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With its new IN/SIDE/OUT motto, re:publica sets new advance ticket sale record

It feels like re:publica 2013’s motto has been patiently waiting for six years to finally make its official debut. After all, IN/SIDE/OUT was one of the founding motivations behind the very first re:publica in 2007:
Organisers Tanja and Johnny Haeusler, Markus Beckedahl, and Andreas Gebhard wanted to lure bloggers out of the net and into the physical world. In the years that followed, hasn’t it always been the aim to sound out the differences between these two worlds, to break down barriers and define what connects the digital and analogue societies?

For the past seven years, it has been re:publica’s goal to be a broker between online and offline – to be IN and OUT.

Results speak for themselves:
800 Early-Bird and Blogger Tickets for re:publica 2013 were sold-out within 45 minutes of the advance ticket sale. This marks a great start on the way to the final goal of being able to welcome 5,000 conference guests at the STATION Berlin in May.

The consistent growth in the number of visitors and the mixture of re:publica guest is a reflection of social media’s integration into civil society and its rising importance.

With this in mind, the motto IN/SIDE/OUT can be read as an upending of the digital society: Facebook is reaching one billion users, established newspapers are folding to the net-based competition, and Twitter, which was once the tool for alternative civilian war correspondence, is being utilised by militaries to communicate their combat targets. While we were always sure that at some point everyone would use the mechanisms offered by Web2.0, the question remains: Who profits in the end?

Will citizens embrace obligations of governments and businesses to become more transparent, while at the same time tolerate the non-transparency of those companies which form the structures of the internet?
Or will we soon pull the plug and return to a place where privacy is tangible again? Will we replace the INternet with an OUTernet?

From 6 – 8 May 2013, re:publica will be turning the digital society IN/SIDE/OUT for the seventh time with the help of a wide range of speakers and perspectives. At the same time, it invites all guests to turn their output into input and vice-versa.

We’re looking forward to: controversies, excitement, and surprises.
We’re looking forward to: seeing you.