The CAJ Innovate News conference wrapped up with a different perspective from Bill Buxton, principal researcher for Microsoft.

His prevailing philosophy is that everything is best for something and worst for something else. So it is important to think about when, what, why and for whom.

He also argues that technology is not neutral – it can be good or bad.

In his talk, he explores the discussion of the role of the citizen journalist, citing the Rodney King and Robert Dziekanski videos.

He says we can’t ignore the role of the citizen journalist. But, he argues, the people who shot these videos were unqualified to develop and analyse the story.

Technology, business and content have been tied together over history, he says pointing to the development of the modern day newspaper.

His take on technology is to consider the order of magnitude rule. For example, the iPhone had no new technologies, but changed smartphones by an order of magnitude.

“We are not at the end of a revolution, we are at the beginning,” said Buxton, predicting that it will be socially unacceptable to read a newspaper in print in five years’ time.

“The Kindle is nothing compared to what is going to come, the iPad is nothing compared to what is going to come.”

The computer and the internet are cultural artefacts that are part of our society, reflecting our values, belief systems and lifestyles, he said.

The importance here is not the device, but their impact, he reminded the roomful of journalists and editors. But we tend to focus on the technical aspects of technology, the functions, and ignore how they are changing the way we live.

Buxton compared how journalists review the arts, compared to technology. A dance reviewer does not discuss what material a dance show is made of, whereas a technology reviewer focuses on functionality.

He argued that we need to change how we talk and frame technologies to understand their historical, cultural and societal contexts.

“It is not about the box, it is not about the technology. it is about the social, cultural, intellectual implications on our culture,” he insisted.