Digital Needs and the Commons under Informational Capitalism A WIAS research seminar with talks by Sebastian Sevignani and Benjamin Birkinbine Tue, June 6, 18:00-20:00 309 Regent Street, W1B 2HW, London Boardroom Organised by the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies (WIAS) Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-needs-and-the-commons-under-informati... How can we define informational “needs?” What type of information is necessary for human development, survival, and social progress? What is in this context the role of the information commons and digital commons? In what ways does capitalism restrict the fulfillment of these needs? In this seminar, Dr. Sebastian Sevignani reflects on what needs are, how they develop, and offers proposals for what informational needs might be. Dr. Benjamin Birkinbine focuses specifically on the informational commons as one way to provide for such needs, while highlighting the contradictions that these movements face under capitalism. The overall goal for this discussion is to work toward a critical theory of needs under informational capitalism. Benjamin J Birkinbine is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at University of Nevada, Reno. Whilst based at WIAS as international research fellow, he works towards a critical theory of the digital commons. Sebastian Sevignani is Assistant Professor at the Department for General Sociology and Sociological Theory, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena. As WIAS international research fellow he works on foundations of a theory of digital needs. For updates, subscribe to WIAS-newsletter: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/newsletter