"As long as users are only on phones, they will at best be consumers of the technology and not developers or producers of it."
"Throughout much of the 19th century, diaries were also shared. So people would come visit and you might sit down and look through your diary together."
"Machines have a difficult time interpreting power."
"As we diversify the builders. the designers, the coders of these technologies, we will see greater diversity in the potential audiences and users that they can serve."

Season 02 Episode 02

Origins of Social Media

Featuring Lee Humphreys

Social media connects friends and strangers as never before. Cornell’s Lee Humphreys, author of The Qualified Self, joins Dirk and Jon to explore centuries-old social traditions now updated for a world of mobile and AI technology.

Author of The Qualified Self and Cornell University Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Lee Humphreys joins Dirk and Jon to explore the past of social communication in order to better understand its present and future. We learn how ancient technologies like fans and old traditions like diarying frame modern social media and communication less as a revolution and more like an update for the digital age.

Lee Humphreys

Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Cornell University

Lee Humphreys is a social scientist who explores communication technologies. Her research examines how people integrate mobile and social media into their everyday lives. From issues of privacy and surveillance to identity and social interaction, she studies the uses and effects of new and old media.

Dirk Knemeyer

Producer

Dirk is a social futurist, helping to imagine and implement social systems that better humanity. His research on the human condition has taken him around the world, from North Korea to Nepal, and from an anti-immigration parade in Germany to meeting with a community leader in Ferguson, Missouri. Previously a design entrepreneur, he created successful technology companies in Silicon Valley, Boston, and his native Ohio.

Jonathan Follett

Producer

Jon is a writer, musician, and emerging tech researcher who is a principal at GoInvo, a design practice dedicated to innovation in healthcare. His published books include science fiction novel "Marvin and the Moths" with Scholastic and "Designing for Emerging Technologies" with O’Reilly. He produces electronic dance music under the name Jonny Fallout.

Season 02 Episode 02

Origins of Social Media

Featuring Lee Humphreys

On This Episode

Lee Humphreys

Dirk Knemeyer

Jonathan Follett

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