Jesse Hirsh

Topics

Presentations

Understanding Social Media: Risks, Rewards, and Measuring Returns
The ways in which your business can learn and grow from using social media. Industry specific analysis that focuses on developing strategy that can scale across organizations large and small. The method to social media is dialogue and the focus is on results.

The Wonders and Worries Associated with Web 3.0
The first decade of the 21st century was all about the rise of social media, marking the second generation of web based interaction, a/k/a web 2.0. This next decade will bring the third generation, featuring the rise of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the semantic web. Harnessing the explosion of user generated content and participation, web 3.0 organizes and provides structure at a meta level that could either propel our society into the new renaissance that the internet has always promised, or the Orwellian dystopia that 20th century literature tried so hard to warn us about.

Learning at the Speed of Light: How Technology Accelerates Education and Expands the Classroom
The challenge for educators in the face of rapidly evolving technology is not only how to keep up with changing tools, but also how to keep up with the students themselves. How to do more with less, and operate at a speed that makes critical thinking difficult, yet necessary. Further how do we bridge the digital divide and ensure that everyone has access to the education and empowerment our emerging society requires.

Technology, Leadership, and Authority: What it Takes to be Taken Seriously in an Era of Rapid Change
Jesse Hirsh has been engaged in a major research project focusing on the future of authority. The premise being that in a society that is constantly changing it is increasingly difficult to establish legitimate authority and provide the kind of leadership that is in great demand. Technology continues to have a disruptive impact on how and who people trust, leading to an unstable environment that requires a reconfiguration of how we relate to our leaders.

Politics 2.0 - Social Media and The Perpetual Campaign
The impact of social media on politics has been largely found within the context of campaigns, as the tools are used to mobilize supporters and capture the fleeting and increasingly scare attention of an otherwise disinterested public. Is this the dawn of a new age in politics or merely window dressing on the same old party machine?

The Rise of Mobile Commerce: From Smart Phones to Virtual Currencies
While the rapid explosion of mobile applications and smart phone usage is well underway, we're still in the early stages of a broader revolution in mobile commerce, and with it the growth of virtual currencies. As location based services emerge to guide consumers to specific stores or venues, it's important to understand how all of this technology will combine to create a new culture that fuses what we buy, with where we buy, and who will know that we've bought, and why.

Cyber Crime: History and Modern Day Challenges
An overview of the origins of cyber crime and the growing threats to the Internet as we know it, from the early days of hacking to the modern threats of Cyber War.

Little Brothers and Little Sisters and the rise of the Surveillance Society
The surveillance society has arrived and not via the command of a centralized authority but instead via the spontaneous actions of citizens and companies employing their own surveillance technology. What are the implications for privacy, and what options do we have when it comes to the democratic regulation of surveillance technology.

Finding the Missing Pieces: Why Solving the Privacy Puzzle is a Lot More Difficult Than We Think
Technology evolves so rapidly that we rarely have the time to understand or test the devices and systems we rely upon. The key problem is how do we slow down enough that we can study these unintended effects as they happen, experiment with the technology as it emerges, in hopes that we can rapidly recognize the abuses, both potential and real, so as to prevent future catastrophe.

Government 2.0 Now or Never: The Risks Facing Open Government in an Age of Instant Gratification
The principles of open government offer significant potential for peer to peer policy development that harnesses the wisdom of crowds. Will open government overwhelm us with data and simply reinforce existing inequalities based on literacy and class? We can deal with these challenges if we are open enough to acknowledge and address them appropraitely.

The Problem of Speed and the Importance of Critical Thinking
As a society we are at a cross roads where the moral and ethical decisions we make today in defining our relationship with technology will greatly influence the opportunities or tragedies we face in the near future. Therefore it is even more crucial that we take the time in the here and now to think carefully about where we should go next.

Summary Profile

Jesse Hirsh is an internet strategist, researcher, and broadcaster based in Toronto, Canada. He has a weekly nationally syndicated column on CBC radio explaining and analyzing the latest trends and developments in technology using language and examples that are meaningful and relevant to everyday life.

He owns and operates two companies: Openflows Networks Ltd., which specializes in using free and open source software for advanced interactive platforms, and Metaviews Media Management Ltd., which focuses on research and consulting around new media business models.

Jesse is also actively involved with MacLaren McCann, one of North America's most successful multi-disciplinary advertising agencies, as a member of their Idea Council, which serves as a combination advisory board and think tank for the company.

For two years, he was the host of an interfaith show on the Rogers and OMNI networks called 3D Dialogue. That show explored all the world's religions and spiritual paths through interviews with practitioners, gurus, holy people, and cynics regarding their rituals, scriptures, and beliefs (or lack thereof).

Educated at the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto, his passion is educating people on the potential benefits and perils of technology.

Client Testimonials:

"I know of no one who understands modern society, the turn of events or especially the internet, better than Jesse. He is the smartest young man I have encountered over my professional career."

Chairman of Harris/Decima

"Jesse Hirsh has a unique feel for the new media and what is happening. He is the "go to" guy on technology and its uses and abuses."

Hon. Bob Rae, P.C., O.C., O.Ont, Q.C.