IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017 - 23

is to change the voices in it. An
important part of the Web Science
endeavor is to change the voices in
the discussion about what we want
to do with, and about, the technology capabilities we are building.
As the relationship between "man"
and "machine" becomes more complex and the lines that distinguish
technology and humans become
blurred to the point if invisibility,
these conversations matter more
than ever. The challenge is whether
there is sufficient awareness across
society about the significance
of the choices we are making, or
worse, that others are making for
us, about how we want that relationship to evolve.
Thirty years ago Tim Berners-Lee
did the initial design for what we
now know as the World Wide Web.
The Web has since pervaded every
corner of human existence and
intruded its influence into every
domain of our lives.
The digital age has shifted relationships between machines and
people and nature in ways that we
are only just beginning to understand. As we embark irreversibly
on the "age of the machine," the
influence and impact of the next
wave of inventive digital creativity -
think artificial intelligence, machine
SEPTEMBER 2017

learning, new versions of virtual
or augmented reality - are barely beginning.
Our reflexive and immersive familiarity with the digital world
belies the reality that in many ways
we've only just started this dance
with digital.
So now might be a good time to
dramatically ramp up the intensity,
quality, and reach of big, brave, and
inclusive conversations about its
direction, meaning, and impact.

What's a "Brave Conversation"?
It turns out that having a conversation is quite hard. It's not the same
as talking.
Conversations are exchanges.
And the point of an exchange is to
create something - in this case,
insights, ideas, and knowledge -
that was not there before the conversation started.
If that is going to happen, a good
conversation needs a degree of honesty and mutual respect. It assumes
a willingness to listen and respond
(as opposed to the definition of a
conversation as "waiting for the other
people to stop talking").
And it sometimes requires a
degree of honesty to bring into the
conversation things that need to be
spoken, but that might challenge the
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IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

interests or comfort of those involved.
And that's where the "brave"
comes in.
What's brave about "brave c o n versations" is their willingness
t o enga ge idea s a nd ter r itory
that mig ht be characterized by
t he se attributes:
■ It touches on big questions
of the current distribution of
power and control by some of
those involved in the discussion; those vested interests may
need to be questioned and disturbed by the conversation if it
is going to be honest and full.
("A web science that takes up
the challenge to be genuinely
pro-human must, we contend,
make a commitment to recognising inequalities and the
potential for things to be otherwise" http://journal.webscience
.org/297/2/manifestoACM.pdf.)
■ It might raise possibilities of
action and different ways of living
and making decisions that imply
disruptive and radical changes
to some of the architecture of
the way we currently run our politics, economics, and wider elements of society (basically, how
we make decisions, who makes
decisions, and how those decisions
reveal underlying assumptions

http://www.journal.webscience

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2017