Here is the Prezi for my session with Commonword on 19th June 2014.
Also available here: http://prezi.com/jurrtpegsquf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
One of the things we discussed was the contested nature of ‘literacies’, and how they are value-laden, power-laden and embedded in social practices and community norms, and how this is played out in the world of marginalised writers and poets who often end up using digital platforms to reach out to audiences. The problem of how a writer ‘finds’ and ‘enters’ their work is as important as how they find and enter their audience, and the role of social media in facilitating this engagement is crucially important.
I enjoyed yet another opportunity to talk about issues related to my research beyond the realm of academia and, as usual, it was enlightening.
Categories: Lectures, Technologies
Ibrar's space 
Ryan Raffaelli, of Harvard Business School, has examined examples of “re-emergent technologies” in detail. The most striking example is the Swiss mechanical-watch industry. In the 1970s it was almost washed away by a tide of cheaper and more accurate digital watches. Today the industry is more successful than ever, providing the country’s largest source of exports after pharmaceuticals and machinery, and the engine of its revival is the old-fashioned wind-up watch.
There are plenty of other examples of re-emergent technologies. Sales of fountain pens collapsed in the 1950s with the arrival of cheap ballpoints; since the mid-1970s they have enjoyed a steady revival. Trams looked destined to become nothing more than tourist attractions in proudly quaint cities such as San Francisco and Paris. But hundreds of cities in the world have either installed new tram systems or have plans to do so. Sales of vinyl LPs in the world have increased from almost nothing in 1993 to more than some millions in 2013. The number of independent bookshops is rising for the first time in decades.
If you are interested, I have posted an article about re-emergent technologies you can read here:
http://worldofinnovations.net/2014/06/20/the-age-of-the-re-emergent-technologies/
Thank you for your comment, and the insightful blog post that you’ve linked to. Technologies and innovations bring ‘disruption’ and what you have written in your article reminds me of the writings of Clayton Christensen on ‘disruptive innovations’. The idea of “re-emergent technologies” adds to this dynamic. Quite interesting.