Cory Doctorow, from BoingBoing.net, spoke at UTA last fall. It was one of many really great lectures that I’ve attended over the years. He is an interesting person, a husband, dad, author, blogger, speaker, and well-known futurist. He supports innovation, maker culture, social and environmental technology, and other objectives that I value.

Sitting, relaxed, on the edge of the stage, waiting for his introduction, I imagined that he was texting with his family in London when I saw him smiling at the phone.

This talk centered on the importance of keeping the internet free and open, and the many powerful interests that push to limit, censor, and control the web. Doctorow is an interesting, fast-paced speaker who shows his dominant grasp of the topic. While he packed a treasury of detail into his talk, he remembered to use illustrative anecdotes that added humor and humanity to each point.

I bought a couple of his science fiction novels to share with my students. I wish they could all have joined me for his talk. It’s really their digital future that we were there to consider.

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