Interview: James Harkin, On the Line with Joseph Planta (thecommentary.ca)

James Harkin - Tuesday, 19 May 2009

'Futurologist,' writer, and social forecaster James Harkin, Director of Talks at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, discusses his book, Lost in Cyburbia: How Life on the Net Has Created a Life of Its Own (Knopf, 2009), with Joseph Planta.

Lost in Cyburbia: How Life on the Net Has Created a Life of Its Own by James Harkin. (Knopf, 2009)

Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Lost in Cyburbia

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line. This is THECOMMENTARY.CA.

James Harkin joins me now. He is the author of Lost in Cyburbia: How Life on the Net Has Created a Life of Its Own. It's a fascinating book on we are changing thanks to the internet age and all that it entails, the technology and social networking. We are it seems constantly in the information loop, and the enthusiasm for that has spread even to the sort of films and television shows we watch. There are upsides, but Mr. Harkin also discusses the downside, where the attention spans are shortened, narratives are discarded, and being connected doesn't mean what we'd like it too; that communication really isn't what it used to be or what it is meant to be. James Harkin is a 'futurologist,' writer and social forecaster. He is the Director of Talks at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and he contributes regularly to the Guardian and the Financial Times. In the 1990s he taught and lectured at Oxford. The book is published by Knopf. In Toronto this day, please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, James Harkin; Good morning, Mr. Harkin.