Friends with Benefits – The Tupperwarisation of Social Media / Lior Zalmanson

How did our online friendships transform into marketing channels? Communication through social networks, the use of online referrals and the popularity of the crowdfunding business model are creating frequent situations in which users make monetary appeals to their acquaintances and friends circles, convincing them to contribute and to buy, in order to fulfill their personal, financial and business-related goals. What caused this trend, what will it do to our relationships? and what can we learn from the Tupperware parties of the 60's on all of this?

How Interfaces Demand Obedience / Mushon Zer-Aviv

The internet, once associated with openness and decentralization, is increasingly understood in terms of the control exerted by government agencies (like the NSA) and advertising (targeted ads). What is less commonly discussed is how this subliminal control is embedded in interface design. This talk argues that web interfaces demand our silent obedience with every page load and will try to offer tactics and strategies for challenging the politics of the interface.

In collaboration with The Tel-Aviv Utopia Festival