<html><body bgcolor="#ffffff"><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Strange Destiny of Open Source in the Nation State<SPAN style="COLOR: black"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Artists' salon co-sponsored by Leonardo and the San Francisco Art Institute Center for Media Culture featuring the Raqs Media Collective of New Delhi, India and Steve Cisler of San Jose, CA, USA<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Thursday, April 6, 2006, 7 P.M.<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">San Francisco Art Institute Café<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">800 Chestnut Street</SPAN></st1:address></st1:Street><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">San Francisco</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94133</st1:PostalCode></SPAN></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">http://www.sfai.edu<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">http://www.leonardo.info<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Leonardo, The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, is pleased to co-sponsor with the San Francisco Art Institute Center for Media Culture a lively evening salon with the Raqs Media Collective and Steve Cisler. Drinks and supper will be served before the presentations, and dessert will follow.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Raqs Media Collective (Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi, Shuddhabrata Sengupta) from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Delhi</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>, investigates the technological forms that underwrite contemporary urban experiences and the social practices through which the city is acted upon and imagined. The collective is the co-initiator of Sarai: <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The New Media Initiative</I>, a program of interdisciplinary research and practice on media, city space and urban culture. Currently acting as Spring 2006 Fellows for the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">SFAI</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> for Media Culture, the Raqs Media Collective will intersect with several of SFAI's degree, community education and public programs. At the April 6 salon, Raqs will initiate a discussion on the topic of “The Strange Destiny of Open Source in the Nation State.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Steve Cisler is a librarian by training who began using computers when he was middle-aged. Starting in 1985 Cisler ran a WELL forum on information and libraries. In 1988 at Apple Computer library he started a grant program called Apple Library of Tomorrow, through which he made dozens of grants to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> and Canadian museums and libraries. Cisler worked on the de-regulation of the radio frequencies and standards that became known as 802.11 or Wi-Fi. Over the past 7 years Cisler has consulted in Latin America, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Jordan</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Uganda</st1:place></st1:country-region> on short-term projects involving telecenters, school computer labs and indigenous groups. Cisler is Chair of the “Piracy and the Pacific Working Group” at the upcoming Pacific Rim New Media Summit, a pre-symposium to ISEA2006. Cisler will give a presentation at the April 6 salon on intellectual property issues.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">San Francisco Art Institute's Center for Media Culture links artistic practice and the study of culture. Students explore the ways in which different media, including film, video, photography, sound and technology, shape—and are shaped by—concepts of identity and community. The Center offers students opportunities to foster agility in their artistic practice through the study of the cultural and aesthetic shifts that characterize diverse societies. The results are technically informed media practitioners and comprehensive critical thinkers prepared for a broad variety of career and artistic opportunities.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Leonardo, The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, serves the international arts community by promoting and documenting work at the intersection of the arts, sciences and technology and by stimulating collaboration between artists, scientists and technologists. As Leonardo/ISAST nears its 40th anniversary, its programs and activities have expanded to include print and online publications, an awards program, involvement in workshops, conferences and symposia (including the Pacific Rim New Media Summit, a pre-symposium to ISEA2006, August 2006, in San Jose), and collaborative projects focused on twenty-first-century media involving art, science and technology. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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