<nettime> Offline is The New Luxury/White Spots

[Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>]

   Offline is The New Luxury

   English version of Dutch video documentary produced for VPRO TV now
   available at [1]https://vimeo.com/169224545

   Digital networks are forever expanding. Places without cell phone
   reception or a Wi-Fi connection are increasingly hard to find. If tech
   companies have their way, the remaining 'white spots' on the digital
   map will soon disappear, leaving no place on earth unconnected. But
   what is happening off the grid?

   White Spots is a collaborative multimedia project by documentary
   filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak, visual artist Jacqueline Hassink, and
   information designer Richard Vijgen. Working in various media, they
   travel beyond the frontiers of the networked world to explore unwired
   landscapes, communities and lifestyles, questioning the need to be
   constantly plugged into a single, seamless planetary tech-topia. Will
   offline become the new luxury?

   This television documentary takes viewers on a tour of the offline
   world and includes interviews with internet critic Evgeny Morozov,
   psychologist Sherry Turkle (MIT), Amish minister Norman Yoder
   (Shipshewana, Indiana), poet and writer Aram Pachyan (Armenia), and
   Minister of Telecommunications Harin Fernando of Sri Lanka. The
   documentary is directed by Bregtje van der Haak and produced by VPRO
   Backlight. It comes with the free White Spots App (for android and
   iPhone, design Richard Vijgen).

   Within the framework of the documentary the White Spots App was
   produced. Please visit: [2]http://www.white-spots.net/.

   Do you ever desire to escape from the information flows surrounding us?
   The White Spots App visualizes the invisible electromagnetic cloud that
   we live in and offers a way out. Use the App with Google cardboard to
   travel from the online to the offline world in Virtual Reality, or use
   the White Spots world map to travel to places off the grid near you. In
   VR mode, the network scanner shows the invisible digital signals around
   you in real time and takes you on a journey to the end of the Internet
   in immersive 360� stories. In Map mode, the White Spots world map shows
   the global divide between the connected and unconnected worlds. Browse
   the map to explore video stories about life off the grid or use the
   route planner to venture into uncharted territory yourself. The route
   planner finds a route to a White Spot near you and invites you to add
   new stories to the map.

   The White Spots App features a world map, a network scanner, a GPS
   based route planner, short documentary clips and a series of virtual
   reality experiences.

   Download the app and join the global expedition to the end of the
   Internet!

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