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ABOUT DESCON 7.0

The environment is very much at risk. We are processing too much data by drawing maps and sensing the data from our environment, but how do we draw the correct conclusions and get navigation from them? Do the maps and data point us in the right direction for society? We refuse to live in a world of hope and fear and black and white predictions. We want to explore and find a steady course through what is in between, the grey bits between the extremes.

This year, DESCON focuses on the impact of technology on the ENVIRONMENT and how we could better make sense of our natural and social environment. We look at how artists and scientists can help us create better narratives using data visualisation.

We invite you to join us in these discussions as we hear from exceptional contributors. You will have the opportunity to participate in a data hackathon, Capture the Flag challenge, and one of our three exciting hands-on workshops on data visualisation narrative, how to train your AI data sets, and how to assemble a Klimerko device.

Impact Hub Belgrade
Makedonska 21, 11103 Belgrade
Sat, 28 May | 10:00 – 19:00
Sun, 29 May | 10:00 – 18:00

DESCON is a free event.

Register for DESCON 7.0


JOIN US

Datathon

In 2022, we’re switching our usual IoT hackathon to a datathon challenge. Participants and teams will work on new creative uses of environmental data sets.

We’ll share data available via the open-source citizen’s network Klimerko, any open portal data sets supplied by the Republic of Serbia, as well as any open data available in the neighbourhood that is scrapeable or free to download and use.

Projects such as Klimerko and the Vazduh Gradjanima initiative demonstrate how open environmental data and collaborative citizen measurement networks can benefit the environment: broad use of such data enables high-quality information in energy and other sectors and can, in some cases, help to spot environmental disasters.


CALL FOR PARTICIPATION & VOLUNTEERS

We welcome you to submit your talk or project proposal by Tue, 24th May. If you’re selected, we will inform you within 3 days so that you have time to prepare.

DESCON is a non-profit event run by a small team. If you wish to help out during the weekend, let us know!


Expand All +

  • Day 1

    Sat, 28 May

  • We're excited to kick off another in-person DESCON!
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • Marco will discuss how microanalytical tools make it possible to have much of Boston Chemical Data Corp's fieldwork be done by people who are local or indigenous to their communities globally, and how this model for citizen participation in science is reliable, resilient, credible and affordable. While some elite scientific research groups were closed down because of the global pandemic, Boston Chemical Data Corp was still doing its fieldwork using this model and getting data into the public domain.
    Keynote
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • In this talk, Christo will talk about the practice of data as an investigative method. Data-driven investigations bring together a wide variety of disciplines and techniques. They combine code, design, and analysis and thus can not only extend previous forms of research but also develop and execute entirely new methodologies. He wants to highlight different aspects of data-driven methods and their opportunities for systematic investigations and interdisciplinary collaborations.

    Christo will use an investigation between the architect Alison Killing, the journalist Megha Rajagopalan and himself, where they looked for unknown internment camps in China’s region of Xinjiang, as a case study. These camps hold people from ethnic and religious minorities, largely the Uyghurs. The group built custom software to combine the systematic detection of censorship on Baidu Maps with architectural analysis of satellite imagery and added personal narratives from former inmates. Based on their methodology, they were able to classify hundreds of previously unknown camps.
    Keynote
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • In 2022, we’re switching our usual IoT hackathon to a datathon challenge. Participants and teams will work on new creative uses of environmental data sets.

    We’ll share data available via the open-source citizen’s network Klimerko, any open portal data sets supplied by the Republic of Serbia, as well as any open data available in the neighbourhood that is scrapeable or free to download and use.

