DOCSLIB.ORG

The Dark Side of Social Media Alarm Bells, Analysis and the Way Out

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Dark Side of Social Media Alarm Bells, Analysis and the Way Out The Dark Side of Social Media Alarm bells, analysis and the way out Sander Duivestein & Jaap Bloem Vision | Inspiration | Navigation | Trends [email protected] II Contents 1 The Dark Side of Social Media: r.lassche01 > flickr.com Image: a reality becoming more topical by the day 1 Contents PART I ALARM BELLS 7 2 2012, a bumper year for social media 7 3 Two kinds of Social Media Deficits 9 4 Addiction in the Attention Deficit Economy 10 PART II ANALYSIS 12 5 Ten jet-black consequences for Homo Digitalis Mobilis 12 6 Social media a danger to cyber security 20 7 The macro-economic Social Media Deficit 21 8 How did it get this far? 22 PART III THE WAY OUT 25 9 Dumbing-down anxiety 25 10 Basic prescription: social is the new capital 27 11 The Age of Context is coming 28 12 SlowTech should really be the norm 30 13 The Slow Web movement 31 14 Responsible for our own behavior 33 References 35 Justification iv Thanks iv This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 3.0 Unported (cc by-nc-sa 3.0) license. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, usa. The authors, editors and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential PhotoDiskImage: damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the 2013 Sogeti VINT, Research Institute for New Technology information or programs contained herein. The opinions expressed Text Jaap Bloem, Sander Duivestein & Thomas van Manen are the collective ones of the team of authors and do not mean any Book production LINE UP boek en media bv, Groningen. the Netherlands official position of the sponsoring companies. 1 The Dark Side of Social Media: 1 a reality becoming more topical by the day Expelling the darkness “Massive fail — the anti-social world of social media” “For everyone to use” was what the word social in social http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ media was meant to mean back in 2004 when O’Reilly’s massive-fail-the-anti-social-world-of-social-media Silicon Valley guys coined the term Web 2.0. That libera- tion was fine as long as it would air voices out of the “Asocial Media is on the rise” critical masses that had been oppressed by big com- http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/asocial-media merce and the mass media elite. Unsurprisingly however, the social media groundswell thereafter also unleashed a “Social Media Madness — join or die” frantic chaos in the name of democratization that, given http://da.scribd.com/doc/43733307/Social-Media-Madness-2010 Media Side of SocialThe Dark our liberal values, wasn’t easy to contain. “Terrorism 2.0: Al Qaeda’s Online Tools” Instead of stimulating a classical “aphorisms, epigrams http://schedule.sxsw.com/2011/events/event_IAP5405 and repartee” culture, as Tim O’Reilly wanted us to believe in the Fall of 2008, so-called social media today “The Dark Side of Social Media” rather unify mankind in the caricature of rabbits caught http://h30565.www3.hp.com/t5/Feature-Articles/ in the headlights of their own mobile devices. The The-Dark-Side-of-Social-Media/ba-p/880 uniquely new focus of precious social media gadgets has brought us attention and knowledge deficits, financial “Crime and Social Media Sites — Catching Criminals and Learning to and societal deficits that tend to darken the bright ben- Avoid Them” efit which was so badly sought after. http://source.southuniversity.edu/crime-and-social-media-sites- catching-criminals-and-learning-to-avoid-them-75131.aspx From the beginning, for instance in Germany, there was a sound skepticism rising fom the mere meaning “The 10 Types of Social Media Addicts” of “sozial” since that word used to be exclusively related http://mashable.com/2012/10/12/ to true societal value as opposed to just popular (Latin the-10-types-of-social-media-addict-infographic/ “populus”), its intimate cousin vulgar (Latin: “vulgus”) or even worse. Many Germans still refuse to speak of “The dark side of social media: Fake tweets during Hurricane Sandy” “soziale Medien” and deliberately use the English phrase http://www.firstpost.com/world/false-tweets-on-hurricane-sandy- instead. reflects-darker-side-of-social-media-512959.html