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Aarhus University celebrating the internet

Internet Week Denmark is a festival celebrating the success and impact of the internet and the digital economy. The idea behind the festival comes from Smart Aarhus, which is a partnership between the City of Aarhus and a range of institutions and companies – including Aarhus University. And the university is supporting the event once again this year by making its expertise available.

“Internet Week Denmark was launched last year, and was a great success thanks to the impressive number of visitors and a variety of presentations by prominent experts. This year we’re repeating the success. On 1-5 June we’ll be celebrating the internet and its huge potential for developing new digital products and systems for business, and we’re delighted that so many researchers from Aarhus University are happy to share their expertise with us,” explains Mai Skou Wihlborg, the project manager of Internet Week Denmark.

Like last year, the programme consists of crowdsourced events which can be organised by private companies, public-sector institutions and networks alike. Researchers from the Faculty of Arts are responsible for a number of these events.

Growth in the digital sector

Internet Week Denmark, AU Smart Cities and the Danish Smart City Network are hosting the first two days (1-2 June). One of the driving forces behind these events is associate professor Martin Brynskov from Aarhus University.

“There’s no doubt that we need to redesign the framework for growth in the digital sector. IT is vital for growth and welfare, so we need to involve our citizens in the digital options that are available to us all. The festival is one way of achieving this goal,” explains Brynskov, who is the coordinator of the Danish Smart City Network and an associate professor of information studies at AU. You can learn more about this network at the festival. Smart Aarhus, the Danish Smart City Network and Aarhus University are giving a presentation about the European open data initiative, as well as demonstrating various models for collaboration to develop the Smart City concept.

Watch a video with Martin Brynskov presenting one of his contributions to Internet Week Denmark.

Focus on digital education
Two researchers from the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media are also taking part: assistant professors Rikke Toft Nørgård and Klaus Thestrup. On 4 June the focus will be on digital literacy, with Nørgård giving a presentation about digital learning tools and how to use them in a meaningful fashion. She is also running a Coding Pirates workshop with a class of schoolchildren.

Watch a video with Rikke Toft Nørgård explaining her contribution to Internet Week Denmark

Klaus Thestrup is organising a workshop, too. This will focus on how to use tablets in childcare centres.

Watch a video with Klaus Thestrup explaining his contribution to Internet Week Denmark

Design matters

And finally Lone Koefoed, who is an assistant professor of information studies, will be joining eight Master’s degree students to exhibit a variety of design projects in Ridehuset. These projects are taken from a course called “Design as critical practice”.

“We normally regard design as something that can make our daily lives easier. But design doesn’t just mean making things useful and attractive to look at – it can also involve self-reflection and express criticism by experimenting with speculative alternatives to our daily lives. For instance, designers can provoke us by proposing partially absurd solutions, thereby making design a good way to identify some of the difficult issues facing us,” says Koefoed.

This is exactly what the students on the Master’s course in “Design as critical practice” have been doing this spring semester, and their eight semester projects will be on display in Ridehuset – all involving prototypes that can be tested and discussed with the students.

 Watch a video with Lone Koefoed explaining her contribution to Internet Week Denmark.


 

Read more about the events
http://internetweekdenmark.com/events

 

Facts

Internet Week Denmark is an international festival celebrating the internet and the digital economy. The success and impact of the internet with regard to the development of Danish society and economic growth will be in focus for five days (1-5 June). Like the internet itself, the festival is open to everyone.

Internet Week Denmark is a project initiated by Smart Aarhus and supported by the City of Aarhus. The festival is based on the concept of crowdsourcing, with most of the activities being planned by private companies, networks and public institutions.