Talk us into it
The role of conversation in a changing society and public realm
Conversation has long been the cornerstone of our society. New technologies enable us to speak to people anytime, anywhere. However, there is growing concern – both in the UK and elsewhere - that we are talking less than we used to. This work suggests that this is a misconception and that the issue is actually much more complex.
- Talk Us Into It at the Festival of Ideas Last year, we published Talk Us Into It, which examined the role of conversation in the public realm. I'll be talking about it at the Sedbergh Festival of Ideas at the end of this month continue reading on 6th July 2007
- de Tocqueville, de Schmocqueville - conversation's not declining Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote of the 'strange unsociability and reserved and taciturn disposition of the English'. There's an article in this week's Economist looking at conversation in history that makes for interesting reading. continue reading on 20th December 2006
- Talk Us Into It Our recent publication, Talk Us Into It, has been covered today in the Times. It argues that we need to put conversation back into the public realm. New technologies and communicaitons platforms have encouraged more and more people to 'have their say' and given more and more of us the chance to put forth our opinion, but is this at the expense of the face-to-face conversations that we need? continue reading on 19th September 2006 Comments (3)
- Speaking of which... While in the US researching Cultural Diplomacy, I came across some very interesting parallels to the types of conversation that we examine in 'Talk us into it', some of which make use of cultural diplay and performance as a binding force. continue reading on 21st July 2006