Many now openly have begun to question the social “Call It Antisocial Media: Even Twitter Has a Dark Side” nature of social media, which should have raised eye- http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/12/call_it_antisocial_media_even.html brows from the start given the intimate combination of social in its basic tribal sense and media as the platform “Parents, Beware: Big Commerce is Watching Your Kids, Courtesy of for and mirror of our human egos. Their Phone Apps” http://www.forbes.com/sites/robwaters/2012/12/11/parents-beware- These musings sum up our concern, not as to deny the big-commerce-is-watching-your-kids-courtesy-of-their-phone-apps/ bright side. We just need to continuously and actively expel its darkness to reap the benefits of social media. “Huge rise in social media ‘crimes’” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20851797 Twelve selected sources from the past four years may serve as an initial reminder: “The 10 Types of Twitterers and How to Tame Their Tweets” http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevefaktor/2013/01/04/the-10-types-of- twitterers-and-how-to-tame-their-tweets-twitter-users/ “Quote” 2 IA report went to press — was published in the South D E China Morning Post on 15 September. The observa- M tions that were made about whipped-up hatred were AL perfectly in line with our books Me the Media (2008) I C and The App Effect (2012). In fact, this report, The O S Dark Side of Social Media, is a further elaboration of We never look up anymore the same issue. E OF OF E In the first week of January 2013 a Tumblr website put our D I S society into a fearsome perspective. The website features a collage of images of people staring down at their cell A phones. They are lost in time. Frozen in the moment. Their D body is in meatspace, but their mind is in cyberspace. They are completely detached from their surroundings. The blog THE RK is created by a researcher on mobility who lives in Helsinki, via Finland. The About page contains the following statement: Free download Free download via http://www.ict-books.com/ “The world has gone mobile. We live in an information http://www.ict-books.com/books/ books/inspiration-trends/ society and are connected to information anywhere we go, inspiration-trends/me-the-media- the-app-effect-pdf-lowres- and whatever we do, 24/7. And that has changed how we as pdf-lowres-en-1-detail en-detail people behave. We never look up anymore.” Good grounds for our efforts present themselves on a The blog went viral for some days. Newspapers from all near-daily basis. Lucid enumerations, such as Criminal Use over the world payed attention to the site. According to of Social Media (2011) by NW3C, the American National the international Metro the “New Tumblr illustrates our White Collar Crime Center, are quite explicit. And accord- tech-dependent society”, tech website Mashable named it ing to recent statistics, a Facebook crime is being commit- “Beautiful Tribute to the Tech Obsessed” and newspaper ted in the UK every 40 minutes. Social media are so easy Daily Mail made the following statement: “Photos capture to use, so fast, so accessible and so widespread, that this the way mobile phones have changed the way we interact should not cause anyone any surprise. with the world around us”. The power of social, now open to all The Tumblr website “We Never Look Up” visualizes the Andrew Lam, the author of the Chinese Dark Side article, society we now live in. It creates awareness of the effect denounced the fact that “the power of social media, now that social media and smartphones are having on our lifes. open to all, means even fools can cause chaos in far-flung In an interview with Metro the creator made the following places, with only an ill-made video.” Lam was referring to comment: “I’m not saying it is a negative thing, when done the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which provoked safely. It’s just that we need to be aware of that times change, worldwide emotional protests, one of which resulted in the and behavior as well. But in social context, with friends, death of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya. etc., it’s kind of rude to finger on your mobile the whole time. My message is not to judge, just to make this behavior con- Me the Media deals with the “power of social media” crete.” Just like the creator of the Tumblr site, we have been which came into vogue in 2007 when, for the first time, keeping track of it all, of course: beginning with the English more information was produced in one year than had been search string Dark Side of Social Media. The latest remark- produced in total since the invention of writing, 5000 years able article under this heading — right before our own earlier.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winners and Finalists
