Let's work to improve the internet! How do we become less dependent on big tech? And how do we ensure that the internet becomes ours again? On Saturday, June 14, Waag Futurelab and PublicSpaces are hosting Hyperlink - where you can make, discover and contribute ideas on how we can make a better internet together. You will learn in an Augmented Reality (AR) game how to recognise fake news, fix your data-guzzling phone, make your own smart doorbell, and much more.
What is your first memory of ‘the internet’? Visiting the De Digitale Stad (DDS) via a Telnet connection, the dancing banana of Hyves, chatting on MSN, or downloading music on Napster and Limewire for your mp3-player or diskman.
Whatever your memory may be: chances are your first memory will feel better than the internet you now use every day. We pay with our data, are addicted to scrolling and are increasingly exposed to disinformation, hate speech and political manipulation on social media platforms. Today's internet is characterised by a few big tech companies setting the rules. We depend on big tech social media platforms more than ever, and those companies are becoming increasingly intertwined with political power. Things must and can be different.
Programme
From 14:00 you are welcome at the Waag for various programmes and activities, including Roos Groothuizen's workshop The Smartest Doorbell, in which you will design your own smart doorbell. At the Fix Your Phone Shop, you will discover what lies behind your data-collecting phone and how to set it up more responsibly. At the Social Socials Helpdesk, you can ask all your questions about alternatives to big tech. Or immerse yourself in the augmented reality escaperoom Escape Fake and unravel a mystery by recognising fake news.
In the project Acid Clouds, Niels Schrader explores what our internet looks like now, with a photo series of data centres in the Netherlands, and portraits of the founding fathers of our internet. Judith Veenkamp (Waag Futurelab) and Niels Schrader discuss the features of the physical internet.
In the VPRO Tegenlicht mini-meetup, based on the episode ‘How to liberate your smartphone from big tech according to Marleen Stikker’, director Chris Veijn talks about how to visualise the digital world.
Stay tuned for more programme updates.
The continuous programme starts at 14:00. The lectures will take place between 16:00 and 20:00.
Accessibility
If you are tight on funds and want to participate in this event, please get in touch with claudia [@] waag [dot] org.
PublicSpaces Conference 2025: Shaping our Digital Future
Do you want to delve deeper into the design of a better internet? Join us at Pakhuis de Zwijger on Friday 13 June for the fifth edition of the PublicSpaces Conference!
This event is part of the Future Ten Days from 12 to 21 June 2025, a programme that is taking place as part of the celebration of Amsterdam 750 years.
