What is the nature of conversation in the 21st century?

New technologies, mobility and social networking are enabling new forms of conversation. Crowd sourcing, twittering, blogging and Facebook updating have fundamentally altered communication dynamics, including those of conventional discourse between people. As other transformational forms emerge, how can people make sense of them? What are the underlying principles at play and how do they differ from those of old-style conversation? What basic tools are needed to understand these new conversations?

In the wider world, reflective time, thoughtful interaction and reasoned argument seem somehow challenged, while big, hard problems seem ever more complex and less amenable to quick fixes. Shorter attention spans, continual interruptions and blindsiding discontinuities assault concentration and focus from all sides. So, how does understanding get promoted and decisions get made? Is democracy more at risk, or less? Are there new skills and tools to manage complexity and support conversations on tough issues?

Challenging questions arise as well with respect to commerce and work interactions, now incorporated into everyday and online life in ways inconceivable just a generation ago. Privacy, influence and security are assuming new meanings, with new vulnerabilities. What can well-grounded research reveal about this new universe of engagement? How will both old and new conversations be affected by commercial interests, by government intrusion, by criminal elements?

Furthermore, emergent conversational entities will expand the definition of conversation. Anthropomorphizing automobile GPS systems or robotic vacuum cleaners is just the beginning—what about “discussions” with smart in-home power meters? Education will be affected by new informational entities and the elimination of distance through technology; virtualized instructors may be effectively brought back from the dead. Health and medicine will see an explosion of new forms, some only dimly imagined now.

If this sounds intriguing (and how could it not?), join Media X and Stanford in exploring 21st century conversations, starting with the 2010 Wallenberg Summer Institute Conversations Theme Day mini-conference and continuing throughout the academic year.