The Big #rpReview: re:publica 2013 – IN/SIDE/OUT
Our decade spanning review of re:publica is slowly coming to an end. As of now we've reviewed the very first re:publica in 2007, discussed Anonymous in 2008, reported on Sascha Lobo's 2009 follower party, explained the origin of our awesome karaoke tradition in 2010, celebrated our last event at Kalkscheune in 2011 and found a new home in the STATION Berlin in 2012. The past 10 years have been busy!
re:publica 2013 featured the motto IN/SIDE/OUT to highlight the thrust out of the digital and into the physical world. A total of 5000 people went in and out of the STATION Berlin between 6 and 8 May. #rp13 marked yet another increase in participants, which can be credited to the expanded thematic diversity of the seventh re:publica. Next to proven topics on internet policy and blogging, the year also focused on social media, gamification, open data, data mapping, 3D printing, interactive design, storytelling and copy right issues. Also, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) hosted a sub-conference on ambivalent technologies and the limits of openness.
The "get re:ady!" track focused on working life in the digital and Berlin's start-up scene in particular. The track was issued with an extra ticket category for Berlin-based entrepreneurs and featured its own space for global businesses and projects to meet and connect. get re:ady was rounded off with a visit from "Enterprise Europe Network", a network initiated by the European Commission.
The re:publica stage was again full of diverse themes and topics. Anne Wizorek presented her work on #aufschrei, which later that year received the Grimme Online Award. The discussion panel looking at how YouTube is turning out tomorrow's celebrities turned out to be a bit of a prophecy. In his usual dry style, Felix Schwenzel presented unusually pragmatic suggestion for world improvement.
re:publica 2013 was more international than ever before and this was reflected in the line-up of speakers. Sci-fi author Cory Doctorow discussed lawmakers' lack of understand of the internet, writer and head of the TV show "IT Crowd" was interviewed by re:publica co-founder Johnny Haeusler and philologist and Cuba's first blogger Yoani Sánchez reported back about her home country. Our partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the AfriLabs network cemented the international character of re:publica 2013.
2013 also saw the creation of the re:publica Reader. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Deutsche Journalistenschule (DJS) and the self-publishing platform epubli, the Reader was assembled during the three conference days and became the "most rapidly published book in the world". The Reader is still available in the Apple, Google and Amazon stores.
Your memories of re:publica 2013 have been coming in, too: Mario Sorgalla looks back at his experiences during the re:campaign, Jonas Schönfelder remembers the Broadcast Center, re:publica's podcast platform and Anna-Lena shared a picture of her preparations before the conference start. Thanks to all of you for sharing your great experiences!
We welcome all of your personal memories, anecdotes and stories from re:publica, especially the ones from 2014 and 2015. Let us know on Twitter using #rpRevue or via mail at redaktion at re-publica.de. We're looking forward to your feedback!
In the meantime, go back and check out the rest of re:publica 2013. The website is still online and our YouTube channel features several playlists from that year. Our Flickr account features albums documenting the re:publica set-up and its three conference days (Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3). There's also a #rp13 group here.
Photos by Gregor Fischer | re:publica 2013 (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo by Tony Sojka I re:publica 2013 (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo by Philip Steffan (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Philip Steffan (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Philip Steffan (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Philip Steffan (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Markus Baumgartner (Copyright)
Cover photo (on top) by Gregor Fischer I re:publica 2013 (CC BY-SA 2.0)