2024:Program/Post-literate Wikipedia. How open collaboration would transform “after writing”?

Session title: Post-literate Wikipedia. How open collaboration would transform “after writing”?

Session type: Workshop

Track: Wild Ideas

Language: en

The workshop will focus on the impact of digital technologies on society in terms of the transition from a literate to a post-literate mindset introduced by Jacek Dukaj in "After Writing". The discussion will explore how this profound shift affects collaboration and knowledge co-creation. An immersion into Dukaj's vision will serve to understand the fast-changing conditions of collaborative knowledge production. Furthermore, during the workshop, we will attempt to identify crucial signals of changes in the context of knowledge co-creation. Together with participants, we will outline futures of Wikipedians’ open collaboration within possible post-literate conditions.

Description

The workshop is an invitation to reflect on the vision of post-literate humanity in the context of Wikipedia's future. Together with participants, we will take a closer look at crucial areas of change, and generate scenarios of future-oriented collaborative knowledge production. The course of the meeting will consist of two phases: mapping of present signals of changes and comprehending the future. We will apply a forecasting framework to capture the scope of possible futures.

Aims of the workshop: - introducing basic knowledge about the concept of post-literate humanity - identifying significant signals of change of human mindset concerning open knowledge co-creation - outlining futures of Wikipedians’ open collaboration within possible post-literate conditions

In recent years, a significant acceleration of social change has been observed due to the dissemination of digital technologies (including broadband internet, social media, AI, and mobile technologies). These inventions have a powerful impact not only on individuals, but also on entire communities and, consequently, on ways of thinking, decision-making, experiencing social life, and expressing oneself. "After Writing", a bestselling book of essays by Polish speculative fiction writer Jacek Dukaj, envisions the deepest transformation of humanity caused by the digitalization of life - the conversion of the human mind. Dukaj suggests that human civilization's race towards the mind-machine interface is actually a course toward the direct transmission of experience, and it is transforming the human mindset to post-literate, focused on the experience itself. The direct transfer of experiences will change how we communicate and share our knowledge of the world. How would this impact open collaboration and the idea of democratizing knowledge that has been embodied in Wikipedia for more than 20 years? And why should we discuss these issues today?

Dukaj claims that the described transition is not a tale of the future. Today, we’re observing significant signals of change. People read less because reading takes them too much time. Social media users migrate to audiovisual communication because it enables transfer experiences effectively. Furthermore, digital feeds instantly fill the gaps between “I want” and “I have”. It means that VOD, YouTube, and podcast platforms eliminate dissatisfaction, and these phenomena create huge asymmetry in terms of people's motivation to acquire knowledge. And questions about ways, in which knowledge is produced, acquired, and used are crucial for the future of Wikipedia. Post-literate users and co-creators of Wikipedia are emerging in front of our eyes.

Collaborative knowledge production has to adapt to the trend of post-literacy. First of all, we will observe the aftermath of replacing cause-and-effect logic with a multidirectional and associative narrative. Moreover, the ongoing ubiquity of the direct transfer of experiences blurs the boundaries of fiction and real life because people aren’t able to verify sources of transferred experiences. From Dukaj's perspective, we shouldn’t perceive the transition to post-literacy as a regression. But undoubtedly, we are witnessing a profound shift in the basis of knowledge transfer across societies.

How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?

Our proposal relates to the future of open collaboration in categories of broad social change that will arise from rapid digitalization and the transformation of the human mindset. The core of the workshop is linked to the basis of human cognition and communication which strictly shapes collaborative knowledge production. The vision of the post-literate society might be considered as a point of reference to understand emerging forms of open knowledge co-creation - embracing both threats (overload of audience, new kinds of biases) and opportunities (new forms of knowledge transitions, decentralization) to the idea of open collaboration.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/128LHb-IG4DrSKaFTOdUMD_wyqcbtcN7WE2U6wsUigqo/edit?usp=sharing

Speakers

• Katarzyna Drożdżal

I’m a researcher and a designer and the co-founder of Selkie Design Agency. Since 2007, I’ve been involved in research, and since 2014 I’ve kept my focus on projects related to creating and developing digital products. I co-organise an international conference called World Usability Day Silesia (WUD Silesia). I’m a lecturer at postgraduate User Experience Design studies (SWPS University), E-Marketing (WSE / SWPS University). I pursue my scientific interests in the Laboratory of Personality (Psychology Institute of Psychology Polish Academy of Sciences). My passions lie in cyberpsychology, narrative psychology, personality psychology and social psychology. In research, I focus my attention on areas concerning processes of self-regulation among users of digital products.

• Paweł Nowak

Paweł Nowak has been working as a Service Designer and UX Designer since 2008. He is a founder of NOWY - research and design agency (2016) and a founder of WUD Silesia conference - the biggest non-profit design conference in Poland (2010). His professional mission is to design interventions and technologies that empower people and enhance their potential and competencies. He uses complexity science as a lens for gaining new perspectives in the design field. Paweł is a lecturer at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Katowice and Sektor 3.0 Fund startup incubation program manager. After work he supports as a mentor, teacher and designer social and educational initiatives.