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SUMMARY:The Serendipity Engine - Dr Aleks Krotoski
DTSTART:20111129T173000Z
DTEND:20111129T191500Z
UID:TALK34581@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Professor John Naughton
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*\n\nThe Serendipity Engine is a physical manifestati
 on of theoretical and technological interventions that can be used to enha
 nce serendipity on the World Wide Web. It is a working machine that uses b
 ike parts\, flower pots\, cake\, pulleys\, lightbulbs and other concrete o
 bjects to articulate the processes that could be translated into digital 
 “solutions” that will re-engineer the potential dystopian social traje
 ctories of current (social) software trends. It has been theorised\, devis
 ed\, designed\, developed and welded together by Dr Aleks Krotoski and Dr 
 Katrina Jungnickel.\n\nEach of the components of The Serendipity Engine hi
 ghlights problems observed by digital theorists\, designers and technologi
 sts with the way the Web currently works - linguistic barriers\, echo cham
 bers - by proposing one vision of how the technology can be re-tooled to i
 ncrease serendipitous encounters. The aim of the machine is to inspire ins
 ight into the social and cultural effects of the decisions that developers
  make - often for commercial reasons and at the (explicit or implicit) req
 uests of consumers - through simple\, lateral demonstration.\n\n*About the
  Speaker*\n\nDr Krotoski is an academic and journalist who writes about an
 d studies technology and interactivity. Her PhD thesis in Social Psycholog
 y (University of Surrey\, 2009) examined how information spreads around th
 e social networks of the World Wide Web. She is a Research Associate at th
 e Oxford Internet Institute and the Researcher-in-Residence for the Britis
 h Library’s Growing Knowledge exhibition. Read up on her academic and re
 search activities and interests here.\n\nShe completed the 4-part\, prime 
 time BBC 2 series "Virtual Revolution":http://bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution 
 in early 2010\, about the social history of the World Wide Web. She blogge
 d for the project "here":http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/digitalrevolution/\, o
 utlining her manifestos about the social\, political\, economic and psycho
 logical impact of the 20 years of the Web.\n\nAleks writes for the _Guardi
 an_ and the _Observer_ newspapers\, and hosts Tech Weekly\, their technolo
 gy podcast. Her writing also appears in Nature\, BBC Technology\, New Stat
 esman\, MIT Technology Review and The Telegraph. \n\nFinally\, she’s the
  New Media Sector Champion for UKTI\, the government department that promo
 tes British businesses around the world. \n\nHer web site is "here":http:/
 /alekskrotoski.com/
LOCATION:Morrison Room\, University Library (note: new venue)
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