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Outside The Square – Is This Working? How to Be Connected: Social Media and the News

When was the last time you bought a newspaper? Last weekend? Last year? Can’t remember?

Most of us now hear about the news through social media; where stories, accurate or not, go viral within minutes and a new generation of digital influencers shape public opinion.

Facebook and the like have proven to be effective tools for organising activist movements: social media can inform and unite us to create meaningful protest.

It can also tear us apart.

Once trusted news outlets are now regarded with increasing levels of cynicism and suspicion. Outmoded business models have led to dwindling resources and newsrooms in freefall: editorial staff are routinely downsized as erstwhile readers retreat into their private social media bubbles. In the vacuum, alternative media groups have emerged, resetting the terms of mainstream news via the internet to accommodate ‘alternative facts’.

So who are the winners and losers in this era of free information? How do we feel about constant surveillance by both corporate and our own personal social media platforms? What are we getting in return? Are we really informed? Are we really connected?

How much?
$15 Students
$20 Alumni
$25 Friends

Ticket price includes drinks and canapés by the chefs of Spice Alley.

Outside the Square is a lively new series of interactive, “Q&A-style” discussions designed especially for graduates of the University of Sydney.

It’s about harnessing the energies of Humanities and Social Sciences thinking for issues that are important to all of us.

http://sydney.edu.au/arts/outsidethesquare/the_season.shtml#are

When

22nd June 2017 06:00 pm
To 22nd June 2017 08:30 pm

Where

The Old Rum Store
Level 2, The Old Rum Store, Kensington Street
Chippendale 2008