The Digital Platforms and Data research group at ITU invites everyone to a public lecture about how we think of the digital future.

Abstract: The Internet has been treated as a revolutionary catalyst of sociopolitical change for over a quarter-century. In this lecture, David Karpf will explore how the "Internet Imaginary" has changed over the intervening decades, as viewed through the archives of WIRED magazine. How did the digital future look in the 1990s, the 2000s, 2010, and today? Which predictions and mistakes reoccur over the years? How has the discourse about the digital future departed from the original cyber-optimist mythos? Centrally, Karpf argues that all of the focus on digital disruption has overlooked a stronger trend of institutional fragility.

David Karpf is an associate professor and the associate director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. He teaches and conducts research on internet politics, with a focus on organized political advocacy campaigns in the digital age. He is the author of two books, "The MoveOn Effect" (Oxford University Press, 2012) and "Analytic Activism" (Oxford University Press, 2016).

The event is open to the public, so bring your smart friends. Registration is not required.