We look at screens moment to moment. Connected to texts, emails, posts, searches, streams, sites, news, entertainment. Indeed, you are likely looking at a screen right now reading these words. All part of the digital age. Are we better for it? That's a question at the heart of our lives in the 21st century. The world of technology and information is only accelerating with AI and new fully-immersive digital ecosystems and landscapes.
In 2007, I wrote "The Humanities in the Digital Age," one of dozens of columns I wrote for Charlotte Viewpoint. In reading the column again, in 2024, I didn't realize how deeply the views I expressed then are at the core of my work today leading The Charlotte Center for the Humanities and Civic Imagination. I had written my public declaration of policy and aims, not remembering that I had.
In 2012, Charlotte Viewpoint published "Civic Engagement and You" by Susan Patterson, then program director for the John L. and James L. Knight Foundation in Charlotte. The essay was part of our Critical Issues series, in which we asked community leaders to address growing faults in the bedrock of the city. Susan wrote, " The digital age is creating an information and communications renaissance. But it is not serving all Americans and their local communities equally. It is not yet serving democracy fully. How we react, individually and collectively, to this democratic shortfall will affect the quality of our lives and the very nature of our communities."
We add a 2016 review by Bryan Reed of Jeff Jackson's novel Novi Sad, a moving poem about love and sacrifice by Dan Melchior, and an artist gallery by Terry Thiron. You'll also see links to two of our PDF magazines from previous years with lead columns from Roger Sarow and Phil Kline.
Pro Humanitate,
Mark Peres
Charlotte Viewpoint Founder
The Charlotte Center Founder & Executive Director
