Last year it was Germaine Greer, this year it’s Joanna Geary and some other people. I like the continuity.
The Big Debate is one of those big debate things that happen where a bunch of people make their points and then a discussion occurs. They can be fantastic, they can be deathly but thanks to Jo (who’s on the panel) never knowing when to stop trying shit out this one should be a little more interesting.
Firstly video of the event is going to be streamed live through Bambuser which has the facility for people to comment and chat around the video as it happens. That’s probably not been done at an event like this before and should be handy since it’s happening in the afternoon when people who have proper jobs are at work.
Secondly it’s also going to be liveblogged using CoverItLive. I’ll be doing this bit, typing away as things are said and you can comment on that one too.
I’ll also be monitoring Twitter for the #bigdebate hashtag and copying them (along with comments from Bambuser) into the liveblog. Then, and here’s the cool part, the liveblog will be projected behind the panel so the audience can read what the backchannel is saying.
As for the debate itself it takes the New Generation Arts Festival’s mildly painful question of whether “digital” (whatever that word means anymore) is a good or a bad thing. Here’s some blurb from the site:
Explosions in the online economy and social networking, in virtual worlds, gaming and the surveillance industry are fast becoming all pervasive. They define a major cultural shift in society. On one had they provide a communication network giving access to the world. On the other hand they constrain the depth of our thinking process and the detail of our conversations.
I’m sorry, “constrain the depth of our thinking process and the detail of our conversations?” You what? As someone whose thought processes have never been deeper and who has had more detailed conversations than ever thanks to all this online malarkey this is such a fundamentally flawed premise as to be hardly worthy of criticism. But then I’m from the Internet and most people aren’t and one has to let them take their baby steps and figure it out for themselves. Hopefully the panelists will be a few steps ahead of whoever decided the premise of the talks, and looking down the list (Rory Cellan-Jones – Technology Correspondent, BBC; Anthony Rose – Head of Digital Media Technology, BBC; Chris Cooke – Unlimited Media; Dr. Doug Williams – Project Director, BT; Joanna Geary – Digital Journalist, Birmingham Post) they should be.
The fun starts at 12.30 in Hall 9 of the ICC, but you don’t have to be there. Rather than constrain your participation within the debate by forcing you to raise a hand and wait for the microphone you’ll be able get a bit more depth and detail using some simple digital tools. Result.
They must mean digital telly there, I reckon. It’s mind-numbing.