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January 2, 2010

Harvard fellow will examine technology, society at OSU seminar

Sarah Morris

How does technology effect society?

Payne County residents and OSU students can hear the answer during Oklahoma State University’s research week to be held Feb. 15-19. A speech on the effect of technology on society will be the highlight of research week, an event coordinated by the office of the vice president of research and technology transfer.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Institute for Internet and Society.

“He is sort of like a comedian, but not really,” Kelly Green, the coordinator for research communications, said. “He is an interpreter of technology impact.”

The former philosophy professor and public relations commentator will discuss how the technology revolution has changed business and society in general.

“I seem to be writing and speaking a fair bit nowadays on what technology does to knowledge and the importance of this knowledge to our culture,” Weinberger said.

The Brookline, Mass., resident said his background is in philosophy followed by technology and business. He said he is interested in how the Internet affects our ideas of the world and who we are.

Weinberger is the co-author of “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” and author of “Small Pieces Loosely Joined” and “Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder.”

He has published articles for Wired, Salon, USA Today and Harvard Business Review; was the senior Internet adviser to the Howard Dean 2004 presidential campaign; and the policy adviser to John Edward’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Green described Weinberger as “quite informative and funny,” and said the university attempts to invite speakers that are both academic and humorous so they would mesh well with the university’s academic community, such as professors, and anyone in the Stillwater community that would like to come listen as well.

Weinberger will give a more technical and academic presentation at 1 p.m. Feb. 17, for faculty and students. A public presentation will be held 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at the OSU Student Union’s Little Theater.

No registration is required to attend the public event, though attendees should plan to arrive early since the theater is small.

It is the seventh annual year for OSU to host research week. Green said, “A lot of people perceive research as something that happens in a lab facility,” however this is not the case.

She said research happens in a variety of areas such as art theatre.

“(For Research Week, we) put together a schedule that encompasses all of those things,” Green said. “It is an opportunity for us to bring in speakers that highlight research and technology at OSU.”

Green said other activities for the week are pending. A detailed scheduled of events for research week will be released soon.

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