Panel Discussion with Q&A
The Prix Forum – Digital Communities is an open discussion between the top three winners of Prix Ars Electronica 2022 and a jury member. Ory Yoshifuji (Golden Nica/ Avatar Robot Café DAWN ver.ß),Amina Khoulani (Award of Distinction / Families for Freedom), and Yatreda (Award of Distinction / STRONG HAIR) will be on the panel, while juror Thomas Gegenhuber will chair the session.
Chair:
Thomas Gegenhuber (AT)
Speakers:
Amina Khoulani (SY)
Kiya Tadele Atnafu (KE)
Ory Yoshifuji (JP)
Biographies
Professor Thomas Gegenhuber (AT) is the head of the Sustainable Transformation Lab at the Linz Institute of Technology at Johannes Kepler University Linz and visiting professor for digital transformation at Leuphana University Lüneburg. When we think about the various grand challenges our societies face, communities and crowds are social structures worthy of our attention. Consequently, Thomas investigates in his research the interplay of these social structures with digital technologies and new organizational forms (e.g., platforms).
Amina Khoulani (SY) is a former educator and a civil society activist with a Master’s degree in History and a Diploma in Education from Damascus University. She co-founded Darayya Youth Group for Peaceful Change, whose members were arrested by the regime in 2003. After the revolution, she was arrested with her family on the basis of their peaceful activism, she and her husband survived detention, but her three brothers are still under enforced disappearance by the Syrian regime. She is the co-founder and the general coordinator of Families for Freedom. Amina has briefed the United Nations Security Council on detention in Syria in 2019 and was awarded the International Women of Courage award by the US State Department in 2020. 
Kiya Tadele (ET) is a photographer and leader of Yatreda, a family of artists in Ethiopia making art in the style of tizita- nostalgia and longing for the past. Yatreda ያጥሬዳ creates artwork which balances the new—like blockchain technology—with the old, preserving classic legends of historical and cultural significance. This blend suggests the timeline of African history doesn’t simply end, and the stories are not finished. The art is about rediscovering Africa’s original self once again. 
Ory Yoshifuji (JP) is an inventor/robot communicator as well as the co-founder and CEO of Ory Laboratories Inc. Born in 1987. While in high school he participated in the invention of an equalization mechanism for electric wheelchairs. Graduated from School of Creative Science and Engineering at Waseda University, where he developed OriHime, an avatar communication robot to combat loneliness. In the same year, he was awarded the Human Power Awards (now the TOYP Award), and in 2016, he was selected as one of the “30 Under 30 Asia” by Forbes magazine. Based on his own experience of not attending school, he aims to develop a future where people can meet whoever they want, a future where everyone can participate in society from the comfort of their own bed. AVATAR ROBOT CAFE DAWN ver.β won the Entertainment Division’s Social Impact Award at the 24th Japan Media Art Festival.