    2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winners and Finalists The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards acknowledge outstanding achievements and innovations from across our global partner ecosystem. This impressive group of partners and their solutions demonstrates amazing agility and creativity in building new technologies across the intelligent cloud to edge, all with the goal of exceeding customer expectations by bringing technology to life in meaningful ways. This year’s group of winners and finalists is an inspiring reflection of the impact our partner ecosystem enables through the innovative technologies they continue to build for our mutual customers. Across categories including Azure, Modern Work & Security, and Social Impact, our partners are dedicated to helping customers solve challenges and truly work to support our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Congratulations to this year’s winners and finalists, which have shown exceptional expertise, dedication to our customers, and care for our world through a year of change. Table of contents Partner of the Year Awards: Category Winners • Azure • Business Applications • Modern Work & Security • Industry • Social Impact • Business Excellence Category Finalists Country/Region Winners 2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winners – Category Azure 2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winners – Category 2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winners – Category Azure AI Icertis United States www.icertis.com Icertis’ strategic bet with Microsoft on Azure AI is delivering strong customer success and leadership positioning in the contract lifecycle management market. Hundreds of customers have been empowered through over 10 million contracts valued at more than $1 trillion, and in 40+ languages across 90+ countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Amber Billey Senylrc 4/1/2016
    AMBER BILLEY SENYLRC 4/1/2016 Photo by twm1340 - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License https://www.flickr.com/photos/89093669@N00 Created with Haiku Deck Today’s slides: http://bit.ly/SENYLRC_BF About me... ● Metadata Librarian ● 10 years of cataloging and digitization experience for cultural heritage institutions ● MLIS from Pratt in 2009 ● Zepheira BIBFRAME alumna ● Curious by nature [email protected] @justbilley Photo by GBokas - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License https://www.flickr.com/photos/36724091@N07 Created with Haiku Deck http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1153322 02743cam 22004094a 45000010008000000050017000080080041000250100017000660190014000830200031000970200028001280200 03800156020003500194024001600229035002400245035003900269035001700308040005300325050002200378 08200120040010000300041224500790044225000120052126000510053330000350058449000480061950400640 06675050675007315200735014066500030021416500014021717000023021858300049022089000014022579600 03302271948002902304700839020090428114549.0080822s2009 ctua b 001 0 eng a 2008037446 a236328594 a9781591585862 (alk. paper) a1591585864 (alk. paper) a9781591587002 (pbk. : alk. paper) a159158700X (pbk. : alk. paper) a99932583184 a(OCoLC) ocn236328585 a(OCoLC)236328585z(OCoLC)236328594 a(NNC)7008390 aDLCcDLCdBTCTAdBAKERdYDXCPdUKMdC#PdOrLoB-B00aZ666.5b.T39 200900a0252221 aTaylor, Arlene G., d1941-14aThe organization of information /cArlene G. Taylor and Daniel N. Joudrey. a3rd ed. aWestport, Conn. :bLibraries Unlimited,c2009. axxvi,
    [Show full text]
  • Документ – Книга – Семантический Веб: Вклад Старой Науки О Документации Milena Tsvetkova
