Twelve top new-media and technology writers will be materializing in human form at Harvard Law School on 19 March, with the hope of drawing a higher-resolution picture of technology as it affects the public.
Thus far, introducing nuance to the media and Washington seems to be at the crux of the group's ambition.
Based on an eight-point policy plan drafted by participants Andrew Shapiro, David Shenk, and Steven Johnson, the goal of these self-proclaimed "technorealists" is to implement a more mature phase of discussion about technology; for instance, calling on the government to protect free expression on the Internet while simultaneously asking for increased online copyright protection.
An important component of technorealism is the belief that the Internet is revolutionary, but not utopian; that computer money allocated to schools will not magically engender better test scores.
As Andrew Shapiro puts it, "we want to criticize technology with the view of improving it. I'm not anti-technology by any means, but I find myself at odds with the boosterism of Silicon Valley and, well, Wired magazine."
This young, and perhaps transitional, philosophy of technorealism has already drawn interest from many sides. Neo-Luddite Kirkpatrick Sale will participate in online discussions on the ideas, and cyberguru John Perry Barlow has pledged to attend next Thursday's event in Cambridge.
Though the technorealism task force decries the pundits and press, its membership reads like a dream digital masthead: David S. Bennahum of Wired and Spin, Brooke Shelby Biggs of the SF Bay Guardian, author Paulina Borsook, Marisa Bowe of Word, Simson Garfinkel of Wired and the Boston Globe, Johnson of Feed, Douglas Rushkoff of Time Digital, Shapiro of the Harvard Law School, Shenk of NPR, Steve Silberman of Wired News, Mark Stahlman of the New York New Media Association, and Stefanie Syman of Feed.
"Mainstream technology reporting has definitely improved and there are some very sharp folks out there at big national papers," says Syman. "In fact, the Microsoft case has brought some bigger issues to the fore: consumer choice versus industry standards, and the OS as lifestyle. But it's always trickier to unearth the social implications of a given technology. Understanding the more lasting implications depends on suspending a reflex judgment and watching things unfold over time."
Members of the working group will host a three-week discussion on Feed, beginning 12 March, and Shapiro says the group is looking for a book deal.
"This is not the beginning of a political organization, it's really just what it is," says Shenk. "We're trying to help the conversation along, and hopefully make stories a little more balanced and interesting.
"We're not inventing here, we're just trying to articulate something that we think is already quite widespread."
