News

The future in our hands

Published 3 May 2013

Event 15 May 2013 (fully booked)

Science fiction is becoming fact through the world people are creating with everyday use of digital technologies.

Professor Gillian Youngs will argue this in her inaugural lecture Wired Reality: Living in a Networked World at the University of Brighton as part of the Brighton Fringe on Wednesday 15 May.

Professor Youngs, who has been researching digital developments since the early days of the internet, believes too much attention is paid to technical innovations and too little to the human agency and creativity that make them meaningful.

The former The Argus journalist said: "We are now the authors of the future unfolding day-by-day as we use digital communications to reshape our lives, relationships and imaginings. Digital networks make us all space and time travellers with our own unique digital footprints which are part of the social fabric.

"Being present in the world is as much about our identities and connections in cyberspace as the lived reality in our communities. The networked environment is not just hardware and software but the human dimensions that bring it to life."

Professor Youngs believes these perspectives are essential to diverse areas of government and European policy aiming to include increasing numbers of people in cultures of innovation: "The nature of innovation, where it comes from and how it happens, is fundamentally changing as an industrial world becomes digital."

Professor Shirley Bach inaugural lecture

Wired reality: Living in a networked world

Gillian Youngs
Professor of Digital Economy

Wednesday 15 May 2013 at 6.30pm

Sallis Benney Theatre
University of Brighton
58-67 Grand Parade
Brighton BN2 0JP

Light refreshments will be served after the lecture. All welcome.

Attending the lecture

Due to the popularity of this event, booking has now closed.