Henry Warwick is an artist, composer and scientist who received his BFA from Rutgers University in Visual Systems Studies, a major of his own invention. Henry received an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College. He is assistant professor in Communication Theory and Digital Media at Ryerson University, in Toronto, Ontario.

Warwick discusses ‘atok’ or access to knowledge, which represents the public’s fundamental right to knowledge. He uses the example of AAAAARG which uploads texts in PDF form for people to download and allows for comment, discussion and community formation. This is an example of a platform which has the ability to disseminate information around the world, however, the content may be ephemeral. The main issue here is access to knowledge.

Henry Warwick explains how citizens are ultimately being charged enormous amounts of money for access to knowledge. He describes this disconnect in academic publishing.

He also notes that the web is no longer resilient, it used to be thought of as a tough structure that was impermeable, however in reality, it is very precarious. The recent events in Egypt and the shutting down of the web exemplify this. This is frightening because it represents an end to net neutrality, a construct which was believed to be a fundamental attribute of the internet. Other possible issues mentioned include: file formats and spotlight citations.

Warwick concludes that the hard drive has great advantages over the internet because he believes that it is more durable due to the fact that one cannot shut it down.

For more information, please visit http://www.henrywarwick.com/