Dinners

Dude. Where is my identity?

An evening discussion on how young people, “yoof”, actually use technology. Young people relate to technology in different ways than their elders, more messaging via social networks than email, new values on privacy, more awareness of media and cost. Liam Maxwell, Head of Computing at Eton College, will be speaking about identity, forgetting, personality and young people’s interactions with the internet and society. There is a generational gap that spans more than just techniques and privacy practices, it demonstrates a profoundly different approach and one which older adults may not, and perhaps should not, be able to fully comprehend. Liam intends to include in the discussion some students from secondary schools to add personal impact. Given Liam’s own views on many subjects of interest to the Real Time Club, it promises to be a vigorou discussion.

Read more

Why Should the ICT Industry Care About the Arts

We should all care about the arts but, moreover for ICT, technology is moving central stage – new media, new content, new ways to find and to reach audiences and supporters, new ways to connect and engage with them. Do many in the ICT industry know or care?

Read more

Green Boggle – A Night Of Green Tech With Prizes

A Real Time Club event in association with the London Accord, Z/Yen Group, and Beer & Partners.

Many people believe that the next wave of technological investment not only will be, but should be, green tech. Green technology is the application of many technologies to reduce environmental impact. While climate change is high on the charts, there are numerous other investment opportunities in conservation, recycling and waste reduction. Naturally, information & communications technology (ICT) features significantly in many prospective ventures. Real Time Club members have repeatedly expressed interest in a green evening. Of course, a related question is how much green tech is government-rhetoric-inspired boondoggle or genuine societal transformation.

Read more

Mystery Night – Spooks on a Budget – eBay Espionage and the Cut-Price World of Do It-Yourself Surveillance

Once upon a time, we imagined secret agents like James Bond and his real-world colleagues in MI5 and MI6 planting covert surveillance devices. Some of these devices were incredibly small and the agents could listen to your conversation, or track your movements, from anywhere in the world. Fortunately we didn’t worry much about these secret agents, who lived mainly in le Carré and Fleming land. Those who did live with us were only concerned with serious crime and counter-terrorism, allowing us all to live happily ever after, or so we believed …

Read more

Nerd Night: An Evening with UCL Research

University College London Computer Science is one of the world’s leading research centres in computing, conducting cutting edge research across the spectrum from bioinformatics through networks and software engineering to graphics and virtual environments. UCL works with global technology leaders including Microsoft, RIM, Cisco, BT and many others. Nerd night is an opportunity to ‘talk technology’. A team of young researchers will make short presentations about the ideas that excite them and challenges that lie beyond the bleeding edge. This is an opportunity to see research in the raw and to engage with the transformational possibilities of computer science.

Read more

Which is the greatest threat to Privacy – Government, Facebook or the General Public?

Whether due to CCTV, ID cards, retaining DNA of innocent people, the UK Government has come under determined attack again and again for encroaching on the privacy rights of its citizens. But are there bigger threats that privacy campaigners are missing?

Read more

Intellectual Property: A Success Story To Be Extended? Just Desserts or Global Gridlock?

Intellectual Property (IP) can rile information technologists. Some live off IP, or even assert their intellectual rights. Others believe that intellectual rights are bogus. We live in an age of remarkable intellectual property appropriation – copyright, trademarks, patents and commercial secrets grow at an unprecedented rate. However, is this right or appropriate? Do the new owners deserve this property, what might it mean for society, are there alternative ways of governing intellectual property – who wins and who loses? This debate will explore one of the thorniest areas of the modern, global economy and question whether global advancement needs ‘closed source’, or should go increasingly ‘open source’.

Read more

Failure Is Not An Option! Credit Crunch or Civilisation’s Collapse?

Every day new crises have been appearing with many US and European household names collapsing or being propped up by governments or takeover – Bear Stearns, Northern Rock, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, HBOS, Fortis (ABN Amro), Dexia etc. The fears of a 1929-style global depression grow daily, but the situation is murky. In our tradition of peering ahead better through discussion, the Real Time Club hosts a topical debate that intends to explore:

• Read more

Cybersecurity 2012 – Who will win the Olympic Challenge? Can we beat ’em?

A unique insight to the world of 2012 – nightmare or dream come true?

Will it all be too much for the cybersecurity infrastructures of London in 2012 as broadcasters from around the world cover the Olympics at the same time as criminals from around the world use the opportunity of millions of sports groupies and tourists all trying to do on-line card and banking transactions from inside the cross-border defences of the financial services capital of the world at the same time as extortionists ply their trade at the same time as terrorists advance their causes.

So how do we ensure that the result is a major disappointment for all the criminals and terrorists and a joy for the rest of us?

Read more

Greenwash and greenmail: Marketing, money, and the carbon agenda

IT consumes around 30% of the energy (and therefore the carbon footprint) of the average organization, and the problem of electronic waste is real and growing. Media coverage of global warming and climate change has focused the minds of both consumers and legislators on the issues. Like it or not, the emerging solutions are going to place the burden squarely on the shoulders of business. Add to that the growing realization that there are positive advantages to ‘going green’ (cost reductions, PR pay-offs, to name but two) and energy and environmental issues have shot to the forefront of business leaders’ thinking these days. Green is the new rock and roll.

Or is it? How much of what’s on the agenda today will still be there tomorrow? What proportion of the ‘green’ in business rhetoric and IT marketing is only one coat of paint thick? Does green mean anything more than greenbacks to governments and the financial community? Can we really meet the environmental targets being set, and does anyone actually care?

Read more