Stefana Broadbent, digital ethnographer, Department of Anthropology, UCL
How, in your experience, have web technologies been employed to make the world a better place?
Web technology is enabling people to stay in contact with their loved ones from settings where it was impossible until recently. I'm thinking of migration, but also workplaces and all environments where people were cut off for long spells of time from those they care for most. This sense of continuous contact is giving people a huge sense of safety and comfort. Breaking isolation also gives people strength and courage.
And where for you are the real problem areas that remain that you think the internet and its associated technologies can help to tackle?
The real challenge for me at the moment is what to do with all those friends people have reconnected with, via social networking sites like Facebook. It seems as though lots of people have all their contacts available and present, but they are not doing much with all this social potential (just the odd post here and there is not really leveraging on all those affects). I am very curious to see how people will transform these relationships.
So what projects are you currently engaged in on a day to day basis and how does the internet fit into this?
I study how people use communication technology in their daily life and how this is changing their relationships but also how it affects the institutions they inhabit (schools, workplaces, families).
Who do you admire in this space? Who's inspiring you? Who's pushing the boundaries and how?
At the moment my real admiration goes to Skype because they have transformed the way people communicate with distant contacts. They have supported the transformation from short weekly or fortnightly conversations that recapped the events of the week, to sharing a space and activities sometimes for hours a day, thanks to their webcam and unlimited communication time. People we talk to tell us of cooking together, dining together, showing their homes and clothes and introducing friends to their loved ones miles away. This is really changing the experience of migration and separation for many, many people.
And what can we expect from your presentation at Activate 2010?
I'll talk about communication and intimacy and how institutions are being challenged by this irruption of the private intimate sphere in all realms of daily life.