Richard Bartlett will present on "I Want My Techno Utopia Back: Making Sense in an Age of Memes and Trolls"

Event Date: 

Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - 3:30pm

Event Location: 

  • SSMS 2135

Many of us who were online in the 90's assumed that the internet was fundamentally biased towards democracy, so it's a shock to see big democracies failing while our lives are increasingly digitised. Join Loomio cofounder Richard D. Bartlett to explore what's gone wrong with the development of the Web, and what's being done to fix it. He'll share some optimistic stories from Asia and the Pacific, and some provocations for academics and activists in the US. Together we'll question the role of information technology in collective sense-making and collective action. 

Richard Bartlett is one of the co-founders of Loomio, an open source software tool for collective decision-making. Looomio was developed in 2011 by a worker-owned cooperative social enterprise based in Aotearoa New Zealand, Rich is also a member of Enspiral, a decentralised network of people using the tools of business to pursue radical social change. Rich’s background is in creative activism and DIY electronics.

Loomio began in 2011, when activists who met because of their involvement in the Occupy movement in Wellington were seeking ways to engage non-co-located individuals in collective discussion and action in an inclusive manner. As of April 2015, the Loomio platform had been used in 93 countries in 32 different languages. These groups represent city governments, social movement collectives, community groups, start-ups, schools, and NGOS, including groups such as Debt Resistance UK, Urban Adventures, a startup with staff and partners spread across the globe, The National Assembly of Wales, Oui Share, a collective international community focusing on the collaborative economy and Climate Karanga, a NZ climate activist group.

Richard Bartlett