2017

The Conference 2017

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 14:29:46 GMT

Chris Grantham - Circular Creativity

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 13:07:16 GMT

"The economy is designed. We designed it. And we designed it to do a specific thing."

Circular economy is a mindset, and the economy is designed. Those are some of Chris Grantham’s ideas put forth in his talk. He tackles how we can move from a linear economy to a circular one – from the astronomical costs of plastic, food waste and cars, to a better everyday. The economy can serve us more equitably, if we are able to fundamentally rethink how it should be designed.

Muneeb Ali - Trust in a post-truth world

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 11:17:06 GMT

"The future of Internet is decentralized."

In this his session, Muneeb Ali, founder of Blockstack, focus on issues that stems from when a few set of companies has conquered our digital lives. The inevitable consequence of this is that we blindly have to trust companies at which the platforms and services our communication is taking place at. To put it more frankly and dramatic; the internet is owned, the platforms are our prisons and with that our digital freedom is a distant faded memory.

But what if we could reverse this? What if we could re-structure the digital so that it’s becoming more alike the physical world which follows property rights and privacy policies? With the current state of the digital world as backdrop, Muneeb presents how a new digital infrastructure has the potential to set us free.

Nathaniel Raymond - The New Normal

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 10:51:36 GMT

"Innovation is not just a moment that can come from crisis; crisis can come from innovation."

After disruption comes absorption, and that is how something new becomes normal. Nathaniel Raymond, the founding Director of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, takes us through historical moments of innovation to show how crisis can cause innovation, but also how innovation can cause crisis - something that can lead to new political, moral and ethical compounds. He argues that the absorption of innovation is now more important that invention itself. Through innovation and design, we can redefine what is normal.

Music & Code + Machine learning for creatives - Q&A

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 10:32:43 GMT

Q&A with Alexander Chen (Google Creative Lab), Kate Sicchio and Gene Kogan.

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

Kate Sicchio - Music & code

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 10:32:07 GMT

Inclusive Artificial Intelligence - Q&A

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 10:31:15 GMT

Q&A with Dr Rand Hindi (Snips), Sebastian Schmieg and Stephanie Dinkins (Stony Brook University)

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

Gene Kogan - Machine Learning For Creatives

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:13:05 GMT

"You can’t formally define creativity."

The scientific fields aren’t the only ones rapidly getting used to the thought of applying AI within their practices. Artist and Programmer Gene Kogan talks about how you as a professional within fields of technology, culture, and art, can apply machine learning in your work. Whether it is generating 3-d models, images, music, text, or video; machine learning and artificial intelligence can make it possible.

Q&A - The New Normal

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:09:02 GMT

Q&A with Jamie Bartlett (Demos), Amy Whitaker (New York University), and Nathaniel Raymond (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative).

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

Alexander Chen - Music & Code

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 19:03:10 GMT

"What does music look like?"

In this visual and musical presentation, Google’s Alexander Chen explores how music and code is interconnected. By experimenting with music, he shows us how music is math, and that we can understand music in new ways by taking it apart. By combining music and code, we can think about music and creativity in a different way.

Leyla Acaroglu - Disrupting Status Quo by Design

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 17:13:10 GMT

"Nature is the best teacher. Everything in nature is feeding into itself."

Everything is interconnected in this world. In order to encourage sustainable development as a designer, you need to think like an ecosystem. According to Dr Leyla Acaroglu, Director of the Un-School of Disruptive Design, creating a sustainable economy is only possible if we move beyond the linear systems that ultimately leave us with waste products. The solution to this? Thinking in circularity.

Dr Rand Hindi - How not to lose your job to AI

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:34:33 GMT

"Half of the jobs in the future will be the combination of a human and a machine working together."

When Rand Hindi’s dad lost his job as a trader to a machine, something dawned on him. He was working to automate the jobs that his father was doing. He realized that we can find ways to coexist with AI, instead of it devouring our jobs. In his talk, Rand Hindi puts forth a 4-step test if your job is at risk, and concludes that it all comes down to adaptive learning and working together with machines.

Stephanie Dinkins - Inclusive Artificial Intelligence

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:29:04 GMT

"When you train algorithms on limited data, what you get is holes in the results."