    Документ – книга – семантический веб: вклад старой науки о документации Milena Tsvetkova To cite this version: Milena Tsvetkova. Документ – книга – семантический веб: вклад старой науки о документации. Scientific Enquiry in the Contemporary World: Theoretical basiсs and innovative approach, 2016,San Francisco, United States. pp.115-128, ⟨10.15350/L_26/7/02⟩. ⟨hal-01687965⟩ HAL Id: hal-01687965 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01687965 Submitted on 31 Jan 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est des- for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re- tinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scien- search documents, whether they are published or not. tifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant The documents may come from teaching and research des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche institutions in France or abroad, or from public or pri- français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou vate research centers. privés. RESEARCH ARTICLES. SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DOCUMENT – BOOK – SEMANTIC WEB: OLD SCIENCE DOCUMENTATION`S CONTRIBUTION M. Tsvetkova1 DOI: http://doi.org/10.15350/L_26/7/02 Abstract The key focus of the research is the contribution of the founder of the documentation science, Paul Otlet, to the evolution of communication technologies and media. Methods used: systematic-mediological approach to research in book studies, documentology, information and communication sciences, retrospective discourse analysis of documents, studies, monographs. The way in which Otlet presents arguments about the document “book” as the base technology of the universal documentation global network is reviewed chronologically. His critical thinking has been established: by expanding the definition of a “book”, he projects its future transformation in descending order – from The Universal Book of Knowledge (Le Livre universel de la Science) through the “thinking machine” (machine à penser), to its breakdown to Biblions, the smallest building blocks of written knowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Sasha Polakow-Suransky with Cyrus Habib
    Sasha Polakow-Suransky with Cyrus Habib [00:00:05] Welcome to The Seattle Public Library’s podcasts of author readings and library events. Library podcasts are brought to you by The Seattle Public Library and Foundation. To learn more about our programs and podcasts, visit our web site at w w w dot SPL dot org. To learn how you can help the library foundation support The Seattle Public Library go to foundation dot SPL dot org [00:00:37] Hi everybody. Good evening. Thanks so much for being here tonight. I'm Stesha Brandon. I'm the Literature and Humanities Program Manager here at The Seattle Public Library. And welcome to this evening's program with Sasha Polakow-Suransky. I wanted to make a quick programming note unfortunately. Lieutenant Governor Habib was called away on urgent business and won't be able to join us tonight. That said we have a representative from his office who will be saying a few words a little bit later in the program. I wanted to thank our author series sponsor Gary Kunis and the Seattle Times for generous promotional support of library programs. Thank you as well to our program partner Elliott Bay Book Company for being here tonight. Finally we are grateful to The Seattle Public Library Foundation private gifts to the foundation from thousands of donors helped the library provide free programs and services that touched the lives of everyone in our community. So to library foundation donors here with us tonight. We say thank you very much for your support.
    [Show full text]
  • 2014 Registration Document Annual Financial Report Contents
    2014 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT CONTENTS 1 4 Presentation of the Company Financial Information 129 and its activities 5 4.1 Analysis on Capgemini 2014 Group consolidated 1.1 Milestones in the Group’s history and its values 6 results AFR 130 1.2 The Group’s activities 8 4.2 Consolidated accounts AFR 136 1.3 Main Group subsidiaries and simplified 4.3 Comments on the Cap Gemini S.A. Financial organization chart 13 Statements AFR 195 1.4 The market and the competitive environment 15 4.4 Cap Gemini S.A. financial statements AFR 197 1.5 2014, a year of strong growth 17 4.5 Other financial and accounting information AFR 221 1.6 The Group’s investment