UPDATE: Temporarily unposted while they were in Cuba, now reposted. If you are at Etech, don’t miss this one on Wednesday. From just what I’ve heard of their experience there so far, not to be missed!
I’m super excited that my friends Joshua Kauffman and Gwendolyn Floyd will be presenting presenting at ETech this year. And presenting something really cool too. They’ll be presenting their findings from their research mission to Cuba, a country isolated from our particular digital culture but, on the cusp of dramatic social and technological change if/when the American embargo finally drops with the passing of Castro.
…All the while, barely 1 in 1000 people have access to the Internet in a form recognizable to the average connected person. Mobile phones are nearly as absent from the technological mix. In Trinidad de Cuba, one hustler proudly showed off his mobile phone to us, though it didn’t even have a service provider…
… What will happen when a cultured, literate, hyper-social people get access to the Internet for the first time? How will their virgin experiences and experimentations impact the rest of the world? Cubans teach us to strip away layers of plastic, metal, and code to the root of what technology is, and what it has always been. From a people that have been greatly anticipating the future—any future—we’ll be left with clues for the promising technologies of our own near future by looking at recent progress and universal lessons in the Cuba of today. ”
Of Necessity and Humanity: What Cuba Can Teach Us About Ourselves and Our Own Technology.
Gwen and Joshua will also using the exposure from ETech to help launch their latest project REGIONAL, “an interdisciplinary design and research network that performs and applies original analysis of global society, culture and commerce, uncovering and developing opportunities for profitable innovation and meaningful cultural intervention.” neat stuff.
File under wonderfuly bright minds of our generation.
Pictured Gwendolyn and Joshua at Lift 07 (and Regine Debatty)