Alexander Bard: The Inevitability Of Participatory Culture (Alibis for Interaction 2015)

The digital revolution is a technological change just as important as the introduction of the printing press – and the changes it is forcing on politics, culture and our understanding of ourselves are equally enormous. But what these changes mean for us is difficult to see while we’re in the middle of them.

Philosopher Alexander Bard writes very complicated books, but his speaking style is energetic and lucid. In this lecture from the 2015 Alibis for Interaction Masterclass, he walks us through the on-going shift from an individualist consumer society to a more networked participatory or ”interactivist” society. Connecting the world’s population to each other with computers is actually enabling humans to return to a much older way of living: of doing and creating things together in the physical world.

Alexander had his epiphany about this in the Nevada desert at the Burning Man festival, which is fast turning into a global cultural phenomenon. This may sound hippie-dippy (and it is) but make no mistake: the gospel of participation and co-creation, as taught by Alexander Bard, is taken very seriously by the corporate leaders to whom he regularly lectures.

About Alexander

Alexander Bard is a philosopher, political activist, author, record producer, speaker and songwriter. By training he is an economist. He also breeds horses, and is the ”evil” judge on Swedish Idol. Together with Jan Söderqvist he has written four books on the internet revolution. The first three are collectively known as The Futurica Trilogy; the latest is called Syntheism – Creating God in the Internet Age.

About Alibis

Alibis for Interaction is an annual masterclass for designers of experiences, services, events, games, democratic processes, facilitation and participatory culture – all fields where audiences or consumers are turning into participants and co-creators.
http://www.alibisforinteraction.se/
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