The Internet: How it is broken, why – and how can we fix it?

Autumn 2019 Event

Date: Monday 23rd September 2019, 6 pm to 9 pm

Venue: Modern Art Oxford, 30 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP

As the so-called Web 2.0 era of the internet fades away, the realisation has dawned that our online lives are now dominated by a handful of digital and social media giants. The utopian dreams of the early internet have turned into a rather less idyllic reality than we all hoped.

Accountable to no-one, financially more significant than many countries’ entire economies, the internet giants’ business models mean that the search for truth, fact or entertainment online is now overshadowned by microtargeting, data privacy and the overwhelming use of clickbait to drive advertising revenues.

The quality of publishing and journalism has been particularly hard hit as revenues are devastated. At the same time as their products are more popular and relevant than ever, many news publishers are losing the struggle to survive, let alone thrive. Yet, trustworthy news has never been more needed.

Oxford Technology & Media is delighted to welcome long-standing industry thinker and do-er Dominic Young, CEO of Axate. Close to the heart of the changes that the internet has created for the media industry, Dominic has had a front row seat at many of the key moments of the internet so far. He will walk through what went wrong, and what possible, positive, outcomes are still possible that will take us back to Go and the $200.