Prix Ars Electronica 2004

Introduction

Prix Ars Electronica, the foremost international prize for computer-based art, offers an open platform for the encounter with leading edge trends in art, technology and society. Over the last 17 years, more than 24,800 works from 87 countries have been submitted for Prix Ars Electronica consideration, and a total of 1,350,000 Euro in prize money has been awarded to the most outstanding of them.

For the 18^th time, artists, scientists, researchers and developers are invited to participate in the 2004 Prix Ars Electronica cyberarts competition in the following categories: Computer Animation/Visual Effects, Digital Musics, Interactive Art, Net Vision, Digital Communities, U19-Freestyle Computing, and "The Next Idea" - Art and Technology Grant.

For information on taking part in the Prix Ars Electronica 2004 and to submit your work, visit http://prixars.aec.at. The deadline for submissions is March 12, 2004. New this year is the Digital Communities category that is dedicated to social developments of great current relevance.

Digital Communities

To mark its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2004, Ars Electronica, in cooperation with SAP, has expanded its international competition for cyberarts to include a new category called “Digital Communities”. To match the large number and broad spectrum of projects as well as the diversity of protagonists active in the field of “ Digital Communities”, two Golden Nicas (each worth 10,000 Euro) will be bestowed in this new category focusing on works of great sociopolitical relevance.

Digital Communities encompasses the wide-ranging social consequences of the Internet as well as the latest developments in the domain of mobile communications and wireless networks. “Digital Communities” will spotlight bold and inspired innovations impacting human co-existence, bridging the digital divide regarding gender as well as geography, or creating outstanding social software and enhancing accessibility of technological-social infrastructure.

This new category will showcase the political potential of digital and networked systems and is thus designed as a forum for a broad spectrum of projects, programs initiatives and phenomena in which social innovation is taking place, as it were, in real time. For up-to-date information on this category, check http://prixars.aec.at.

Digital Communities - What are they?

The “Digital Communities” category is distinct as it recognises the contribution to improving lives of human beings all over the world using digital and networked technologies. Diminishing the “digital divide,” nurturing “emergent democracy” and enabling people to take full advantage of their rights and freedoms are among the aims we are striving to achieve.

Digital Communities give rise to group action and interaction, engender constructive contexts and social capital, and promote social innovation. An essential precondition for this is making the respective relevant technologies and infrastructure more widely accessible or perhaps even developing them in the first place. Digital Communities take part in efforts to achieve comprehensive human development, a key aspect of which is reconfiguring the relationship of power between citizens and political leaders, the state and its administrative bureaucracy as well as financial and commercial interests in the sense of increasing participation, strengthening the role of the civil sector, and establishing a framework for democracy to flourish.

Two Golden Nicas will be awarded in order to recognize the vast array of relevant projects between grassroots operations and professional solutions, the diversity of approaches and aspects from community innovation to social software excellence as well as the broad spectrum of submitters involved, ranging from private initiatives to public institutions. Particular emphasis will be placed on a project's “community innovation,’’ its sustainability, and its appropriate use of technology optimized for the end user. This could be a novel method for connecting already existing technology or optimizing the use of an available infrastructure.

Jury members will be looking to recognize technological-social solutions, “ social software tools,” and infrastructure with great promise, as well as the brilliant realization of such concepts. Their evaluations and decisions will honor visionary and forward-looking projects; those that display consummate social and technological innovativeness, and that have been successfully set up and established. In their selection, the jury will place particular emphasis on the reasonableness, appropriateness, and openness of the solutions. Digital Communities projects should enable human beings to enjoy the widest possible access to technology, networks, and the “Digital Commons.” The winning projects should be able to serve as a model to be copied by others, and, in their orientation on the future, be a source of inspiration, encouragement, and enablement.

Among the projects, phenomena and fields of activity subsumed under the heading Digital Communities are:

Social software
eDemocracy, eGovernment, eGovernance
emergent democracy
collective weblogs, social networking systems
filtering and reputation systems
social self-support groups
learning and knowledge communities
computer supported collaborative processes
gaming communiities
digital neighborhoods, community networks
free net initiatives, wireless LAN projects
digital cities, urban development projects
citizen involvement initiatives, citizen conferences
telecenters

Who can submit an entry

Individuals, groups, associations, public institutions, and private enterprises are eligible to enter their projects. Such projects must, at the time of the judging, be active, extant communities, and must be verifiable through online representation or documentation Community projects may be submitted only by an authorized representative. Journalistic, scholarly, scientific and artistic works may be submitted only by the author or copyright holder or his/her authorized representative. For software projects, the developer must make the submission and verify that the software is running and is being used. In addition, the developer must indicate the type of license granted to those using the software. All persons submitting a work must nominate a proxy in case the winner is unable to appear at the awards presentation.

Purely commercially oriented projects are excluded from participation.

Prizes

Total amount: 40,000 Euro

2 Golden Nicas
10,000 Euro each

4 Awards of Distinction
5,000 Euro each

Up to 14 Honorary Mentions.

Checklist - Prix Ars Electronica 2004

Please be certain to read the General Entry Regulations available at http://prixars.aec.at. Copies of the General Entry Regulations are also available at the WOUGNET office. For a copy, contact Hadijah Namumbya, WOUGNET Information Officer at info@wougnet.org or by phone at (041)256832/(077)910500.

Your entry must include:

Project description
Project basics
Web address of the project
Project details: object and cultural geographic context, outline of the project’s origin, development and history to-date, type and extent of the (groups of) individuals currently involved, technological basis, etc.
Technical information: objective statement of the problem being addressed, solution and features, fields of application, concrete areas of implementation, potential users and beneficiaries, licensing type, system environment technological basis, etc.
Statement of reasons why the submitted project deserves to win a prize the “Digital Communities” category
Resources: optional upload of supporting informationand resources in digital form (in the case of texts, the complete, unabridged version of the text; scientific, scholarly or theoretical texts about the project; media coverage and published reactions; photographic and/or video material)

If you think that illustrations, drawings diagrams etc. are important for evaluating your project, please upload them in the following formats: tif, eps, jpg (jpg, eps only at maximum quality), 300 dpi (in sizes ranging to 18x24 cm).

Submitter: information about the person submitting the entry
Biography
Please upload 1 portrait of the submitter in the following formats: tif, eps, jpg (jpg, eps only at maximum quality), 300 dpi (in sizes ranging up to 7x10cm).

You must submit your entry through online registration at http://prixars.aec.at starting January 12, 2004. There you can input all the information necessary to submit your project, as well upload any accompanying digital material. After completing the registration, please print out a hard copy of the online form, sign the form, and submit it along with any additional (hardcopy) material needed to support your entry by mail (postmarked no later than March 12, 2004) to:
AEC Ars Electronica Center Linz
HauptstraBe 2
A - 4040 Linz, Austria
Code: Prix
Or by fax to +43.732.7272-676
You will then receive a confirmation of your online submission and notification of the arrival by mail of your (hardcopy) documents. Only complete submissions that arrive on or before the deadline will be given consideration for a prize.

Registration starts: January 12, 2004
Deadline: March 12, 2004 (Postmarked)

Last update: February-4, 2004