Bringing the Amazon online, the rise (and rise) of Bitcoin, life imitating Star Trek-based art and a laid-back chit chat over coffee with SoundCloud and Wooga – you certainly couldn’t accuse Social Media Week of having too narrow a focus.
The event, which is into its fifth year, is a smorgasbord of talks, panel discussions and workshops, many of which are free to attend. SMW takes place next week and is spread over three venues: Supermarkt, Platoon Kunsthalle and the Factory.
Some of the highlights include the global launch of WEB, a feature-length documentary film about the intersection of the Internet, interdependence, and personal connections which saw director Michael Kleiman live in small villages in the Andes and in the Amazon jungle in Peru to connect families with computers and the Internet. It takes place on Thursday, September 25 at the Platoon Kunsthalle.
Two days earlier, the same venue will host another film preview, this time of The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin – a journey through the strange and complex world of the virtual currency with a 35-year-old Bitcoin expert from Pittsburgh.
And one for the Trekkies – things like Oculus Rift, smartwear and Hologram Tupac have seen us come closer than ever to living the Star Trek dream today. This Microsoft hosted event, at Supermarkt on Monday, will discuss the weird and wonderful effects of life imitating art within the Internet of Things.
Also on Monday, a Yahoo! coffee chat will see Andy Carvell of Soundcloud and Wooga’s Eric Seufert discuss global growth marketing strategies for mobile.
The content at this year’s SMW Berlin is spread across six tracks – work and enterprise, ethical economy, society, tech and innovation, creative collision and lifestyle – and you can find all the info here.
Photo credit: Vilmar Valdmann