Aleks Krotoski
“Aleks Krotoski is a rare combination of academic (she has a PhD in psychology), geek, reporter and fluent essayist.” – The Guardian
“Her combination of cautious academic rigour and geek-like enthusiasm makes a very valuable contribution to the debate” – Financial Times
“Engaging and insightful” – The Guardian
Dr Aleks Krotoski is an award-winning international broadcaster, author and academic.
For the BBC and Channel 4, she has topped the ratings, won Emmy, BAFTA, Radio Academy, and Royal Society awards, and written and presented the landmark technology and social-science series for both radio – with BBC Radio 4’s The Digital Human – and international television – with BBC World’s The Virtual Revolution.
For The Guardian, she has consistently led the iTunes charts with the Tech Weekly podcast (2007-2015), pioneered environmental and business reporting with The Biggest Story In The World (2015), and taken her hit weekly column from newspaper to acclaimed book (Guardian Faber, 2013). Her forthcoming video series for The Guardian, “Silent Circle”, is in production in 5 countries.
Aleks’ BBC Radio 4 series Codes That Changed The World is the most requested radio series on BBC iPlayer, while Hidden Histories of the Information Age, and Last Bus To Serendip were both critically acclaimed. That led to a prestigious Public Engagement Grant from the British Psychological Society, and thereby the production of The N of Us, the first from Aleks’ independent studio, Pillowfort Productions. Also from Pillowfort Productions: The Resilient, an intimate interview series that eavesdrops on people’s toughest times (for Flower) and BlackHatWhiteHat, a cybersecurity series about crime and security in the digital age.
As host, writer, and producer, Aleks Krotoski’s broadcasting success, has mirrored her academic credentials. Dr Krotoski holds fellowships at University of Oxford, and the London School of Economics. Her PhD broke new ground, studying information flow and the spread of ideas across digital spaces. She enjoys an international speaking career, to both corporate and general audiences.
She is based in London and Los Angeles.
Comments
Could you please let me know when your lecture in the Anatomy Theatre at Summerhall on Apr 7 starts, as I cannot find any reference to it on their web site.
Hi Bill, ‘A Death Online’ starts at 5:30pm.
Hi Aleksandra,
‘Individuals with hyperthymesia can recall almost every day of their lives in near perfect detail, as well as public events that hold some personal significance to them. Those affected describe their memories as uncontrollable associations; when they encounter a date, they “see” a vivid depiction of that day in their heads.3 Recollection occurs without hesitation or conscious effort.’ (Wikipedia)I listen to ‘The Digital Human’ on Radio 4 and I wondered if you are aware of a small group of people with a condition called ‘Hyperthymesia’?
I am a recently diagnosed Hyperthymesic and I am obliged to relive large sections from my entire life in minute detail every day whether I want to or not, while simultaneously living in the present. It has been that way my whole life but I had no idea what it was. Presumably this requires the processing of huge amounts of data from a large storage/memory source.
Given the amount of interest there is in human/computer interfaces at the moment, I wonder if it would be worth you taking a look to see if Hyperthymesics would be a suitable interface between computers and human brains.
Could Hyperthymesics be the real ‘Digital Humans’?
Keep up the good work!,
Dan O’Neill.
No mention of Bits Alex? for many a late 90’s gamer/raver/telly addict ,its your finest moment , all the best to you. Paul
‘Angry Aussie’ proclaims that U Tube Users are 3 videos away from extremism, including comparing & conflating The Extreme Right; Nazis; Anti-Semitism/Halocaust denial with Feminism as a cancer in society. The World According to a privileged American, employed by Neo-Liberal Institutions to promote consent for dominant bourgeois ideologies. The contempt for the poor in any form of gentrification is secondary in your vision of comfortable, like-minded affluent clones, who move freely because of the wealth & privilege of Neo-Liberalism. Blair was wrong, the class war is not over, just something that you are not aware of & bourgeois Feminism is as pernicious as any form of racism for exactly the same reasons; the fact that you are constantly given a platform should give you a clue.
Dear Dr Krotoski,
I’d like to congratulate you on the programmes that you have presented recently. The Digital Human is a real tour de force. Your presentational style provides an object lesson in how to provide insights into a difficult subject. I first used a computer at UCL in 1964, it was an Elliot 803, and working with it was a pain in the butt. The people who controlled and operated it reminded me of the High Priests in the reign of Ramses I. You could only approach the presence with your paper tapes and subsequently Hollerith punch cards. Networks and iPadPros/iPhones had yet to be envisaged. You in your programmes make the whole digital world understandable, even to a bombed-out geriatric like me. My very best regards.