Trebor Scholz – From Vibe to Viability: A Methodology for Building Transformative Alternatives in the Digital Economy

16 May 2025
05:30pm - 07:00pm
FREE
Melbourne City

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At a special event hear New York author, scholar, activist and digital economies expert Professor Trebor Scholz explain how global communities across 60 countries are building alternatives to unaccountable algorithms and covert technology.

What if the digital economy respected privacy, strengthened local economies, and ensured individuals and communities benefit from the value they helped create? Scholz will explain how and why the digital economy should work differently. ⁠

Pathways of positive change for digital economies abound – from a driver-owned ride-hailing platform in New York, to a community telecoms co-op in South Africa, a care worker co-op in Sydney, an artist-owned stock photography platform based in Canada, and a food delivery system shared by 80 cooperatives across Europe. ⁠

Because each time you order a meal, obtain directions, use AI, or query a chatbot you're interacting with a digital platform that scoops your data. During these moments you also perform unpaid labor. And your data, along with profits, leaves your community and flows to distant companies with no stake in your local economy. Hear Scholz explain how the global push-back on powerful tech is shaping up. ⁠

This event is present in partnership with the Digital Ethnography Research Centre at RMIT and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, and is supported by RMIT Culture.⁠

Location: Storey Hall, Building 16, RMIT University, 336-348 Swanston St, Melbourne

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures

Trebor Scholz – From Vibe to Viability: A Methodology for Building Transformative Alternatives in the Digital Economy