The conference about “Paying Attention: Digital Media Cultures and Generational Responsibility” mainly addressed at sociologists, confirmed to me the urgent need for hackers to talk much more with academics working in social/human studies.
For example, I learned that recent neurological research indicates that new digital tools and media can actually rewire the neurological pathways of the brain. From the point of view of a “Free-as-in-freedom” software advocate, you could hardly find better justifications that software interfaces must be as diverse and flexible (as in “modifiable by everybody”) as possible. If there were only one operating system and user interface around, all brains would be stimulated by them in one and only one way, which can’t possibly be a good thing, could it now?
Full report of the conference at http://stop.zona-m.net/node/186
