Allison Busacca
Writer

“Tech/no,” the University’s fourth Forum National Speaker Series, commenced this fall, and will run through the spring of 2014. The mission of this series, according to Forum Chair Pete Mackey, is to “explore the positive and negative influences and effects of technology on multiple aspects of human life and society.”

The series is called “tech/no” because its goal is to consider not just the “promises” of technology, but also its “perils.”

The Forum will kick off its “tech/no” speaker series with Biz Stone, co-founder of one of the biggest social media platforms, Twitter, on Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. The event will take place in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts. When choosing speakers for this theme, student task force member Katurah Klein ’13 believed they “could not do a ‘tech/no’ series without adding in a factor of social media. So who better than the co-founder of Twitter?

The Bucknell Forum has announced that its “tech/no” speaker in the spring will be president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, Arianna Huffington.

“[Stone and Huffington] are two of the most influential people to come to Bucknell,” student task force member Lindsey Myers ’13 said.

Myers is an interdepartmental media studies major, so she is especially excited to hear from them on the “link between media and technology.”

Working on this “tech/no” series has made Klein more aware of how we are constantly “plugged-in,” and she hopes the Forum’s speakers will evoke “thought-provoking conversations” on the advantages and disadvantages of technology.

Another upcoming event planned for this series is a performance titled, “Un/real and Un/true: ‘The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,’” on Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Trout Auditorium.

“[‘The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs’] will feature human and multi-media interruptions scripted by the task force with students that explore the truth, lies and meaning of the controversy over Apple’s manufacturing in China, the recent hit off-Broadway play ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs’ and our shared responsibility as consumers for the products we use,” Mackey said.

The theme of the first series (fall 2007-fall 2008) was “The Citizen & Politics in America,” the second series (spring 2009-spring 2010) was “Global Leadership,” and the third series (fall 2010-spring 2012) was “Creativity: Beyond the Box.” The Forum has hosted many leaders, scholars and commentators to speak on these themes, including moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” Tim Russert in 2007, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 2010, Pulitzer Prize winners and more recently, nine-time Grammy Award winner John Legend.