Since the mid 1990s, a billion of us have come together across the planet to create a global platform for collaboration that connects us all together, enables us to send a memo to the whole world and access all our accumulated knowledge with two clicks of a mouse. 

 You and I are alive at this moment.

It has happened without any central direction and control, built by people like you, doing what comes natural, reaching out to one another, sharing, routinely experimenting, reinventing their identity remagicalising their world…   Some marvel at this others take it for granted; but its implications are undoubtedly profound but uncertain.  What are the wider societal, cultural and political implications of how the Web has evolved?   

None of our political leaders can afford to ignore this question

On the morning of the 8^th March Policy Unplugged in collaboration with the RSA will host a half day conference exploring the implications of the Web-enabled mass collaboration that is taking place how we conduct politics, how our democracy will function and how our public services can harness the network effects of the Internet. The event takes place at;

RSA
8 John Adam Street
London WC2N 6EZ
UK   

The event will be introduced by Matthew Taylor, the Chief Executive of the RSA and Chaired by Peter Kellner, the Chairman of You Gov . The conference will commence with a keynote presentation delivered by George Osborne MP, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, which will be responded to by Bryan Appleyard the author and journalist, Mick Fealty the creator of the award winning blog Slugger O’Toole and Lee Bryant the Director of Headshift - one of the UK's leading social software developers and a Board member of Involve.   It will also feature further contributions  and provocations from among others Anthony Lilley the MD of Magic Lantern, Tom Loosemore from the BBC, Adriana Cronin-Lukas, Partner in The Big Blog Company ,  Mark O’Neill the CIO at the DCMS and Ewan McIntosh the social media specialist and teacher.  The event will start at 9am and run through until 12.00.  For more information e mail Steve Moore at steve.moore@policyunplugged.org.