We are at the start of an epoch that will change everything, Stephanie Dinkins says about AI. But does the robots that we create represent everyone? In order to avoid problematic machine bias, she asks us developers to bring different people to the table. Developers shouldn’t be afraid to rock the boat and encourage a little discomfort in the workplace. AI should foster inclusivity, transparency and diversion.

Vesselin Popov - Un-understanding Identity

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:49:23 GMT

"We create identies for our self everytime we take out our phone and do something."

Know your digital self as well as organisations and governments do. If you’re not prepared to go through that effort, you should probably go live in the woods. Vesselin Popov, Business Development Director for the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, talks about the ongoing battle about freedom and privacy online. New ways of harvesting our digital profiles can take advantage of our vulnerabilities, giving way to questions about ethical data use.

More reading: https://gizmodo.com/the-other-cambridge-personality-test-has-its-own-databa-1823997062

Un-Understanding Identity - Q&A

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:46:58 GMT

Q&A with Mari Magnus (NRK), Vesselin Popov (University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre) and Yousef Tuqan (Jumeirah Group).

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

Mari Magnus - Un-understanding Identity

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:46:46 GMT

"Sitting down and really listen to your target group will give you what you need to create a concept on their premises."

It is always a challenge for producers to mirror a culture that they themselves aren’t a part of. Mari Magnus, Web Producer of NRK's web drama series SKAM, explains how and why your target group will give you everything you need to create a meaningful experience if you actually listen to them. Believe it or not - it is possible to compromise with your target group while making no compromises about how you produce a show.

Yousef Tuqan - Un-understanding Identity

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:03:01 GMT

"We need the best of us to stand up against the worst of us."

In the midst of political and social turbulence, the Arab youth are speaking up against patriarchal traditions, breaking boundaries of expression, and reshaping their identities.

Yousef Tuqan, Group VP of Jumeirah Group, explores the ways that the Arab digital generation is going to change the world. Traditional and modern values are constantly colliding and changing; it is a generation that is simultaneously lost, confused, and connected.

Circular Creativity - Q&A

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:02:33 GMT

Q&A with Chris Grantham (IDEO), Ingrid Zeegers (Circular Friesland) and May Al-Karooni (Globechain.com).

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

May Al-Karooni - Circular Creativity

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:02:18 GMT

"Why do we not measure the value of redesign?"

It was when May Al-Karooni worked in an investment bank that was about to move, that she realized that big companies have a lot of waste. That was the start of Globechain. By digitalizing waste and turning it into a reuse marketplace, May Al-Karooni has created meaning out of what someone thought was waste – changing companies’ behavior and helping communities. The end of an object’s life may just be the beginning of it.

Ingrid Zeegers - Circular Creativity

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:01:47 GMT

"Circular economy is a common sense economy."

Circular economy is a common sense economy, Ingrid Zeegers argues. In her talk, she shows us how we can move from waste to asset and move towards the goal of eliminating the concept of waste as we know it. As a part of the project Circular Friesland, working with sustainability in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, Ingrid Zeegers shows us the key takeaways from the ambitious project.

Bobina Bombast - Live Virtual Reality

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:15:46 GMT

Hater - Blushing

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:15:05 GMT

From The Conference 2017.

Saskia Sassen - Owning The City

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:14:15 GMT

"The stronger the light and the stronger explanation, the lesser you can see around it and whats happening."

Sociology Professor Saskia Sassen of Colombia University talks about how complex systems transforms society radically, but rather invisible by shifting capacities over time. Saskia focus on finance, the underlying steam engine that defines our epoch. She claims that the ownership of the city got trapped in real estate deals and concentrated power and wealth, which led to symptoms such as the election of Donald Trump as president.

Yet the city is a place where those without power can get to make history. Today digital is infrastructure, the question is how is it used and how it matters for equity, democracy, and rights? Saskia Sassen encourages people to find a simple DNA code that will enable to scale positive impact.

Erin Malone - Taking On: Rapid Urbanization

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:07:03 GMT

"It was easier for me to get to China than to get back to my hometown."

Urbanization is not just a geographical migration, it is also a cultural one. Erin Malone, Communications Director at Forward Together & Hometown Connect, is one of the millions of people in the US who has fled their rural birthplace in order to pursue a career in a bigger city. In her talk, she explains how our political and social reality is jeopardized when small towns are left in decline, and offers solutions that could create a bridge between both rural and urban environments.

