This article aims to present #Unplugging > Beyond Hyper-Connected Societies Workshop that will be conducted by Dr Calzada & Dr Cobo at the University of Oxford on 20th June by the support of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).

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#Unplugging >
Beyond Hyper-Connected Societies
http://www.unplugging.eu
http://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/unplugging
Dr Igor Calzada & Dr Cristobal Cobo
http://www.igorcalzada.com/about & http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=189
Future of Cities/COMPAS & OII
University of Oxford
Keywords:
Hyper-Connected Societies, Smart Cities, Social Innovation and Unplugging.
Technology is never neutral, it has the potential and capacity to be used socially
and politically for quite different purposes, argued Raymond Williams in 1983. Indeed,
recently we both watched #HER1
, the newest movie by the filmmaker Spike Jonze, and
we realised that this hyper-connected future is already not either as neutral or as far
away from our current human interactions. Are we already living at present in such
hyper-connected societies and cities as Jonze describes in his film? It sounds
surprisingly contradictory how a film that makes you feel anxious about the self-
deterministic way technology is dominating our lives can at the same time tele-transport
us to the future of the technologies and their impact on our human emotions. Moreover,
we could argue that is not that unrealistic a science-fiction storytelling. Could you
imagine yourself falling in love just with a voice even if it belongs to an artificial
operative system?
The real truth seems to be that the impact in our lives is occurring without us
being aware of it. Shall Mr Jonze provoke a reflection on the consequences of the quick,
risky (Beck, 2013) and liquid (Bauman, 2013) real-time cities (Kitchin, 2013)? This
notion brings us to the so-called debate on the suitability of the Smart Cities
(Greenfield, 2013) and their applicability. Are we altering our social relationship
because of the new technologies? Moreover, one of us did even not know about the
existence of Siri2
, the real device embodying what #HER represents in the fiction
movie. Moreover, that could actually be perfectly believable! Another example of the
trend on the techno-determinism consequences is the book The Circle by Dave Eggers3
who reflects on questions about privacy, democracy, and human fragility in the
technological broad realm. What happens to us if we “must” be online all the time? To
1
http://www.herthemovie.com/
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri
3
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/nov/21/eggers-­‐circle-­‐when-­‐privacy-­‐is-­‐theft/

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live entirely in the public realm can be a form of solitary confinement. Is there any
added value in the possibility of remaining voluntarily #unplugging?
Thus, being conscious about this novel trend and subtle notion for the 21st
century societal challenges and their research in societies and cities, we have both
organized a workshop the next 20th
June in Oxford supported by The Oxford Research
Centre of the Humanities4
(TORCH). This event aims to gather scholars from different
disciplines to debate open and critically about #Unplugging5
. The idea is to better
understand the social and cultural implications of hyper-connected societies and the
possible research agendas associated.
Even though we note some dark side effects of the technology (Ippolita, 2008).
Our purpose is to draw on a critical social innovation pathway as a transition towards
alternative digital humanities practices for our daily life. Nevertheless, there are plenty
of pending questions about this subtle notion, that we have clustered as #Unplugging.
For instance: Will unplugging be a right or a privilege of a few? Will being
constantly plugged improve our wellbeing and happiness as a society? In addition to the
digital divide’s effect on the information society structure, is hyper-connectivity
stressing another extra social divides between a few privileged unplugged people and a
large plugged crowd (online almost 24/7)? Are we heading towards an individualistic
society? Or simply, does it seem that this is the natural way the world will be ruled in
micro-communities (in bubbles) in the future? Who designs the technology that we
consume? Will devices serve citizens more than the citizens serve the devices?
Therefore, are there real alternatives to the technocratic business-led dominant top-
down governance model in the Smart Cities? Or, in contrast, is this still wishful
progressive thinking?
Is the idea of big data, an empty buzzword? Is it possible to combine an open
access civilian deliberative system within a confidential and espionage-obsessed
paradigm? Will we see changes in which context-collapsed information will be
contestualized to enhance social interactions? Will technological devices be designed
based on peoples needs more than on corporate or infrastructure interests? Will the
socio-political establishment suffer any shift towards free and community-driven
processes? Or by contrast, is the myth of digital democracy (Hindman, 2009) the one
debunking popular notions about political discourses in the digital age? Has the Internet
neither diminished the audience share of corporate media nor given greater voice to
ordinary citizens? Finally, can we anticipate any relevant change in the Smart City
practices as a consequence of changes among stakeholder interactions in the definition
of a new political economic balance?
To sum up, what are the societal challenges in the current hyper-connected
societies? How to explore new policy strategies as well as new research agenda by
focusing on the implications of hyper-connectivity? If you are interested in discussing
these issues come along and join us in the #Unplugging workshop.
4
www.torch.ox.ac.uk/unplugging
5
RSVP
free
registration
in
www.unplugging.eu