Radically Reshaping the Future of Mobile Information Creation, Access and Sharing

This one-day Summit event aims to think disruptively and imaginatively about what the future might bring for emergent mobile users over the next five to ten years. By emergent users, we mean people who are either only just getting access to advanced mobile devices or who will potentially do so in the next few years (see [1]).

We’ll be considering the devices, services, content, interfaces and interactions that could transform uptake and benefits within these communities. We will also be thinking about what this fresh thinking might mean for “rest of the world” users, and whether there are overlooked alternatives to the orthodoxy of current platforms.

Together, attendees will assess and critique current technologies and future visions, creating a series of new concepts, design provocations and innovations that will be distilled into inspiring videos by a group of videographers. All of this data will be shared fully with participants after the event.

Our team will use the outputs of the day along with insights from emergent user groups in Cape Town, Nairobi and Mumbai to develop a series of open-source prototypes that will be deployed next year

Event details

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Date: 3rd June 2016 (see outline agenda, below)

Booking: The event is by invitation and limited in numbers; we want to ensure a great balance of different perspectives. Please register your interest if you would like to take part.

The event is free to attend, and will include all refreshments. Attendees will need to fund their own travel and other costs.

Outline agenda — 3rd June, 2016

Day 1 Activity
09:30 Registration opens; refreshments and coffee available
10:00 Introduction and scene setting
10:15 Who is in the room – finding out about each other, our interests and concerns
10:30 Context exploration – what is the aim of today?
11:00 Moonshot pitches (an opportunity for anyone to suggest a vision of the future for emergent user groups)
11:15 Results from last year's summit in Bangalore
12:00 Lunch, refreshments and networking
13:00 Moonshot pitches, part 2
13:15 Insights from our work with emergent users in Cape Town
14:00 Activity 1 – future technologies and their relevance to emergent users
15:00 Break
15:15 Activity 2 – using future technologies in transformative ways
16:00 Summary and close

[1]: Devanuj and Anirudha Joshi. 2013. Technology adoption by 'emergent' users: the user-usage model. In Proceedings of the 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human Interaction (APCHI '13). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 28-38.