policy, financing policy and market risks AFR 25 1.7 Risk analysis AFR 26 5 CAP GEMINI and its shareholders 223 2 5.1 Cap Gemini S.A. Share Capital AFR 224 5.2 Cap Gemini S.A. and the stock market 229 Corporate governance 5.3 Current ownership structure 233 and Internal control 33 5.4 Share buyback program AFR 235 2.1 Organization and activities of the Board of Directors AFR 35 6 2.2 General organization of the Group AFR 54 2.3 Compensation of executive corporate officers AFR 58 2.4 Internal control and risk management Report of the Board of Directors procedures AFR 70 and draft resolutions 2.5 Statutory Auditors’ report prepared in accordance with Article L.225-235 of the French Commercial of the Combined Shareholders’ Code on the report prepared by the Chairman Meeting of May 6, 2015 237 of the Board of Directors AFR 79 6.1 Resolutions presented at the Ordinary Shareholders’
    [Show full text]
  • Zeitgeist Nederland 2012
    Zeitgeist Nederland 2012 Dit zijn de volledige lijsten van de onderzochte onderwerpen voor Google Zeitgeist 2012 in Nederland. Snelst stijgend en meest populair op basis van volume Meest gezochte zoekopdrachten 1. Facebook 2. Marktplaats 3. YouTube 4. Hotmail 5. Buienradar 6. Hyves 7. Google 8. Telegraaf 9. ING 10. Nu.nl Snelststijgende zoekopdrachten 1. Stemwijzer 2. EK 2012 3. Friso 4. Boer Zoekt Vrouw 5. Elfstedentocht 6. Olympische Spelen 7. iPad 3 8. Wordfeud 9. ABN inloggen 10. Project X Haren Snelstijgende zoekopdrachten voor personen 1. Friso 2. Kate Middleton 3. Whitney Houston 4. Badr Hari 5. Estelle Gullit 6. Epke Zonderland 7. Michael Clarke Duncan 8. Balotelli 9. Morgan Freeman 10. Felix Baumgartner Snelst stijgende afbeeldingen 1. One Direction 2. Bloemen 3. Love 4. Voetbal 5. Hartje 6. Achtergronden 7. Facebook 8. YouTube 9. Paarden 10. iPhone 5 Politiek Meest gezochte politieke partijen 1. SP 2. PvdA 3. VVD 4. PVV 5. CDA 6. D66 7. GroenLinks 8. SGP 9. ChristenUnie 10. Partij voor de Dieren Meest gezochte lijsttrekkers 1. Geert Wilders 2. Mark Rutte 3. Diederik Samson 4. Jolande Sap 5. Marianne Thieme 6. Emile Romer 7. Sybrand Buma 8. Henk Krol 9. Alexander Pechtold 10. Arie Slob Meest gezochte buitenlandse politici 1. Obama 2. Cameron 3. Romney 4. Zuma 5. Hollande 6. Merkel 7. Samaras 8. Di Rupo 9. Medvedev 10. Betrian Snelst stijgende zoekopdrachten met betrekking tot de huizenmarkt 1. Restschuld 2. Open huizen dag 3. Scheefwonen 4. Funda 5. Prijsdaling 6. Spaarhypotheek 7. Huis verhuren 8. Huis huren 9. Huis verbouwen 10. Huis verkopen Kennisvragen Meest gestelde vragen - Hoe? 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Session 1 Or 2
    4th International Conference on Public Policy (ICPP4) June 26-28, 2019 – Montréal Panel IPSA-RC48 – Session 1 or 2 Transparency and E-governance (administrative culture) Mayors in cyberspace: Lessons from the Netherlands regarding the role of local government in the event of digital disturbance of the public order Author(s) Dr. Willem Bantema NHL Stenden Hogeschool [email protected] Date of presentation June 28, 2019 4th International Conference on Public Policy (ICPP4) June 26-28, 2019 – Montréal Introduction Four youths were injured in the panic resulting from a threatened shooting at a secondary school in Curacao. Soon it became clear that the episode was only a prank, based on false information disseminated over social media. The hoax was fuelled by a video clip on Facebook, which showed armed boys in a driving car, swinging their weapons. The clear relationship in this case between social media and public order is not new. Consider, for instance, the police shooting in Ferguson; the London riots of 2011; and the social unrest, social media hoaxes, and false news regarding the fire in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Recent advances in digitization have resulted in an increasing number of parties involved in security and safety issues. Security and digitization often intersect in the domain of cybercrime, but their intersection also includes issues of surveillance and maintaining law and order. This paper focusses on the role of mayors in the Netherlands in the preservation of public order and safety when the internet and social media are involved. Dutch mayors have several administrative powers that can be used in the prevention of disorder in local public life.
