• Link to Facebook
  • Link to X
Login

Lost Password?
Register
  • Shopping Cart Shopping Cart
    0Shopping Cart
ICCO PR
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • History
    • Executive Committee
    • Board of Members
    • Office
    • Hall of Fame
    • Regions
    • Groups
  • Members
    • Benefits
    • How to Join
    • National Associations
    • Direct Members
    • Partners
    • Commercial Partners
  • Services
    • Quality Certification (CMS)
    • Agency Finder
    • NextGen PR World Cup
    • FuturePR International Student Competition
    • Training
  • Ethics
    • Stockholm Charter | 2003
    • Sustainability Charter | 2023
    • Ethics in Digital Communications | 2017
    • Diversity and Inclusion Guidelines | 2018
    • Warsaw Principles – Ethical AI Use | 2023
    • Helsinki Declaration | 2017
  • Resources
    • World PR Reports
    • Communication Challenges Whitepaper | 2022
    • Next Gen PR Report 2023-2024
    • Media Information and Education Pledge | 2023
    • Library – member’s only
    • Training & Webinars
      • Training & Webinars
      • ICCO Global Diploma in PR and Communications
    • Agency Finder
    • Measurement and Evaluation
      • Barcelona Principles 2.0 | 2015
      • PR Professionals Guide to Measurement
      • Integrated Evaluation Framework
      • The Measurement Maturity Mapper
  • Events
    • European Forum
    • Events Calendar
    • Global Summit
    • Global Awards
    • PR in Cannes
    • PR World Cup Competitions
  • News
    • Member Content
    • ICCO News
    • My News Desk
    • Photo Galleries
  • Projects
    • Weather Kids Campaign
      • UNDP — ICCO Partnership
      • Climate Communications Taskforce (CCT)
    • NextGen Board
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
ICCO PR
Blog - Latest News

ICCO Summit: Tell Stories That Humanize Technology And Innovation

11th October 2017/in Member Content

Author: Paul Holmes

Technology’s greatest potential is in its ability to empower humanity, Text 100 chief executive Aedhmar Hynes told the ICCO Summit in Helsinki this morning.

HELSINKI— Technology’s greatest potential is in its ability to empower humanity, Text 100 chief executive Aedhmar Hynes told the ICCO Summit in Helsinki this morning, challenging the assembled PR executives “as storytellers… to see what the story is in all this innovation, how it will bring communities together, make healthcare better, enable us to live longer, better lives.”

Acknowledging that many professional communicators—and even some technology experts—are concerned about the future that new technology developments like artificial intelligence might bring, she conceded that “from a consumer perspective, there are fears that our hubris and over-confidence can come back against us, that we are in danger of creating something we can’t come back from.

“But that dark side is more about people and people’s use of technology, than it is about the technology itself.”

Hynes made the point that the dystopian view of technology and the future is nothing new. She moved from the UK to Silicon Valley in the late 90s and worked with Bill Joy of Sun Microystems, who was featured in a much-discussed “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” cover story in Wired magazine. “Yet today we are using technology to live, to work, to play in ways we could not even have imagined,” she said.

Today, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking are among those warning of the dangers, but Hynes said, “The danger is the gap between humans and technology, and we as storytellers have to close that gap.”

She has worked with IBM on initiatives like Smarter Planet, which set out to “elevate and humanize” the company’s brand by connecting it to things that really matter to consumers—most of whom will never buy an IBM product of service. Today, the company’s work around Watson focuses on the life-saving capabilities of the company’s technology solutions. Telling stories like that have been critical to helping people understand the value of disruptive technologies.

But the challenge is not limited to technology companies. “Regardless of whether you in the tech industry or another industry as a communicator. Whether you in the consumer realm or the political realm, technology is going to impact how you communicate in the future and you have to start to think about that now.”

To help tell those stories, she said, the PR industry needs to be more diverse.

“Diversity to mee is not just gender and ethnicity. It’s about thinking, and diversity in the way people are trained from data scientists to anthropologists. Bring as much diverse thinking into your organization as you can, people who will challenge your thinking.”

She also warned that “we can’t leave this to young generation. Make sure this is part of your comfort zone, and think about the positive changes that technology is going to bring.”

To that end, she urged the audience: “Remain curious. Stop the people who are using technology in new and interesting ways and ask them to explain, to tell you how it can change your work, your life.

In conclusion: “We have to be talking about technology in a positive way, in a way that is going to create a future that we can all be excited by.”

 

To view the original article, click here

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Vk
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://iccopr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Aedhmar.jpg 600 800 Tom Allen https://iccopr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2834-ICCO-Logo-Horizontal-CMYK-1030x458.png Tom Allen2017-10-11 12:53:102017-10-11 12:54:25ICCO Summit: Tell Stories That Humanize Technology And Innovation
Search Search

> CMS


> The Helsinki Declaration


> Media Stakeholders Unite in Commitment to Tackle Misinformation

Latest News

Contact details:

ICCO

7 Stratford Place
W1C 1AY London
United Kingdom

iccopublicrelations@gmail.com

Sign up to our Newsletter

* indicates required
Privacy Policy
Link to: Self-regulation – outsourced ethics? Link to: Self-regulation – outsourced ethics? Self-regulation – outsourced ethics? Link to: ICCO Summit Debates Purpose: How To Avoid The Backlash Link to: ICCO Summit Debates Purpose: How To Avoid The Backlash ICCO Summit Debates Purpose: How To Avoid The Backlash
Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settingsHide notification only

Register

Please fill in this form to create an account.