Education and Democracy: The Challenge of Digital Technology

The "Alexander S. Onassis" Public Benefit Foundation in collaboration with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and non-profit organization of the Onassis Stegi in the framework of the “Academy of Plato” project, organizes a colloquium entitled "Education and Democracy: The Challenge of Digital Technology". This colloquium is part of the "Athens Dialogues" project, the first event that the Onassis Stegi hosted in November 2010.

Modern societies experience rapid political and economic changes. One aspect of this applies to issues raised by digital technology. As a result, society is expected to adopt a new attitude towards today’s responsibilities and tomorrow’s challenges in relation to digital technology and the democratization of education in its broader sense, including life-long learning and the management of cultural content.

This colloquium aims at creating a communication channel where different opinions will be expressed by representatives of the political and social sciences, the humanities and the arts, thus allowing for a fruitful and creative dialogue on the issue of digital technology as a challenge emerging in the new conditions that have been formed and to set the basis for future policy planning.

The event will focus on issues that relate to digital technology with an emphasis on its impact on democracy and education. Distinguished speakers from Greece and abroad will participate in the event: Stamatis Krimigis (Scientist in space exploration, Chair of Science of Space, Academy of Athens; Head Emeritus, Space Department, Applied physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University), Dimitris Gouscos (Assistant Professor, University of Athens), Evi Sachini (Head, Strategic Planning & Development Dept. at National Documentation Centre - National Hellenic Research Foundation), Charlotte Roueché (Professor at King’s College London and Senior Research Fellow in Digital Hellenic Studies), George Metakides (Professor, University of Patras, DIGITAL ENLIGHTENMENT FORUM), Thanasis Hadzilacos (Professor, Open University of Cyprus), Stylianos Hatzipanagos (Lecturer, King’s College, University of London), Peter Meineck (Professor, New York University) et al.

"The Athens Dialogues" is an ongoing project, which continues through its electronic journal, implemented by the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University. The colloquium is the last event of the Athens Dialogues for the year 2012 (the two previous ones being the Challenge of Immigration and the issue of Science, Technology and Ethics, which were realized in September and November at the Onassis Stegi in Athens and in Cambridge Mass., respectively).