The Berkman Center for Internet and Society Sponsors ROFLCon!

I’m hugely excited today to announce that ROFLCon III has been officially sponsored by top internet smartypants headquarters the Berkman Center for Internet and Society!

In addition to providing a rich source of many of our most badass moderators and presenters throughout the years, like Ethan Zuckerman (and more to be announced!), the Berkman Center backed us all the way along our early fumblings getting things together in 2008.

So, needless to say, we’re excited to have them aboard for this third installment in our trilogy of ROFLs as we get into our pimply awkward adolescence as a conference.

If you’re not familiar with Berkman, you may be interested in the massive library of research that they’ve generated on all aspects of web and policy. They’re also involved, fantastically enough, in the upcoming launch of Lady Gaga’s nonprofit.

In any case, excited to have them aboard once again!

Fight for the Future at ROFLCon III!

We’re thrilled to announce today that Tiff Cheng, one of the co-founders of the Internet’s Seal Team Six – Fight for the Future – has been officially confirmed for ROFLCon!

If you’re not familiar with them, FFTF was critically involved in the front lines of recent wranglings around SOPA/PIPA, and helped to organize the flood of efforts to raise concerns about the bill among lawmakers.

They’ve also been the masterminds behind a variety of awesome campaigns in activism defending freedoms online, including our personal favorite, Free Bieber.

Tiff will join Alexis Ohanian and Anil Dash for the developing panel we’ve got coming together on coordinating activities to defend the security of the United Internets. More to come soon!

FATALITY: Super Art Fight @ ROFLCon III

Back by the popular demand (mostly from This Random Dude on Twitter), we’re thrilled today to announce that the very excellent people behind Baltimore/DC-based Super Art Fight will be staging what is probably this universe’s most contentious live-action illustration slugfest at ROFLCon III this year!

We had an awesome time with them back in 2010 with a heavyweight showdown between ROFLFriends like Tak Toyoshima (Secret Asian Man) and Anath/Yuko (Johnny Wander). This year, they’re coming back with special guest contestants:

* ROB DENBLEYKER, CYANIDE AND HAPPINESS

* ETHAN NICOLLE, AXE COP

* CALDWELL TANNER, LOLDWELL

* ZACH WEINER, SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CEREAL

Anyways, with a line-up like that, you know it’s going to be intense (and superlatively offensive). More to follow soon. Welcome aboard, folks!

AXE COP

The fictional universe of webcomic Axe Cop captures some of what is so essentially beautiful and wonderful about the web: dinosaurs, axes, flutes, law enforcemen, robot arms. You know, the usual.

And so, we’re thrilled today to announce that we’ve just received reports that ROFL Team Six has officially confirmed that Ethan Nicolle, the co-creator of Axe Cop (along with the creative lead/writer on the project, his seven-year-old brother Malachai), will be speaking — and drawing — at ROFLCon III!

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure (or haven’t yet spent an hour or so reading through the completely surreal feature of Ask Axe Cop), it is absolutely worth your time.

Excited to have them aboard! And stay tuned, we have a host of more guest announcements coming down the pipe this week.