    [Show full text]
  • F I N a N C I a L R E P O R T 2 0
    FINANCIAL REPORT 2009 REFERENCE DOCUMENT CONTENTS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Serge KAMPF, Chairman Daniel BERNARD Yann DELABRIÈRE Jean-René FOURTOU 02 Financial highlights Paul HERMELIN, Chief Executive Officer 03 The Capgemini Group Michel JALAbert 23 Corporate responsibility and sustainability Phil LASKAWY 44 Report of the Chairman Bernard LIAUTAUD of the Board of Directors Thierry de MONTBRIAL 58 Management report Ruud van OMMEREN presented by the Board of Directors Terry OZAN to the Shareholders' Meeting of May 27, 2010 Pierre PRINGUET 75 Capgemini Consolidated Financial Statements Bruno ROGER 148 Cap Gemini S.A. Financial Statements 174 Text of the draft resolutions NON-VOTING DIRECTORS presented by the Board of Directors "CENSEURS" to the ordinary and extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of May 27, 2010 Pierre HESSLER Geoff UNWIN 182 Specific information 200 Cross-reference tables STATUTORY AUDITORS PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUDIT represented by Serge VILLEPELET KPMG S.A. represented by Jean-Luc DECORNOY The English language version of this report is a free translation from the original, which was prepared in French. All possible care has been taken to ensure that the translation is an accurate presentation of the original. However, in all matters of interpretation, views or opinions expressed in the original language version of the document in French take precedence over the translation. 2009 annual report Capgemini 1 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS in millions of euros 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 REVENUES 6,954 7,700 8,703
    [Show full text]
  • Deelrapport 3: Hoe Dionysos in Haren Verscheen
    Hoe Dionysos in Haren verscheen Maatschappelijke facetten van Project X Haren 3DEELRAPPORT Hoe Dionysos in Haren verscheen Maatschappelijke facetten van Project X Haren Gabriël van den Brink Merlijn van Hulst Nicole Maalsté Rik Peeters DEELRAPPORT Stefan Soeparman Tilburgse School voor Politiek en Bestuur 17 februari 2013 3COMMISSIE ‘PROJECT X’ HAREN | 1 B: Je kan niet iemand echt de schuld geven, vind ik (…) de schuld van het geheel. A: Dat is misschien ook wel het probleem, dat je niet iemand ervan kan beschuldigen. (uit een gesprek op het Zernike College waarbij twee scholieren van 16 en 14 jaar terugblik- ken op de rellen van 21 september 2012). 2 | COMMISSIE ‘PROJECT X’ HAREN Inhoud Voorwoord 4 1. Inleiding Vragen naar causaliteit 7 2. Fascinatie Facetten van het puberbrein 13 3. Sensatie Feestcultuur in Nederland 21 4. Imaginatie Project X en beeldcultuur 33 5. Mobilisatie Sociale media en opwinding 43 6. Deliberatie Ouders en hun kinderen 51 7. Preparatie De overheid en het publiek 59 8. Intoxicatie Alcohol en andere roesmiddelen 69 9. Identificatie Ervaringen van jongeren 77 10. Intimidatie Ervaringen van volwassenen 89 11. Conclusies Bevindingen & reflectie 103 12. Aanbevelingen Wat Haren ons te leren heeft 113 Bijlage 1 Clash tussen fantasie en realiteit (Martijn Lampert). 153 Bijlage 2 De komische film als exemplarische kortsluiting (Heidi de Mare) 169 Bijlage 3 De explosieve mix in Haren (Ninette van Hasselt). 205 Bijlage 4 Methodologische verantwoording (Gabriël van den Brink) 235 Bijlage 5 Lijst van respondenten (Nicole Maalsté) 241 Bijlage 6 Haren op afstand bezien (Caspar van den Brink) 245 Bijlage 7 Geraadpleegde literatuur (Gabriel van den Brink) 249 COMMISSIE ‘PROJECT X’ HAREN | 3 Voorwoord Enkele dagen nadat er in Haren op grote schaal rellen plaatsvonden, werd ik uitgenodigd om deel te nemen aan de commissie die onderzoek naar dit incident moest doen.
