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This is not a glitch. This is the creeping decay of the platforms we rely on and what it might take to reclaim our digital future.
You’re not imagining it: the experience of being online is getting worse. Services degrade, platforms shift and what once felt open and useful becomes harder to recognise. What was once good is now… shit. This is not a glitch. In fact, it’s by design. ‘Enshittification’, a term coined by tech critic Cory Doctorow, names what is already happening.
In this talk, Doctorow outlines how major platforms like Facebook, Amazon and X are structured to follow this trajectory. First, users are drawn in with convenience and connection. Then, advertisers are invited into the system. Finally, the experience itself is stripped back in the pursuit of profit.
Join Doctorow as he maps the collapse of the utopic early internet promise, the systems that sustain it and what it might still take to reclaim a more open digital future. With host Professor Lisa M. Given, Director, Centre for Human-AI Information Environments at RMIT University
Presented in partnership with Now or Never and RMIT University
Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 25 August
7.00 - 8.15pm
Tickets
$52.00
Full
$45.00
Concession
Groups 6+ and Members get standard 10% discount across all reserves.
For more information on Memberships, click here.
Location
Accessibility
Accessible toilets available
Assistive Listening
Auslan interpreting available by-request
Companion tickets available
Registered Assistance Animals welcome
Wheelchair accessible
For information regarding accessibility at The Capitol, click here.
Please notify us of all access requirements when booking online so we can assist you with your visit. If you require further information, please contact ticketing@wheelercentre.com.
Additional Notes
Cory Doctorow will be signing books after the event.
The bookseller for this event is Brunswick Bound.
Melbourne was designated the world’s second UNESCO City of Literature in 2008. As part of this global network, we strive to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 goals designed to promote fairness, health and environmental sustainability worldwide. 
This event addresses Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
Featuring
Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, journalist and technology activist. He writes non-fiction books, most recently Enshittification and The Internet Con, as well as science fiction for both adults (Red Team Blues) and ...
Lisa M. Given
Lisa M. Given is Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences at RMIT University. She is Director of the Social Change Enabling Impact Platform and Director of the Centre for Human-AI Information Environments. ...