080808:Digital Color Conference

080808 Digital Color Conference

Intro

Despite the Olympics, the 0n0n0n conference series continues with 080808, and you're invited! This year, our theme is digital color. We seek to explore the thresholds of digital color, as we study 24-bit color bit by bit. As you may know, a binary string of 24 bits (1 bit = a zero or a one) defines standard digital colors. When you register for our unusual, virtual yet physical conference, you will set one of the bits to define the colors of our 080808 conference T-shirt. Yes, we will design the 080808 conference T-shirt together, bit by bit. Because the T-shirt has 4 colors, and each color has 24 bits, the conference is limited to four times 24 or 96 participants. It costs $30.00 to participate, and that's just to offset the cost of producing and shipping the conference T-shirt.

Once again, we blend the technical and the social. How does digital color get mixed and stored? How do 96 people affect each other's color choices? Why do we choose 1 (on, yes, existence) or 0 (off, no, nothingness)? Can 1 even exist without 0? Is the universe a big pile of existence and nothing, of ones and zeros, and if so, what color is it? Find out more at 080808.

The conference shirt, designed by Rhea Cortado, will consist of a custom-dyed solid color shirt with three color stripes sewn to the bottom. We will produce these shirts after the conference ends on Friday August 8, at 8 PM. About four weeks later, we mail one of them to you. Indeed, 080808 boils down to the intricate process of choosing and justifying the value of your bit, and the cool conference shirt.

How it works

Try the whole "setting your bits" part by looking at the Bits page of this website. There you can see how the colors of the whole 080808 site change as you switch individual bits from 0 to 1. You can also study how other participonts justified their choices of bits. This is in fact the most conference-like part of the conference, and it is comparable to a poster session. We expect the justifications to expand as participants refine their arguments. Since 1 can stand for existence, and 0 can stand for nothingness, we are deep in philosophy here: Why is there something rather than nothing? See, for example, Heidegger: Time and Being.

Location

Because of global warming, we don't want to increase your travel footprint. So the conference happens online right here. We will avoid the multi-user chat forum with no tangible results, though. We want to engage you physically, we want to play, and we want to look, listen and learn.

Organization

080808 is conceived and operated by Greg Niemeyer and Nick Reid. Golden Eye is a noted artist and digital color expert. Golden Eye's identity will be revealed to participants at the end of the conference. The 080808 T-shirt is designed and produced by Rhea Cortado and many seamstresses working in Los Angeles. The webisted is coded by Nick Reid. 080808 is sponsored by the Berkeley Center for New Media, which is directed by Ken Goldberg. But who makes it all happen is you, the honorable conference participant.