Recent years have seen huge changes in the media and publishing industries, with traditional ways of printing, broadcasting, publishing and communicating being challenged by new technologies.

The Media Future conference, taking place in Dún Laoghaire tomorrow, will chart the extraordinary transformation of the media, as well as identifying key trends, technologies and topics that will shape its future. These include the role of data robots and the art of digital news.

Novelist Roddy Doyle and Swedish Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge are among the list of global speakers, that also includes the digital editors of the Guardian , New Yorker and the Economist , plus the managing editor of Associated Press.

Data interviews
Robot designer Alexander Reben will speak about the role of data robots in the future. He has spent the past few years designing and developing robots that interview members of the public.

“The robots are often better at getting information from people as they are non-judgmental. The robots will ask questions such as ‘what is the worst thing you’ve ever done to someone?’ and they will get an answer. Often people would be embarrassed telling a journalist that kind of information.”

He said that while there will always be the need for people in the creative field, data robots will act as another tool for journalists to utilise.

Last year's conference played host to international speakers from the Harvard Business Review , the Wall Street Journal , Al Jazeera, the Huffington Post , the Washington Post and the BBC, with more than 300 delegates attending over two days.