I attended the Future of Digital Studies Conference at Digital Worlds on Saturday. Speakers included Lev Manovich and Janet H. Murray. These things depend on interaction and accessibility. I feel like the immersive environment of the screen is not being used creatively enough. The format of a conference like this is no more inventive than the video conferences of the 90s. Why not have more creative visualizations? Why not have users or conference attendants submit a few questions or statements electronically beforehand?
The conference itself had some technical issues. But I was more struck by how abstract all of the thinking and statements were. These theorists seemed more afraid of the implications of technology than really even wanting to understand it. I was wondering if they could benefit from some more solid grounding on how computers work.
I was not able to attend since I was sick this weekend, but judging from your comment it seems I did not miss much. I agree though, that these multi-point conferences still reside in a 20th Century flatland and while they are supposed to connect us to the rest of the world sometimes they leave us with a feeling of isolation instead.
ReplyDeleteOne common misunderstanding in today's networked social environments is that in order to have a multiuser conference all you need is to launch Skype and hope for the best. We know it is not so simple and things break down really fast as we add users to a multiconference system, in this case Iocom. And this is just the basic technical issue.
Again, from your comment about the theorists being afraid of the implications of technology rather that trying to understand it It might be that some are not really practitioners but more like sport commentators that know the rules of the game but might not necessarily participate in the creation of the experience. In order to "present" you first must be present, meaning not only aware but involved and invested in what you are doing or talking about.
I guess a future Future of Digital Studies Conference will need a visionary organizer that can wrangle the digital monster and strike a balance between theory and praxis.
Also having seen part of the conference I have to agree with fran, we need hologram projections by now.
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