The Cloud as Skynet: Conquering Digital Overload
Everybody talks about the “cloud” as if it is a digital savior. A beautiful white fluffy (free) cloud on a blue-sky day. Sounds nice, huh? But what if it’s a storm cloud? Today – there is a mad rush to move pictures, video, and event private data to the cloud. We live in a world today of constant connection. We’re blessed with unlimited access to pervasive communications. We are, in fact, shifting from an era of mere content abundance to an avalanche of undifferentiated data. Our hard drives runneth over. So - you can't blame your self for wanting to move to the cloud. Unlimited space for all your crap - and free. Who wouldn't sign up? Today the noisy web has resulted in the emergence of a handful of private, walled garden webs. A closed web. Will our cloud providers become information overloads? Can we save the web from privatization, and regain control over our data and our identities? Only if we move fast. Before ‘Big Data’ becomes ‘Big Government.’ Find out how digital ‘overload’ can insure power in the human web.
Presenters
Steven Rosenbaum, author, curator, and founder and CEO of Magnify.net, serves as New York City’s first Entrepreneur at Large.
In his new book 'Curation Nation' (McGraw Hill / 2011) Rosenbaum argues that the current evolution of the web is a battle between humans and robots.
While algorithms may claim to offer clarity in a noisy world - the reality is that more robots create more data and more noise.
Instead - Rosenbaum points to humans. Friends, Trusted Sources, and human editors who create clarity through context. Rosenbaum makes a compelling case that the future of the web is curated, not created. And if history is any judge, he's been able to predict the future before.
Rosenbaum created MTV's groundbreaking user-generated series MTV UNfiltered, a pre-web television project that handed cameras to young storytellers. Before email or the web, UNfiltered was what Time Magazine called "the Future of GenX News."
As the CEO of the web's largest Video Curation Platform,Magnify.net - he provides a realtime curation solution that powers more than 90,000 sites. Increasingly, crated content is powering ecommerce, brands, and organizations like Patagonia, NY Magazine, Mediaite, and TEDx.
Since that time he has built a career finding, organizing, and contextualizing stories.
Rosenbaum's work in media includes filmmaking work as an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker. His film “7 Days In September” gathered more than 500 hours of video around 9/11 – creating a curated journey through the eyes of 28 filmmakers and citizen storytellers.
Friday, March 9
