Conferences

Conference: A Matter of Design. Making Society through Science and Technology

A very interesting conference on the societal impacts of new technologies. Note mention of the Internet of Things which encompasses smart grids and smart meters. The huge controversy over heath impacts of wireless technology should be an essential topic for discussion at this meeting but deadline for submissions is 15 Feb. I see in the link provided mention is made of the need “for the identification of potential consequences of future developments.”
Well worth keeping track of this conference, especially Sheila Jasanoff’s presentation…..

Emerging ICT and Citizens’ Values: Anticipating and Responding to Challenges

In this session, we consider the relationship between citizens’ values and emerging information and communication technologies (ICT). In particular, we consider how we can anticipate problems and proactively design social, technical and regulatory responses to them. Technologies such as wearable sensors, internet of things, social media, bio-banking and autonomous systems present several moments of design. The values that are intentionally and unintentionally ‘designed in’ to technologies achieve greater longevity and reach. As our lives are increasingly mediated by digital artefacts – to the extent that we live in a digital society and experience a digital culture – certain values, such as openness, can be amplified at the expense of others, such as privacy. Those technologies that achieve massive proliferation and normalisation profoundly affect the experience of contemporary life, for example by exaggerating our capacity to measure and remember events and adjusting the norms of our relationships with others over time and space. This capacity to transform the way we live, often in unpredictable ways, has been met with both delight and caution.
SNIP

World’s richest threaten democracy says Oxfam

From SBS Australia:

The world’s elite have rigged laws in their own favour undermining democracy and creating a chasm of inequality across the globe, charity Oxfam said in advance of the annual get-together of the world’s most powerful at Davos. Inequality has run so out of control, that the 85 richest people on the planet “own the wealth of half the world’s population,” Oxfam said in an introduction to a new report on widening disparities between the rich and poor. The report exposes the “pernicious impact” of growing inequality that helps “the richest undermine democratic processes and drive policies that promote their interests at the expense of everyone else”, the statement said. Inequality has recently emerged as a major concern in countries around the world, with US President Obama prioritising a push to narrow the wealth gap in his second term. In China, the new government there has cracked down on the elite perks and privileges and Germany seems set to adopt a minimum wage.
SNIP