2016-09-23

First re:publica Dublin Sessions Online Now!

In the coming days we will be publishing our full programme for re:publica Dublin. Check it out, be inspired and come visit our very first international event in Ireland!

First of all we'd like to give a huge thank you to all of you for your exciting submissions for our Call for Participation. Due to our one-day event format, we unfortunately couldn't include all of the 60+ submissions we received. Despite this, it is great to see how engaged and creative both the Irish and Germany community is when it comes to themes and ideas.

In order to give you a taste of what to expect in Dublin here is a selection of sessions and speakers we will be featuring:

Terror and Social Media

Prof. Peter Neumann, founder and head of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London, is an expert in extremism and radicalisation and advises organisations such as the United Nations. In his research he and his team evaluate Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles of suspected violent jihadists. Prof. Neumann will take to the re:publica Dublin stage to examine the connection between social media and terrorism.

New Paths in e-Money

Mobile network operators, internet service providers and social media platforms are increasingly entering the world of the banking sector. Rachel O'Dwyer, researcher and faculty member at Dublin's Trinity College, will use her session to give an overview of new forms of e-money already in existence and how they influence our relationship with money. She will also examine questions regarding data security, infrastructure and the use of peer-to-peer money transfers.

Pokémon Go, Augmented Reality and Privacy in Virtual Spaces

The new app from the cult game Pokémon has again shown how the virtual and physical worlds are merging ever closer together. Andres Guadamuz, Senior Lecturer in IP Law at the University of Sussex, is critical of the hype surrounding the game. He intends to examine questions on data protection in virtual spaces.

Blockchain & Legal Structures

Blockchain technology is one of the leading engines behind the next generation of the internet. Yet how will blockchain-related future technologies fit into existing legal frameworks and structures. Shermin Voshmgir, founder of BlockchainHub, will present her thoughts.

The Algorithm of Populism

Christian Clawien, director of Digital Strategy at fischerAppelt, will talk about the influences of algorithms on current political debates, such as #Brexit and the #Trump phenomenon, and what we as a community can do to counter them.

The State of Surveillance in Dublin

Marco Herbst, founder of Evercam, runs at network of hundreds of public and private cameras in Dublin. At re:publica he will invite attendees to participate in an open debate about the technological possibilities of these types of networks, data protection and its current legal framework, as well as public perception relating to surveillance.

Recognizing Hate Speech – An Interactive Experiment

During her university studies, Lea Schultzeisz focused on hate speech and her work included a research project on anti-Semitism in (social) media. Since then she has been following the discussions in Germany and Ireland, particularly in reference to repeal8th and hate speech towards the traveller community and refugees. Lea will present her findings on the cognitive aspects of hate speech, as well as its effects.

How Protesters Use Social Media to Reimagine Witnessing and Co-presence

Tanya Lokot, lecturer at the School of Communications at DCU, will explore questions of how social media can be used as a tool for organising protest and movements and will present real-world implementations of the internet and communication technologies by protest participants.

You think, Germany is a technology country? Ha!

A highly amusing session for everyone – everyone except us Germans, that is. Christiane Link, journalist, founder and head of London-based Ortegalink Ltd., and Thomas Knüwer, founder and CEO of kpunktnull, will explain why Germany is a country that actually hates technology.

These sessions are just a taste of what we have in store! Come back regularly to our programme page for more updates and the soon-to-be-published full programme schedule.

Image credit: re:publica/Gregor Fischer (CC BY 2.0)