    [Show full text]
  • Die Welt in 100 Jahren En
    "Everyone will have his own pocket telephone that will enable him to get in touch with anyone he wishes. People living in the Wireless Age will be able to go everywhere with their transceivers, which they will be able to affix wherever they like—to their hat, for instance…" Robert Sloss: The Wireless Century in “The World in 100 Years,” Berlin 1910 The World in 100 Years A Journey through the History of the Future June 16-September 19, 2010 Ars Electronica Center Linz (Linz, June 16, 2010) Our longing to know the future is timeless. Just like our burning desire to co-determine and change the course of events transpiring in this world. The exhibition “The World in 100 Years – A Journey through the History of the Future” pays tribute to some great thinkers and activists who were ahead of their times, men and women who have displayed creativity, courage and resourcefulness in their commitment to a vision of the future. We begin by presenting Albert Robida (FR) and Paul Otlet (BE), two prominent visionaries of the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. Then we shift the spotlight to contemporary artists and scientists and their NEXT IDEAS. “The World in 100 Years” will run from June 16 to September 19, 2010 at the Ars Electronica Center Linz. “Conquer interplanetary space; free humankind from the earthly bonds that have kept aerial navigation within our own atmosphere; colonize the Moon and then communicate with the other planets, our sisters in this cosmic void … This will be humanity’s next quest, bequeathed to our descendents of the twenty-first century!” Albert Robida: “Le Vingtième Siècle,” Paris 1883 Albert Robida and Paul Otlet, or: The Future in Now Buildings that rotate to follow the sun, weather machines, artificial islands in the oceans, venturing into outer space, the universal library—amazingly, all of these up-to-the-minute ideas were elements of futuristic visions by Albert Robida (FR) and Paul Otlet (BE).
    [Show full text]
  • Forgotten Prophet of the Internet Philip Ball Ponders the Tale of a Librarian Who Dreamed of Networking Information
    BOOKS & ARTS COMMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Forgotten prophet of the Internet Philip Ball ponders the tale of a librarian who dreamed of networking information. he Internet is considered establish the league in Geneva, in neu- a key achievement of the tral Switzerland, rather than Brussels. computer age. But as for- But their objective was much more Tmer New York Times staffer Alex grandiose, utopian and strange. Wright shows in the meticulously Progressive thinkers such as researched Cataloging the World, H. G. Wells (whom Otlet read) desired BELGIUM MUNDANEUM, the concept predates digital tech- world government in the interwar nology. In the late nineteenth cen- period, but Otlet’s plans often seemed tury, Belgian librarian Paul Otlet detached from mundane realities. conceived schemes to collect, store, They veered into mystical notions of automatically retrieve and remotely transcendence of the human spirit, distribute all human knowledge. influenced by theosophy, and Otlet His ideas have clear analogies with seems to have imagined that learn- information archiving and net- ing could be transmitted not only by working on the web. Wright makes careful study of documents but by a a persuasive case that Otlet — now symbolic visual language in posters largely forgotten —deserves to and displays. In the late 1920s, he and be ranked among the conceptual architect Le Corbusier devised a plan inventors of the Internet. to realize the Mundaneum as a build- Wright locates Otlet’s work in a ing complex full of sacred symbolism, broader narrative about collation as much temple as library. Wright and cataloguing of information. overlooks the real heritage of these Compendia of knowledge date back ideas: Otlet’s predecessor here was at least to Pliny the Elder’s Natural Paul Otlet’s Mondothèque workstation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conversational Corporation
    eBook The Conversational Corporation: How Social Media is Changing the Enterprise www.solutions.dowjones.com At Dow Jones, we spend a lot of time creating content. But we invest as much or more time managing content—and helping other enterprises master their own. So what does it take to develop products and services that comb the Web for relevant information? That assemble knowledge structures out of the vast brick lots to data? That help seekers of insight find wisdom—and wise people—inside and outside of the organization? It takes a lot of listening. A lot of chit-chatting. And a lot of just plain hanging out. Fortunately, I have the privilege of hanging out in Silicon Valley with many of the tech elite, the innovators, visionaries and talking heads who are shaping the way the world creates and shares information. In fact, this eBook itself arose out of a conversation, a discussion with Robert Scoble about the popularization of enterprise tools generated by the technologies and services that he reviews on his blog, Scobleizer. While Robert and his frequent collaborator, Shel Israel, may not be the most familiar names in the corporate household, among the Weborati, they are respected as the leading experts on social media. Their first book together, “Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk”, introduced blogging to the corporate world. Published in January 2006, Naked Conversations used more than 50 case histories to explain why blogging is an efficient and credible method of business communication. Coming in at a total of 232 pages, only a few were dedicated to other types of social media that are now driving enterprise conversations just three years later.
    [Show full text]