This is a live blog of the COMIXED: A NETWORKED CONVERSATION event at the Zion Arts Centre, Manchester.

Comixed is a “Networked Conversation” on a number of pressing issues affecting all of us:

Climate Change / The Digital Economy / Ageing / Food Security / Synthetic Biology.

Please read the ‘provocations’ we posted earlier on Climate Change, The Digital Economy, Ageing, Food Security and Synthetic Biology to find out what people thought about these issues before the event.

Please contribute by commenting below, especially if you were there and spot any inaccuracies or inconsistencies!

We want you to get involved.  You can follow us on Twitter and/or contribute using the #cmxd hashtag.  We are @ComixedMcr on Twitter, perhaps follow us? (more…)

Prof. Jon Whittle, Chair of Software Engineering, Lancaster University offers this provocation on the Digital Economy:

Twitter, Bebo, Facebook, mash-ups, web 3.0, delicious…. where does it all end? Are all these new technologies really improving our lives? Or are they just a drain on our time and resources, keeping us away from the things that really matter….?

The time is ripe for developments in technology to change society for the better.  There are unprecedented opportunities to solve some of society’s most complex challenges through the appropriate use of technology. But we must be careful to focus on substance not fads.

Unless we understand the impact of technologies on society, we may never fully realise their potential.

Wise words indeed.  How can we start understanding the impact of technologies like Facebook on society?  Where does one start?

Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Image Credit: ICTKM