Berlin 2116: "What will the 'Internet archaeologists' of the future find out about us?"
The question of what has been left behind on the internet, what we want to leave behind, and what we might leave behind is addressed at the end of the "Society X.0" seminar in "allesvernetztblog" ( everything is networked blog). From June 20th to 25th, 2016, trainees from the Louise-Schroeder-School embarked on a conceptual journey through time, looking at the present and future of the networked society, in this and other workshop groups.
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"FashionForeverFM," the audio group's radio show, reports from the near future on "Fashion Week 2030." The program covers topics ranging from the latest trend of toaster handbags to a look back at the development of digitally controlled clothing since 2016. The group actually conducted an interview during the seminar with Veronica Aumann, a textile designer working on luminous screen textiles. What image patterns and other functions will be controllable via app on our clothing in the future, both independently and externally?
How will smart clothes and other technology-controlled objects and processes change our social interactions? This thought experiment of a journey into the future leads all groups in the seminar to primarily examine ongoing processes of change and the challenge of shaping them for a desirable future.
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The comic workshop group explored access to, forms of, and distribution of information and news. Part of their research into the creation, selection, and dissemination of information and news, as well as the possibilities for control or manipulation through news formats and filters, included a Skype conversation with Leonie Geiger, editor of the Berliner Gazette, about the journalistic approaches of the online magazine, founded in 1999. The group's discussions resulted in the fictional story
"Give us this day our daily information," which was performed as a live comic.
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Live in front of an audience, the workshop group "Inszenierte Lesung" (Staged Reading) presented their self-written texts and dramatic scenes, entitled "The World Is (Not) a Business Model." These works arose from their engagement with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade agreement. They drew on diverse sources, including a conversation with Günter Sölken, a political scientist and active member of the anti-globalization network attac. By critically examining arguments and perspectives from various actors in business, government, and civil society, they developed texts addressing, among other things, the value of and conflicts of interest within democratic participation in an increasingly globalized world.
The group "Black and White Photography" grappled with the question of autonomy versus technological control in determining the content and form of image production. Against this backdrop, what significance do photographs hold as carriers of information and opinion amidst the flood of images on the global web?
Among other things, the group discussed the effectiveness of photography in social networks for conveying content with Andreas Weiland, a freelance photographer, social media consultant, and co-founder of the new "Photo Database for New Perspectives: gesellschaftsbilder.de."
In exploring the relationship between text and image in media, the potential for manipulation, and the growing role of digital technology and social media, the group created analog photo series on the digitization of society. The exhibition title, "Gray Zone," reflects discussions about navigating online and offline life with analog and digital tools, as well as many open questions concerning the subjective construction of reality. The digital streaming of the analog exhibition presentation on the Periscope platform also became part of the “grey zone” – as a multimedia experiment that combined the content and form of the workshop group discussions and media work.
Many workshop results can be found in digital form on "allesvernetztblog" (everything-networked . There, the group participants primarily published articles about their research and discussions on big data and change processes in and through the internet. These include, for example, an online survey, "Society X.0," on internet usage in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0; the article "What was, what will be…" on the history and future of the internet; and "Big Data and the Question of the Digital Future from the Perspective of Magdalena Taube. " Magdalena Taube is a well-known editor at the Berlin online magazine "Berliner Gazette" (www.berlinergazette.de). In addition to her work there, she also lectures on online journalism at two Berlin universities. She is currently involved in preparations for a conference on the topic of "The Future" organized by the Berliner Gazette... in October 2016 at the Volksbühne...The article, which includes a video recording of the Skype conversation and key statements in text format, states:
"Each of us has a choice and can decide for ourselves whether to remain passive or actively participate – personal decision-making and self-determination are essential...Civil rights activists have already raised the question of whether the data collected by Facebook, Google, and other companies should become a kind of public good. This should be seen as the starting point for a debate about who actually owns the data and what can be done with it." The authors of the multimedia group quote from the interview.
The engagement of all workshop groups with the theme "Society X.0 – Everything Networked?" be seen as a contribution to the debate on shaping digitalization in a democracy. Many questions remained unanswered during this intensive engagement. This, too, is an important learning outcome for the participants: the need to actively pursue processes in order to develop their own perspectives. This includes the experience of encountering open questions in a globalized media society that require a societal discourse in which young people and young adults, as the actors of tomorrow, must participate.
The seminar was funded by the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Science
and took place as part of the "Political Youth Education in the AdB" in the "Globalization and Media Communication" project group. The wannseeFORUM Foundation is a recognized partner of the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
