<html><head></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>I thought the conference call below might be of interest.</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div><br></div><div>Marie<br><div>______________________</div><div>Marie Hicks, Ph.D.</div><div>Asst. Professor, History of Technology</div><div>Illinois Institute of Technology</div><div>Chicago, IL USA</div><div><a href="http://mariehicks.net">mariehicks.net</a> | <a href="mailto:mhicks1@iit.edu">mhicks1@iit.edu</a> | @histoftech</div></div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> "Hope Leman, H-SCI-MED-TECH" <<a href="mailto:smtedit@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU">smtedit@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU</a>><br><b>Date:</b> February 10, 2013 11:48:03 CST<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:H-SCI-MED-TECH@H-NET.MSU.EDU">H-SCI-MED-TECH@H-NET.MSU.EDU</a><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>CFP: Futures Past MIT Conference, November 21-23, 2013</b><br><b>Reply-To:</b> <a href="mailto:h-sci-med-tech@h-net.msu.edu">h-sci-med-tech@h-net.msu.edu</a><br><br></div></blockquote><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>Subject: CFP: Futures Past MIT Conference, November 21-23, 2013</span><br><span>From: "Touloumi, Olga" <<a href="mailto:touloumi@fas.harvard.edu">touloumi@fas.harvard.edu</a>></span><br><span>Date: Sun, February 10, 2013 1:54 am</span><br><span></span><br><span>FUTURES PAST: Design and the Machine</span><br><span>MIT, November 21-23, 2013</span><br><span>Deadline: March 29, 2013</span><br><span></span><br><span><a href="http://descomp.scripts.mit.edu/futurespast/">http://descomp.scripts.mit.edu/futurespast/</a></span><br><span></span><br><span>Call for papers</span><br><span></span><br><span>In 1960, the readers of the IRE Transactions on Human Factors in</span><br><span>Electronics encountered J.C.R. Licklider speculating on the future. “The</span><br><span>hope,” he contended, “is that, in not too many years, human brains and</span><br><span>computer machines would be coupled together very tightly and the resulting</span><br><span>partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought.” He called this</span><br><span>new cooperative interaction between the human and the computer a</span><br><span>“symbiosis.” At that moment, computers were conceptualized either as</span><br><span>compliant instruments extending the capabilities of the human subject, or</span><br><span>intelligent replacements, automating operations previously performed by</span><br><span>the human mind and hand. Positioning himself between the distant prospect</span><br><span>of artificial intelligence and the use of machines as mechanical</span><br><span>extensions, Licklider declared “symbiosis” a productive way to engage with</span><br><span>the changing technological environment.</span><br><span></span><br><span>This manifesto-like proposition coincided with the changing role of</span><br><span>technology in design. Faced with the difference between the “symbionts” –</span><br><span>the “man” and the “computer” – new research agendas raised questions of</span><br><span>method, representation, interaction, and imagination. As computational</span><br><span>media pervade design pedagogy and practice, the model of interaction</span><br><span>between humans and computers in relation to the creative process persists</span><br><span>as a research question, even though consistently obscured by the</span><br><span>exigencies of practice. A new encounter with Licklider’s proposition fifty</span><br><span>years later will help us rethink and contextualize the relationship</span><br><span>between the human, the machine, and design.</span><br><span></span><br><span>This conference invites papers that inquire into the past that preceded,</span><br><span>the present that coexisted with, and the future that followed Licklider’s</span><br><span>proposition. We are interested in explorations of the assumptions and</span><br><span>hypotheses that conditioned the coupling of humans with computational</span><br><span>machines, and the debates around the roles of design and designer. Papers</span><br><span>that investigate the institutional and intellectual history of</span><br><span>human-machine systems and/or situate them within the social and economic</span><br><span>context of the second half of the 20th century, are particularly welcome.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Topics include but are not limited to:</span><br><span></span><br><span> • Research laboratories and design thinking</span><br><span> • Scientific methods in design and their critique</span><br><span> • Knowledge transfer and the military-industrial complex</span><br><span> • Interfaces, human-computer interaction and design</span><br><span> • Networks, infrastructure, environmental thinking, and computation</span><br><span> • Computer labs in architecture schools</span><br><span> • Computation in design (architecture) school curricula</span><br><span> • Participatory design tools and methods</span><br><span> • Computation before and after the computer</span><br><span> • Information and the architectural object</span><br><span> • Computational representations and their intellectual history</span><br><span> • Cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and models of the designer</span><br><span> • Experience and computation</span><br><span> • Mediation and media in human-machine systems</span><br><span> • Impact on contemporary pedagogy, research, and practice</span><br><span></span><br><span>In 1960s Licklider anticipated that the immediate future concerned with</span><br><span>the agenda of “symbiosis,” would be “intellectually the most creative and</span><br><span>exciting in the history of mankind.” Is this future past?</span><br><span></span><br><span>Submission</span><br><span></span><br><span>Please submit your CV and an abstract of 500 words to <a href="mailto:futurespast@mit.edu">futurespast@mit.edu</a></span><br><span>by March 29, 2013. Accepted participants will be notified by April 26.</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>-- </span><br><span>H-SCI-MED-TECH</span><br><span>The H-Net list for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology</span><br><span>Email address for postings: <a href="mailto:h-sci-med-tech@h-net.msu.edu">h-sci-med-tech@h-net.msu.edu</a></span><br><span>Homepage: <a href="http://www.h-net.org/~smt/">http://www.h-net.org/~smt/</a></span><br><span>To unsubscribe or change your subscription options, please use the</span><br><span>Web Interface: <a href="http://www.h-net.org/lists/manage.cgi">http://www.h-net.org/lists/manage.cgi</a></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>