Written by Reem Shaddad, New Media, DFI

Representatives from the Social Media and Community Outreach departments of the Doha Film Institute proudly attended one of the most globally anticipated digital industry events this May – the Thinking Digital Conference (TDC). Produced by Codeworks in Newcastle, Northeast England, the third edition of this gathering of bright minds, novices and world renown experts alike, gave us Doha dwellers the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the delightful practice of exchanging ideas.

Conference Founder, Herb Kim, is no stranger to the DFI family, having lent his high-quality networking and collaboration expertise to the 2010 TEDxDoha event. With this existing connection to Kim in mind, our small team arrived in a blustery Newcastle with high expectations of the three days to come. The speakers’ list boasted all of the richness and diversity expected, with startups and industry veterans taking the stage in turn. The speakers’ backgrounds featured an array of expertise, with several rooted in academia, the media, and even in football (hats off to Founder and CEO of happie.st , Mr. Bobby Paterson). Talks varied between hardcore creative breakouts such as game design with Nancy Duarte, Founder of Silicon Valley-based Duarte Design, and public speaking tests with respected broadcast veteran, Jim Knight.

The atmosphere for the duration of the conference was electric. You could quite literally see and hear the excitement in the attendees faces as we all absorbed the inspirational dialogue put forth by creative minds, passionately engaging the audience with their projects, theories and initiatives. The setting was stately; a multitiered room in the majestic Sage Gateshead multipurpose center on the idyllic Newcastle quayside. Ironically enough, WiFi was limited inside the neon-reflecting walls of the Gateshead hall, yet instead of becoming an obstacle, this only amplified our experience by minimising distractions such as mobile interactions and the inevitable tweet.

The Sage Gateshead.

Breaking the TDC down to each individual speaker and what they contributed to the conference would incur a weekly episode of this blog post. The material was plentiful and relevant; but what did we take away as unique attendees of the conference? Unique how, you ask? Well, we may not have traveled the farthest to get to Newcastle like current New Yorker and digital artist, Jer Thorp, and luckily, our flights weren’t cancelled due to another Icelandic ash cloud as with media futurist, Gerd Leonhard (kudos to TDC and quick recovery via Skype). Our situation, however, was unique because we were the only attendees from the Arab world and here we were, at a majorly Western influenced/inspired event.

The key to benefiting from the conference was in understanding our online environment. Both the social media experience and community outreach affairs are wholly unique entities in terms of their existence and practice in the Arab world, and particularly in the Gulf. Culture and tradition, ‘real life’ elements, tend to intertwine with the online world, where certain standards and expectations are maintained throughout both planes. Therefore, we recognised the need to adapt all concepts to our inimitable requirements. It’s all about adaptation. The internet has provided us with what can be veiled as both a blessing and a curse; the gift of internet globalisation.

Online, we can mould our identities to the shapes we choose. We are no longer bound by the tangible factors that may have once restricted our day to day interactions. As residents of the Arabian Gulf, we are not always able to communicate face to face due to physical constraints such as the summer heat, or even the generic issue of travel expenses. This is no longer an issue because we can now speak with numerous different timezones simultaneously, through dozens of multimedia platforms, via text, voice, picture, movement and touch, and even brainwaves (huge round of applause to Tan Le, Co-Founder of Emotiv). We are able to map our daily lives and compare them against others, measure productivity and gain insight to millions of online movements around the globe, daily without having to move from the comfort of our homes and offices.

We are all weary of the power of social media, especially in light of recent events around the region. Now, and regardless of location or traditions observed, we are able to adapt our online experience to our personal and/or societal preferences. We have the power to share and manipulate information with the caution necessary to protect our wellbeing (a special thank you goes to cultural observer Tom Scott and his Facebook privacy experiment). That is, of course, until robots replace computers and we each have our own personal programmer, alerting us to any online discrepancies we may face (enter roboticist Heather Knight and her trusty robot pal).

Part of the DFI message is in communicating the essence of the Arab world – the promise and the potential – to the region and the world at large. There is a huge world of opportunity at our fingertips and the foundation of this is in communicating the exceptional discoveries and advances in the digital world. By combining the best of both worlds, digital and film, we can make our voices heard. It is up to us, and you, to make the most of this; and we at DFI will surely be at the forefront of some Thinking Digital inspired projects, right here in Qatar.

To stay up to date with the Thinking Digital Speakers, please visit the official website and follow the official conference mouthpiece on Twitter: @ThinkingDigital / @herbkim .