UpStage is the name for a group of artists in New Zealand who create performances online using an open source application. They will be hosting another performance in early December. For some parts of the world the event starts on Dec. 3, 2008 while for other parts it’s Dec. 4, 2008.  They do offer a link to site that will give you the correct time in your particular part of the world. First, here’s a little information about the work from their About page,

UpStage is a web-based venue for online performance; it is an open source server application that has been in development since 2003. The second version of the software was developed with funding from the Community Partnership Fund of the New Zealand government’s Digital Strategy and released in June 2007.

“It is a fabulous and strange conjunction of dramatic and artistic devices. I was transfixed by the complex new possibilities opened up by the tool.” Ruth Catlow

Online audiences anywhere in the world participate in live performance events by going to a web page, without having to download and install any additional software.

You can get more about the group and their work here and you can find out about the event and sign up for it here.

I’ve been doing some thinking about risk especially the risks associated with implementing nanotechnology and mostly I’ve found material about environment, health, and safety risks but not much about any social issues. I did find a 2007 call for papers on a projected book titled, ‘Nanotechnology, Social Implications, and the Environment’. Sadly I can’t find the book listed as published or as a forthcoming book on the publisher’s (Rowman & Littlefield)  web site. As for the usual risk management principles cited for health and safety and environmental issues, I found an article which discusses a couple of new models. I will be writing this material up later this week. If you’re dying to read the article yourself, it’s called “Risk Management Principles for Nanotechnology” by Gary E. Marchant, Douglas J. Sylvester, and Kenneth W. Abbott in Nanoethics (2008) 2:43-60.