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November 5, 2007
Turbulence Commission: "The ShiftSpace Commissions Program" by Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv
http://turbulence.org/works/shiftspace

Turbulence has commissioned ShiftSpace and now ShiftSpace commissions you.

Ten development grants of up to $2,000 will be awarded to individuals and collectives using ShiftSpace as a platform to create new Spaces (interfaces above websites) and Trails (cross-web information maps).

About ShiftSpace (http://ShiftSpace.org):
While the Internet's design is widely understood to be open and distributed, control over how users interact online has given us largely centralized and closed systems. The web is undergoing a transformation whose promise is user empowerment -- but who controls the terms of this new read/write web? The web has followed the physical movement of the city's social center from the (public) town square to the (private) mall. ShiftSpace attempts to subvert this trend by providing a new public space on the web.

By pressing the [Shift] + [Space] keys, a ShiftSpace user can invoke a new meta layer above any web page to browse and create additional interpretations, contextualizations and interventions -- which are called "Shifts". Users can choose between several authoring tools -- called "Spaces" -- that allow web users to annotate, modify and shift the content of a page and through ShiftSpace, share that shift with the rest of the web. "Trails" are maps of shifts (shiftspace content) that create meta-layer
navigation across websites. These trails might be used as a platform for collaborative research, for curating net art exhibitions, or as a way to facilitate a context-based public debate.

Go to the commissions site (http://turbulence.org/works/shiftspace), watch the introductory video, apply for a grant and help us spread the word.

"The ShiftSpace Commissions Program" is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs."