Aral Balkan

I'm really psyched about the iCommons workshop I'm going to be presenting at in Berlin during the Wizards of OS conference next month.

The workshop is titled "Bridges or walls? Can free culture coexist with proprietary projects?" and I just saw that they now have the session description up on their web site:

This 'session' will be structured as a dynamic podcast interview featuring Lawrence Lessig from Creative Commons and Aral Balkan from OSFlash.org, with inserts by members of the iCommons community. The subject of the debate is concerned with the interface between proprietary, open source and free culture communities and the grey areas within so-called open communities, businesses, products and services, as well as some practical tips on how proprietary vendors/products can come to embrace openness in a variety of forms.

It's truly an honor to be sharing the stage with Lawrence Lessig, whom I met very briefly after his excellent presentation at FlashForward Seattle (not many people have a presentation method named after them.) Also present are going to be my good friend Pete Barr-Watson, who is the Director of Business Development for iCommons, and the delightful Heather Ford, the Executive Director of iCommons, whom I met recently during her trip to Brighton. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to hanging out with them in Berlin as much as I'm looking forward to the conference itself.

The only problem is that I arrive in Berlin just an hour and a half before the workshop starts so I will have to head there straight from the airport following a 15-hour flight from Austin and I will probably be very grimy indeed! Eeeeuw! I think I need a portable sonic shower! :)