This year’s Symposium will be 9-5 on the 12th of November in London at Conway Hall. The following day will be a casual day for those who would like to continue the conversation, with an agenda to be decided nearer the event.
Format
The format is based on presentation of a wide range of perspectives to generate dialog, with 10 minute presentations followed by 5 minutes of dialogue, then straight to the next speaker with strict cut-off since in our experience being on time makes the day more relaxed. Slides are optional; recorded demos are welcome. The record of each presentation, or a separate article by each presenter (presenters choice) will be published in The Future of Text Vol 7.
This is primarily an in-person event, with online access through Zoom for audience with limited opportunities for questions. Please get in touch (below), if you would like to participate remotely.
The Future of Augmented Thought
The premise is that what thought is changes as the tools, media, and infrastructures we use when we think changes, and text is an important component of this.
Text is one of our most fundamental such tools, and right now it is being transformed, by artificial intelligence on one side and by augmented and extended reality environments on the other. As these changes accelerate, the question of what text can — and should — become is more urgent than it has ever been.
The future of text will have the potential to change how we see ourselves and relate ourselves to each other, and our world. We ask:
- How do we design AI-augmented text tools that strengthen rather than erode critical thinking?
- What does deep reading look like in spatial and extended reality environments — and what might be lost or gained?
- What does spatialized authoring feel like from the inside, and how should that experience be presented to readers?
- When an author thinks alongside AI, what should remain irreducibly their own — and how would we know?
- How should text be structured and annotated so that augmented thought remains open, portable, and under the thinker’s control?
- Text has transformed how humans think before — with the alphabet, the printing press, and hypertext. What does this moment of transformation have in common with those, and what is genuinely new?
- How do we ensure that what we think and write today remains legible, addressable, and trustworthy to readers in the future?
- How does traditional text fit into this new environment?
- What is the role of the body in augmented textual environments — and what does it mean to think with your hands, your gaze, and your space?
How can we work to truly develop systems to use what is here now and what is coming, to, in the spirit of Doug Engelbart, truly augment us, not replace us or remove our agency?
‘The future of text is open’
Experimental music co-created with AI for another perspective to help set the tone. Lyrics are available. This music is part of the ‘Thinking Music’ podcast.
Contact
The event is by invitation only but if you are passionate about the future of text and would like to participate, please get in touch.
Frode Hegland, Host
Director Future Text Lab and The Augmented Text Co
frode@hegland.com
Samya Brata Roy, Engagement Chair
Assistant Professor, GITAM Hyderabad
sroy4@gitam.edu