Keynote: Rewilding voice in a time of enclosure

In a world of feeds full of algorithmic reels and AI slop, what does it mean to write for ourselves? In a post-RSS, post-social media era, how do we navigate the enclosure and weaponization of the platforms that once networked the voices of the open web? And if we *do* push through the journey of crafting our own voices, our own narratives…does the breakdown of networks and fracturing of the open web mean our voices will echo, unheard?  This session is aimed at tracing the sociomaterial shifts in what writing online has meant over the last 15-20 years, and convening a social, back-and-forth discussion via Mentimenter. It will explore and poll participants’ experiences and feelings about the various questions posed, and what answers and suggestions we can muster, as a collective. It will explore what’s been lost, but also what possibilities remain when the web is viewed as what Ursula Franklin called a ‘holistic technology’…as opposed to the prescriptive technologies that enclosure and automation offer us. The session will focus on ‘re-wilding’ ideas of voice and a commons even within our polluted information ecosystem, and on building capacity to connect with each other and to value each other’s voices.