IT does not stop

Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 | 17:00 (CET) | Room: Z.1.09

Univ.-Prof. i. R. Dipl-Ing. Dr. techn. Hannes Werthner

Abstract: We live in a “digital” world, the separation between physical and virtual makes (almost) no sense anymore. Here, the Corona pandemic has also acted as an accelerator/magnifier demonstrating that the future of our digital society is here with all its possibilities, but also shortcomings. In his talk, Hannes Werthner will briefly reflect on the history of computer science, and then discuss the need for an interdisciplinary response to these shortcomings. Such an answer is the Digital Humanism, which looks at this interplay of technology and humankind, it analyzes, and, most importantly, tries to influence the complex interplay of technology and humankind, for a better society and life. In the second part he will discuss this approach, and show what was achieved since its first workshop in 2019, and what lies ahead. Bio: Hannes Werthner is a retired Professor for E-Commerce at the Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien. Prior to joining TU Wien, he had several professorships at Austrian and international Universities. His research is in fields such as Decision Support Systems, E-Commerce and E-Tourism, Recommender Systems, and lately in Network Analysis and Text Mining.

Besides research and teaching he is active in starting new initiatives, such as the Vienna PhD School of Informatics and the i2c (Informatics Innovation Center). In the area of E-Tourism, the International Federation for IT and Tourism (IFITT) grants the “Hannes Werthner Tourism and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award” to outstanding academics and/or professionals in the field. He is one of the key persons of the Digital Humanism Initiative and the Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism (dighum.ec.tuwien.ac.at).