Taking On: Rapid Urbanization - Q&A

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:03:18 GMT

Q&A with Erin Malone (Forward Together & Hometown Connect) and Nina Rappaport (Vertical Urban Factory)

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

Nina Rappaport - Taking On: Rapid Urbanization

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:00:20 GMT

"How do you make a factory as a part of the streetscape?"

The outsourcing of industries from the western world is still one of the leading trends in manufacturing today. This has resulted in cities with no spaces left for large-scale manufacturing to return to. Nina Rappaport, Director of think tank Vertical Urban Factory, proves that there are new ways to sustainably host manufacturing in modern architectural structures.

Jenny Odell - How to do nothing

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 19:56:31 GMT

"Doing nothing is not a luxury, it’s a ground for meaningful thoughts."

Digital artist and collector Jenny Odell talks about how work life shifted from an 8 hour workday into an always on approach. In this opening keynote, visual artist Jenny Odell will explore the architecture, politics, and rewards of nothing, arguing that the cultivation of nothing has new salience in the age of everything.

She wants us to reclaim the public spaces such as parks and libraries for personal reflection and restoration. Jenny believes time and places for the practice and art of doing nothing are crucial to uncover underlying problems and to understand yourself. She regularly spends time in a nearby rosegarden for observational activities such as bird watching and doing nothing to discover what unfolds from her inner journey and peace in mind.

Truth In a Post-Truth World - Q&A

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 15:22:32 GMT

Q&A with Caroline Jack (Data & Society), Muneeb Ali (Blockstack), and Amy Adele Hasinoff (University of Colorado).

Moderator: Johanna Koljonen

Caroline Jack - Trust In a Post-Truth World

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 15:21:59 GMT

"Shorthand news are not only about the content but also about the context."

In this session, Caroline Jack, a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Data & Society Research Institute, tells us that fakes news is not merely about if the reporting of facts is entirely true or false. Actually, propaganda can help us to better understand fake news, and how it’s common denominator is about sending a strong message and the similar concerns that’s historically been raised. However, both propaganda and fake news are shorthand words that implies something much more significant than just misleading or utter false reporting.

What Caroline's sessions highlights is that the trouble in media isn’t just media problems, they’re societal problems. Fake news as a shorthand word can therefore be useful, but also pretty limiting while talking about fake news and the problems it speaks of and brings

Amy Adele Hasinoff - Trust In a Post-Truth World

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 15:21:48 GMT

"If you design for consent in the long term you have users more likely to stick around, if you give them control of consent you will build trust."

To send an image or message of sexual nature, which goes under the name ”Sexting”, has been widely debated and accompanied by a rather extensive public panic. It’s the fear of having that kind of extremely private content publicly distributed as an unwanted consequence that’s of concern.

The most established suggestion by the public and authorities to solve this problem is simply to ”stop texting”. However, Amy Adele Hasinoff sets out to show the futileness of precisely that. She chooses to focus on the question of how we could control information, and if design can help us prevent the harmful use and misfortunes sexting can result in. It all comes down to the concept of consent, which would make us have to rethink our social media structure entirely. Digital communication and content distribution shouldn’t be as frictionless as it currently is, and better design is needed to improve privacy in the digital sphere.

Amy Whitaker - The New Normal

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:04:20 GMT

"For better of worse, we live in a very complex economy that doesn't give us space to venture into what is new"

Amy Whitaker means that art is a process of moving forward into the unknown. She wants us to think of art as a Swiss army knife. Instead of moving from point A to B, we should invent point B.

Things that we once thought were strange are normal today. By highlighting historical examples, Amy Whitaker, professor of business in the art school at New York University, shows us that art and design are tools that help us both ask questions and refine solutions.

Jamie Bartlett - The New Normal

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:02:55 GMT

"Radical movements have always been the driving force of society. They force you to think, to imagine something different."

What is normal was once radical, and paying attention to other people’s crazy is something that can pay off. Jamie Bartlett is the author of Radicals – Outsiders Changing the World. His talk spans from an Italian comedian starting his own political party to a transhumanist running for president. These radicals shine a light on important questions that no one talks about. We might not agree with these radical people, but they force us to think differently. Jamie Bartlett asks us to find these unusual thinkers and to pay attention to what they have to say.