I’ve been invited to participate in a briefing to the House of Commons tomorrow about the BBC’s SuperPower report, of which the World Service radio adaptation of the 4-film BBC2 documentary series The Virtual Revolution is part. I’ll be joining an esteemed panel, including BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, who’ll be discussing the ways politicians are expected to embrace the Web during the forthcoming election, Pooneh Ghoddoosi from BBC Persian TV will draw on her personal experience of observing user-generated content in Iran to discuss how the Web can transform lives, and Peter Barron, Director of Communication of North and Central Europe at Google, who’ll take a wider view at how politicians, corporations and the government have dealt with the Web. I’ll try to throw as many spanners in the works as possible, arguing that the Web isn’t as liberating as everyone suggests. After all, as I said in this Observer piece, the Web is only a reflection of us and we like our silos. I’ll be introducing concepts of cyberbalkanisation, propaganda, and a historical view of how governments have coped with previous technologies.
The SuperPower series is a collection of excellent documentaries and online projects created to celebrate the important role that the Web and Internet play in our daily lives, a mere 20 years after it was invented. I have had the pleasure to listen to several of the dispatches that are available internationally on their website, including a compelling series about the world of Internet Cafes, the ‘social networking sites’ that Nick Baker, the self-proclaimed Internet Cafe Hobo, has been haunting, and an investigation into the role Internet Dating has had on matchmaking on the Indian subcontinent.
Keep your eye on @BBC_SuperPower for tweet updates during the event. I’m very excited to be along for the ride.
Comments
This is rather ironic given that the Digital Economy Bill being passed by government is aimed at disconnecting people from the web – with little Commons debate too as the infamously undemocratic “wash-up” begins.