red speaker spot

Jonathan Donner (Microsoft Research India) at wtfmediaconf 2011.

red circle

Keeping an eye on Mercury and its retrogrades

The only red circle present at wtfmediaconf will be the speaker spot.  After a troubled 2010 conference, which was originally scheduled for the three weeks in Mercury, the planet of communication, turned retrograde.   Never again.

For those not in the know, Mercury turns retrograde three times a year.  Each period is about three weeks long.  It is a time of caution and re-evaluation, equipment will fail, misunderstandings will occur and everything seems to move at a snail’s pace if it moves forward at all.  Indeed some things will actually go backward.

The first Mercury retrograde will start its pre-retrogade period on February 27 – March 12, when retrograde proper beings, until April 4, when post-retrograde begins and live – as normal – resumes on April 23, 2012.  According to those in the know this first retrograde will bring challenges, transitions and transformation.  The second period starts with pre-retrograde on June 27 – July 13, Retrograde July 14 – August 7-8 and post-retrograde August 8 – 21.   Once again those who know more than I state this period will activate winds of change and create situations than branch out into many new directions.

With the conference scheduled for September 1, 2012 we can (fingers crossed) breathe easy.

theme for 2012 is IMPACT

Whoever has all the marbles wins (Wikimedia Commons)

The theme for #wtf12 is IMPACT.

The 14th annual media conference hosted by CPUT (formerly Cape Technikon) will be about the impact of technology and the impact of social media.  According to all the pundits…this year 2012 is the year that technology is going to have an impact on our lives.

Whether or not it will rival the impact of the toaster, the electric kettle, the computer, fax machine, matches, zippers, barcode, batteries, ballpoint pens, buttons, credit cards, robots, condoms, pencils, ploughs, sticky tape, telephones, thermometers, velcro, rubber bands, radios, disposable razors and the wheel remains to be seen.  But it would be wise to be reminded that although we treat these preceding items as everyday things.  They weren’t always taken for granted.  If fact, at one point in time, they were considered revolutionary and technologically advanced and cutting edge.

But not all the experts consider this impact to be good for humanity, that is the people of the world.  Jim Clifton (The Coming Jobs War) predicts that the next war will be the war for jobs.  With technology replacing people who used to have formal jobs (paycheck and 30 hrs per week meaningful work) and the world already facing a global 50% unemployment rate, whoever controls the jobs, wins the war.  And it will be a war for all the marbles according to Jim Clifton.