HYPE

Digital Chaos, billed as a slacker cyberconference, and with
a sub-title too rude to print in a family newspaper such as
Concrete, had to be one of the most enjoyable events of the
summer. Convened by a diverse selection of net minds,
including Heath Bunting (Hype passim.) the conference took
place at a variety of venues in Bath this June. In the words
of the organisers, it was designed to incite fuelled
discussion and to bring together some of the most exiting
and diverse minds from the response underground.

Most of the talks took place upstairs at the Hat and Feather
pub, which had been decked out specially with fluorescent
furry things hanging from the ceiling and visual pollution
on the walls courtesy of Binge. The assembled crowd averaged
around fifty people, with small children and dogs also in
abundance. DJs livened up the gaps between talks with
eclectic mixes, and the occasional trill of a mobile phone
or the white-noise of a modem connecting also punctuated the
silence.

Talks were given on a huge variety of themes, including
"Electronic publishing in New York's WWW hellhole", "Cynical
Consuming" and "Digital Artisans". There were also hosted
discussions on such topics as "Feminism and Censorship" and
"Print is Dead". While the debates sometimes got
side-tracked into clichˇs (creativity vs. commercialism,
censorship vs. free speech) the rant quotient remained low.

As well as the relaxed surroundings of the pub, other venues
included the Hub Interc@fe (now sadly metamorphosed into a
design studio), the f stop gallery, a dank alleyway and a
railway platform. For the latter, a talk about the Nomad
Territories passport project ended with the speakers jumping
on the next train out. Plus on Saturday night, the action
moved to the Hub club where more Binge graphics decorated
the dancefloor, and ZX Spectrum games played on continuous
loop behind the bar.

All in all, the conference allowed everyone to have their
say in an informal environment. The overall impression was
one of confident people at ease with technology and prepared
to use it creatively to their own advantage. Whatever the
pluses of on-line communication, it shows that you can't
beat a pub get-together to stimulate discussion and forge
interesting relationships.

Hype's website will be providing an extended version of this
article, as well as a list of all presentations and links to
the projects that are available on the web. Now even easier
to find, go UEA Main page > Student Media > Hype.

tristan roddis