Holly Grover: The new stories of technology
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 06/01/2020

Down with Silicon Valley narratives, up with … GLAM sector wisdom?

Wednesday November 20, 2019 2:00pm - 2:25pm
Angus - Breakout Room Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

In 21 meaty minutes, this talk will deliver macro-scale ideas with a day-to-day influence on our digital decision making.

Firstly, I'll introduce the Silicon Valley Story of technology and how this shapes the way we use, talk about, and work with technology … until the geopolitical events of 2016 changed everything. A once-neat narrative – of technological solutionism, tech as a neutral platform, and computational thinking – has become incoherent, and a range of actors are rushing to fill the void and tell new stories.

I’ll then speculate on competing narratives by using intense memes to help reframe our thinking - and showing why this is important in the very long term. 
Finally, the GLAM sector is full of sage technologists who are also quite conveniently tasked with gathering and amplifying the stories of our times. So what can GLAMs in Aotearoa offer up as stories or frames to aid those outside the sector with wiser technological decision-making? What might we contribute to The New Stories of Technology? And within our day-to-practice, how might we shift our frames for digital thinking?

I'll aim to leave 5 mins at the end for all your gnarly questions, answers, and comments.

Holly Grover