Short Abstract:

This panel invites participants and researchers of key Barcelona technology collectives to share observations on the cultural role and contemporary challenges of networked platforms, politics, and democratic prototyping following the 15M movement and Barcelona en Común's 2015 win of city government.

Long Abstract:

Networked social movements from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street to the Indigados (15M) movement captured worldwide attention for coordinating mass citizen mobilizations across diverse global sites in 2011. Following such uprisings, activist groups involved with Spain's Indignados movement - and technological activists especially -- are credited for spurring new national political parties (such as Podemos) and alternative non-party electoral coalitions (such as Barcelona en Común and Ahora Madrid). Spanish technological activists are noted for playing key roles as new mediators of political participation and advancing calls to leverage digital technologies in new citizen platforms. This panel invites participants and researchers of several key media and technology collectives from Barcelona to share observations on the cultural role and contemporary challenges of networked platforms, politics, and democratic prototyping practices following the post-Indignados developments and - notably - the 2015 winning of city government in Barcelona by Barcelona en Común. With Simona Levi, (Co-founder Xnet); Tere Badia, (Director, El Hangar); Xabier Barandarian, (Professor, University of the Basque Country); Sergio Salgado (Co-founder, 15MpaRato); Jaron Rowan (BAU Centro Universitario de Diseño de Barcelona. Co-organizador del FCForum); Daniel Miracle (Founder, Neokinok.tv); Antonio Blanco (Grupo Redes, Movimientos y Technopolitca).