“You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. that's a part of it”. So said Denzel Washington, recalling the words of his father. In the context of media and communication, the rain is represented by the new technological tools and opportunities of the 21st century, such as artificial intelligence, high-speed Internet, social media, computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets. The mud is represented by fake news, cyberbullying and hate speech, the disappearance of social and communication skills, filters and information bubbles, digital exclusion, among others.
SHAPING TOMORROW is the slogan of the Communication Conference 2024, which will be held in Rome from 1 to 7 August 2024. SHAPING TOMORROW in social communication is not a protective umbrella against the downpour; after all, we wait for rain, just as we wish for good communication. Rather, SHAPING TOMORROW is about building roads, pavements, manholes and bridges, avoiding and reducing mud in the city called social communication, the Internet or social media. In the context of new forms of communication, this means developing technological possibilities while being aware of the downsides and challenges.
SHAPING TOMORROW as the communication era changes, it is like opening the right door without the attitude of naivety that there is a person waiting behind every door. Naivety in the world of modern technology is like sharing your emotions with artificial intelligence and believing that it will show boundless empathy. A modern smartphone is not human, a laptop is not human, a server is not human. Yet we sometimes behave naively, as if hardware and software replace our mother, our father, our family, our community and the emotions we experience, the desires we want to fulfil and the needs we need to satisfy. We look for a human being where there is none. What we get instead is a caricatured substitute for humanity, interpersonal relationships and the much desired love: the need to love others and the need to be loved by others. SHAPING TOMORROW, on the other hand, means building communication based on a solid Christian anthropology - without a caricature of humanity and with respect for human dignity.
The development of communication technology in recent decades has made our society a global village, where information travels at the speed of light. Sometimes the power of a small piece of news is equal to that of a hurricane that the whole world talks about. In a world where communication is becoming not only a matter of transmitting information, but also of building relationships and influencing society, SHAPING TOMORROW is an invitation to take an active part in shaping the world yet to come. It places the human being and his dignity at the centre, in line with the personalist norm of John Paul II.
SHAPING TOMORROW is intended as a call to shape the future of salesian communication through responsible and effective communication.
SHAPING TOMORROW means putting the human being and his dignity at the centre.
SHAPING TOMORROW is to promote the Church's teaching on social communication.
SHAPING TOMORROW is about ethics in social communication based on solid anthropology.
SHAPING TOMORROW wants to generate and promote solutions in the field of communication by conducting research and providing analysis, especially from a salesian perspective.
SHAPING TOMORROW is to gather expertise and information to generate new ideas, results and recommendations in the field of social communication.
SHAPING TOMORROW in the midst of the digital revolution calls for the education of media professionals.
SHAPING TOMORROW is to actively participate in the public debate and seek solutions to social communication problems.
SHAPING TOMORROW is to act internationally and influence decision-making processes by providing recommendations and solutions.
We invite you to the Communication Conference to be held from 1 to 7 August 2024, in Rome.
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