"Reinvented media will have a pivotal role in the Meanings Society." Finnish futurist, Prof. Sirkka Heinonen gave a lecture in the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) on Oct 28th, to figure out the new roles and functions of future media in the digital meanings society, and furthermore, to discuss more chances of cooperation on future research between University of Turku and USTC.
The debates of competitiveness between the new media and the traditional media have been continued with the thriving of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), while the transition from Print Media to Digital Media makes the role of today’s media vague. “A key to understanding changes in media is to place them into a societal context”, Professor Sirkka Heinonen said, “the broad societal context is a post-information society and we are currently moving away from the technology-driven information society to the content-driven meanings society.” When introducing the top ten theses for future media, she pointed out, “The core function of media is still to provide facts and news about the real world, but Media will act as one of the main organizers, curators and analyzers of the information flows of the web.” More than eighty students and faculty enjoyed this lecture and they discussed more topics about the research of the future media and more cooperation programs between Finland and China.
The lecture was hosted by Dr. Jianxun Chu, the Vice-Director of the Research Center for Science Communication (CSC) at USTC, who has some joint-projects with University of Turku. And Prof. Rongting Zhou, Executive Director of the Department of Sci-Tech Communication and Policy, is delegated to award Prof. Sirkka Heinonen a Guest Professor for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at USTC. After her lecture, Prof. Sirkka Heinonen, accompanied with Mr. Matti Heinonen and Ms. Sari Söderlund, the coordinator of the Finland Futures Academy (FFA), visited USTC campus, Hefei City and Anhui Museum. The cooperation was supported by USTC Graduate School, International Affairs Office and the Erasmus Mundus Programme by European Commission.
Ms. Sirkka Heinonen is a Professor of the Futures Research, Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), University of Turku, and now is the Director of the Helsinki Office of FFRC and heads the Research Group of Media and Communications (FMC), after working for over 20 years as a futures researcher at VTT (Valtion Teknillinen Tutkimuskeskus, ie. State Technical Research Center of Finland). She is also in charge of the International Master’s Programme in Futures Studies at University of Turku. She is President of the Finnish Society for Futures Studies, Full Member of the Club of Rome (a first-class global think tank), and Co-Chair of the Helsinki Node of the Millennium Project.
(XIAO Yi, Dept of Sci-Tech Communication of Policy / Photo: HUANG Ke)
