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The Internet today is no longer the utopia that it was promised to be. There are many positive aspects, but there is also Orwellian surveillance of personal data, excessive commercialization, dead links, and mountains of useless information. How could the Internet be transformed into something better? How could computers and software be redesigned to liberate us from work, rather than leading to more work and bureaucracy? What should the Car of the Future look like? The Library of the Future? What is the future of television, cinema, books, personal digital assistants, medical technologies? What about the introduction of robots into society? And is Artificial Intelligence possible? To consider these and other questions about the present and the future of media and technologies, we will consider ideas from the great media/technology thinkers of the past, and what they would say about contemporary reality if they were alive today.

Our main focus will be on Marshall McLuhan, but we will also look at Harold Innis, Jean Baudrillard, and Martin Heidegger. And also at Paul Virilio and Donna Haraway, who are in fact both alive. The participants will be asked to read two short texts of about 5 pages each before each meeting of the workshop.

This workshop begins with an introduction meeting on Sunday, May 22 at 21:00 Central European Time, and 15:00 EST (New York City Time).  Workshop meetings are 90 min. in length with interaction during the week in Ning.  Information for accessing the workshop will be sent to completed registrations.  For more information on this workshop contact

Instructor: Alan Shapiro, language is English. This workshop meets on five consecutive Sundays: 9:00 PM (21:00) CET (Central europe), 3:00 PM EST (New York), 12:00 AM-noon (Los Angeles). Registration closes:  May 14, 2011.