    Projects such as Klimerko and the Vazduh Gradjanima initiative demonstrate how open environmental data and collaborative citizen measurement networks can benefit the environment: broad use of such data enables high-quality information in energy and other sectors and can, in some cases, help to spot environmental disasters.
    Datathon
    Where
    Square

  • Since its inception, Neural magazine has embodied network ecologies that are essential to its existence. They have infrastructural, artistic, and ecological qualities. The unfolding of these networks and their interdependence can be a possible model for sustainable cultural publishing.
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • Martin will present Cyanometer and some other ecological data installations that he created and some that are in progress. The Cyanometer by Martin Bricelj Baraga is a monument to the blueness of the sky. It is inspired by the original cyanometer invented by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure in 1789. The Cyanometer is both a monument and software that periodically collects images of the sky.
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • In this talk, researcher and artist Vladan Joler dissects the various layers of the superstructures that underlie new extractivist practices. Step by step, from the gravity fields of the Internet black holes to the architecture of our personalised prison caves to the design of the numerous parts of the engines of extractivism, Joler takes us through the different allegories and concepts presented in his recent animated movie, map and essay The New Extractivism.

    The work illustrates various aspects of this prison in 33 chapters that each explore a different theoretical concept related to the topics of power, control, digital labour, colonialism and exploitation of nature, among others. In that sense, this lecture is a cognitive and visual rollercoaster designed to help us understand the complexities enabling the new structures of power hidden behind the screens on our devices.
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • Learn how to make your own air-quality measuring device, Klimerko.

    3-9 participants
    Workshop

  • Day 2

    Sun, 29 May

  • In 2022, we’re switching our usual IoT hackathon to a datathon challenge. Participants and teams will work on new creative uses of environmental data sets.

    We’ll share data available via the open-source citizen’s network Klimerko, any open portal data sets supplied by the Republic of Serbia, as well as any open data available in the neighbourhood that is scrapeable or free to download and use.

    Projects such as Klimerko and the Vazduh Gradjanima initiative demonstrate how open environmental data and collaborative citizen measurement networks can benefit the environment: broad use of such data enables high-quality information in energy and other sectors and can, in some cases, help to spot environmental disasters.
    Datathon
    Where
    Square

  • Hate ideologies and radicalisation on the web represent a new danger for societies around the world. These hateful standpoints are voiced often in the user comments on various platforms. However, it is physically impossible for humans to moderate the comment sections of the news websites and the social networks and remove the content spreading hate ideology. Usually, the moderators are using algorithms trained with the word and phrase lists characteristic of the right-wing or radical Islam milieu (in addition to various lists of slurs).

    In Decoding Antisemitism Project, we experiment with the new approach in which we want to train the algorithms to recognise the hate ideologies on a conceptual basis. We work on antisemitism in user comments in three languages (French, English, German): which we are annotating (labelling) on a conceptual level. If our experiment will be successful, we will be able to showcase a completely new approach to natural language processing (NLP) within supervised machine learning. This talk will also demonstrate how insights from humanities can contribute to safety online if supported by machine learning.
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • Mihajlo and Jovan will talk about the right-to-repair movement.: how the movement came into existence, and what its goals are. We will explore responsible and sustainable product design, how the lack of it impacts everybody, and possible solutions to these challenges.
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • There is no free speech without free media, but to be truly free, media needs an open ecosystem. This is a story about open sourcing media development.
    Lightning Talk
    Where
    Gallery

  • Marina and Filip will tell you how they became interested in the air pollution problem and where they found inspiration for solving it. In this presentation, they will talk about air monitoring and filtration, which filter they found the most efficient, and what they consider is the best way for increasing awareness about air quality.
    Lightning Talk
    Where
    Gallery

  • Obrada podataka i rezultati analize Klimerko uredjaja u odnosu na oficijalne stanice u oblasti Istočne i Jugoistocne Srbije.
    Lightning Talk
    Where
    Gallery

  • A look into the newest iteration of Klimerko - the Klimerko Pro. Klimerko has gone a long way from the first version that was developed at DESCON. This session will be an overview of its features, inner workings and the development process, as well as the new open-source IoT platform that goes along with it - RockIoT.
    Lightning Talk
    Where
    Gallery

  • With a shrinking carbon budget comes questions about what we should cut back on. Do we need to preserve as much data as we do? And if we want to save all our files, can we save the world too?
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

  • Join us as our datathon teams and participants will present their projects, and the Capture the Flag winners are announced.
    Presentation
    Where
    Gallery

With thanks to our sponsors & partners

See you at DESCON 7.0 | 28-29 May | Impact Hub Belgrade