy New Integrity. Pat developed a comprehensive "play audit" for organisations, institutions and enterprises, based on his cutting-edge research into the past, present and future of ludic culture.