May 5, 2005 (= 050505) sounds interesting. I plan to go.

050505 is the fifth in a series of conferences on emerging themes in New Media organized at UC Berkeley by the Center for New Media. The purpose of the 050505 conference is to explore the transitions users make when they switch from one mode of media interaction to another. The applause before a concert, the opening sequence of a movie, the ring tone of a cell phone, the login for an online game; all are transitions from one mode of interaction to another.

050505 > Zoning and Grinding > New Transitions brings together New Media scholars, researchers and developers to discuss transitions between different modes of interaction. What do we hold on to, what do we let go of, how do we transform in interactions with different technologies? How do transitions frame a space of interaction? How can we design transitions, both technically and culturally, to translate our bodies into new spheres of interaction?

On May 5, 2005, scholars, researchers and developers are invited to the New Media Commons at UC Berkeley's Moffitt Library to discuss the phenomenon of transition, to better understand the parameters that define successful or disastrous transitions. Our day-long conference is organized in four sections, Tuning In, Zoning Out, Breaking Up, and Letting Go. Each section includes 5 short 15-minute presentations and a wildly interdisciplinary discussion to follow. Presenters include New Media artists, practitioners, scholars and theorists from the Bay Area and beyond. The conference is free and open to the registered public.

Trainers face this all the time. Think of all the talks, books, articles, and periphrenalia devoted to ice-breakers.

The transition from learning to work to learning can be rocky. Some booth at every large training conference will be hawking police tape to warn people away from the learner's cubicle, even though you could achieve the same effect by posting a sign saying "I am a jerk."