Conference
FutureEverything Conference 2012
After a year unlike any other in which we have been witness to more digital participatory global events then ever before, the 2012 FutureEverything Conference brings focus on emerging digital debates and technologies that aim to enhance levels of user participation and citizen-led content of the future.
Inspired by the 75th anniversary of the Mass Observation movement and the UN International Year of Cooperatives, the FutureEverything 2012 Conference – hosted at the Museum of Science and Industry – looks at the changing nature of collective action and takes place on Thursday 17 & Friday 18 May 2012. The conference explores the fast evolving character of mass participation today with a focus on citizen-led content and interactions within digital public space. We will also examine the new forms of participation now made possible by digital technology and consider the debate surrounding related trends from crowdsourcing to the Arab Spring, Wikileaks and Occupy.
As always, the FutureEverything conference brings together the latest debate and visionary ideas from around the world to present timely, inspiring and sometimes provocative views on the latest developments in digital culture.
Keynote Speakers
Juha van ‘t Zelfde – ‘The City & The City’: Cities and technologies, both made for the people and by the people, yet oddly neither can pertain to be universally democratic. Despite our best intentions, big business, greed and ambition have intervened to create curious idioms around what we know we want and what we don’t always realise we have; ‘smart cities’ are just one such example. Now hackneyed, the original ambitions of Smart City technology have become muddied. Is the notion of a democratic Smart City still the aspiration, or is there now more truth in privacy making the city more public?
Dr. Ian Brown: Dr. Brown is a leading research fellow at Oxford University specialising in online security, privacy and data protection. He has been invited to talk on the topic of security in relation to the excess of data that we plough into online communities; do we realise how this data will be used, are we prepared for this use and how can we protect ourselves from third parties and external companies from using our own open data against us?
Sanaz Raji – ‘Social Media, Activism, and the Middle East: From Iran’s Green Movement to the Arab Spring’: What does the death of Iranian Neda Agha Soltan, Israeli DJ, Noy Alooshe’s auto tuned satirical remix of Muammar Gaddafi’s “Zenga Zenga” speech, Gay Girl in Damascus blog hoax, and Egyptian blogger, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy’s #nudephotorevolutionary have in common? They all are some of the many social media events that happened in the Middle East, either during Iran’s “Green Movement” protests against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, or during the recent Arab revolutions. This talk explores the multiple social and political messages constructed through these social media events and will examine how social media has helped dissenting voices to emerge and grow, while at the same time, becoming areas for governmental repression.
Theatre Jukebox: Stand + Stare Collective: Theatre Jukebox is an interactive arcade-style unit that uses RFID technology to tell stories in a unique way. Objects or artefacts are tagged and, when placed beneath an RFID tag reader, trigger audio commentary that tells part of a wider story. It is new technology that can, in theory, open up archives in new and fabulous ways. It puts focus on the user and allows them to explore at their own rate and in as much detail as they wish in a non-linear fashion.
CaTalyST Workshop: CaTalyST is a research project at Lancaster University that focuses on citizen-led content. The group will envision and build next generation social media tools that have a positive effect on society. Catalyst’s engagement with FutureEverything will be 2-fold; a full day intensive hack workshop on Wednesday 16th May with the findings and outcomes of the workshop presented at the FutureEverything conference on Thursday 17th May.
Note: More confirmed speakers will be announced in February.
Advance conference tickets are on sale at a special rate of £180 until the end of February 2012, compared to the walk-up door rate of £240. Tickets are available for both full days of the conference on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 May, plus the opening gala event on Wednesday evening and all related workshops. The conference brings together around 500 delegates from across the creative industries, new technologies, innovation, arts, public sector and academia.
2012 conference tickets are on sale now. Buy tickets here.
