The Homecoming of a ‘Round-the-World Trip
Copyright: AEC/robertba
The Base Camp of the “80+1 – A Journey around the World” project has been a high-profile presence on Linz’s Main Square since June. It’s the point of departure of a virtual excursion across the face of our planet that’s now nearing completion—on the itinerary’s 81st day.
Phileas Fogg, the chief protagonist of Jules Verne’s novel, took 80 days to go around the world via horse, railway and steamship. “80+1 – A Journey around the World” needs mere fractions of a second to cover the same distance, since travel is done virtually via satellite linkup and fiber optic cable. This state-of-the-art technology has been in use since June to establish contact with places that represent issues of critical importance to our future. On the trip’s 81st and final day, “80+1” dovetails with the Ars Electronica Festival to stage a major symposium entitled “Cloud Computing.” In this context, “cloud” refers to the countless networks and communities on the internet, to blogs, podcasts and mailing lists. The collective knowledge that’s engendered thereby, that cumulates and, above all, becomes universally available—so-called Cloud Intelligence—has the potential to bring forth solutions geared to the problems we’ll be facing in the near future and their social and political consequences.80+1 – A Journey around the World
Running until September 4 on Linz’s Hauptplatz
Free admission
www.80plus1.org
“Cloud Intelligence” Symposium
September 5, 2009, 10:30 AM to 5:50 PM, Brucknerhaus Middle Hall (Untere Donaulände 7)
Details
