"Pop-Code, a podcast for digital education

Films such as "Terminator", evoking artificial intelligence, "Wall-E", addressing our relationship with technology, or "Ready Player One", exploring the Metaverse, illustrate key digital themes present in popular culture. These have a significant impact on the way digital technology is represented in society. Where do our prejudices come from? What content shapes our representations?

In "Pop-Code", the two researchers, who are passionate about Pop-Culture, debate these current topics. Once a month, they examine a key digital issue (AI, social networks, environmental impact, etc.) through the analysis of cinematic content from popular culture, in order to understand how reality and fiction influence each other. "Films present a variety of technologies, from AI to virtual reality...and sometimes, cinema influences real life by stimulating people's imaginations.", explains Anthony Simonofski. Benoît Vanderose further adds that "many of our expectations of reality are directly shaped by the imagery conveyed through cinema. ".

Benoît Vanderose and Anthony Simonofski are collaborating with UNamur's Service audio-visuel (SAVE) to produce "Pop-Code". "We would like to salute the work done by UNamur's audio-visual service. Valentin Meys, from SAVE, is in charge of the entire podcast production, without whom "Pop-Code" could not exist.", Anthony Simonofski points out. The two researchers also aspire to maintain the authenticity of the content and a real richness of debate.

While "Pop-Code" has enjoyed considerable success over the past year, particularly at the SETT (School, Education, Transformation, Technology) show, Benoît Vanderose and Anthony Simonofski have big ideas for the future of their podcast. "We'd like to offer more podcast formats with guests from UNamur and continue our collaborations with the university's computer science alumni association (ALMIN) to organize ciné-débats.", explains Anthony Simonofski. In addition, the authors of "Pop-Code" plan to extend their field of analysis beyond American film content.

Professor of software engineering at UNamur's Faculty of Computer Science, he completed his thesis at the university in the field of software quality.

Professor in Digital Transformation at the Department of Management Sciences, he completed his PhD in Computer Science at UNamur, and in Management with KU Leuven.