Materialities of the Digital ~ open panel at 4S
Hi all, A colleague and I are running an open panel at this year's annual 4S meeting, called Materialities of the Digital. I've included the abstract and submission info below. If you know of anyone who might be interested, could you pass it on? Or if YOU'RE interested, send something our way. (Submission info here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting; deadline is March 29, 2015.) Really excited about this year's 4S theme of making and doing. Lots of interesting open panels. You can check them out here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting/open_sessions. Thanks, ~Amy Materialities of the Digital Much popular discourse positions digital technologies as either phantom or prosthetic—presence without substance, or extension that enables new experience of the world. Think: Twitter and Google Glass. This phantom/prosthetic dichotomy is a curious one, one that demands scrutiny and challenge. What are the materialities of the digital? And what do we embrace—and hide—when we position them so? We investigate materiality broadly here. We include hardware and network materialities such as data centers and undersea cables, transistors and LCD crystals. Such materialities are often transmuted by metaphor: the cloud, the highway, the screen. Why are these materialities treated as elusive? What details are visible without this obscuring/illumination? We include classic bodily materialities—bodies themselves, but also physical extension through tactile interfaces and digital sex toys like RealTouch. What are the material practices of the digital? How do the shapes of bodies—and selves?—change as digital technologies transform boundaries and surroundings? As bodies/objects cross from one material channel to another? And we include relative materialities, such as language and script, bits and pixels, avatars and alts. Materialities that arise from their use as building blocks and tools, from their use as faces and agents that speak and remember. Components that undergird everything from affective emoji play to bots that shop the darknet. What does it mean to understand materiality as relative and relational? For this panel we invite papers drawing on diverse methodologies, from media studies and digital anthropology to feminist and queer theory, biomedicine, crip theory and disability studies, critical race studies, and neuroscience and neuroeconomics. Open session list here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting/open_sessions Submissions info here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting (deadline: March 29, 2015) --- Amy Johnson PhD candidate<http://web.mit.edu/hasts/graduate/johnson.html>, MIT HASTS Berkman Center for Internet & Society<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/ajohnson>, Harvard Keio International Project for Internet & Society<http://kipis.sfc.keio.ac.jp/people/amy-johnson/>, Keio University @shrapnelofme<https://twitter.com/shrapnelofme>
Let me draw attention to an unusual new appointment in the College of Science at Swansea University, in case it is of interest to you or your research students. The College is seeking to appoint an inspiring and enthusiastic teacher in any scientific subject area -- including the history of science and technology -- to enhance significantly the learning experience of science students through first rate teaching and curricula development. The successful candidate will be expected to develop and promote good practice and innovation. The College is also keen in linking disciplines and providing a more rounded scientific education. There is very fertile ground in Swansea University -- and, indeed, in Wales generally -- for developing research and teaching the history of science and technology in various ways. In the College of Science, this appointment would have young scientists -- undergraduates and postgraduates -- in mind and the successful candidate would have some opportunities and influence. Given the unifying and prominent role of computing in modern science since the 1950s, a historian of computing technology, its applications and impact could offer the College something special. I thought that you may know of someone in history of computing who would be attracted to a post with a base in Computer Science and a brief to range widely. Note the post is announced at two levels -- Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor -- depending upon experience. Note too that Swansea has very flexible career paths that allow movement, e.g., to and from primarily research and teaching roles. At Swansea, the College of Science consists of these disciplines, each with their own department: Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Biosciences and Geography. Swansea University is here: http://www.swansea.ac.uk The College of Science is here: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/science The Department of Computer Science is here: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/compsci/ Further and formal details of the post are here: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/the-university/work-at-swansea/jobs/details.php?nPostingID=2030&nPostingTargetID=3659&option=52&sort=DESC&respnr=1&ID=QHUFK026203F3VBQB7VLO8NXD&LOV4=7813&LOV5=7978&JOBADLG=UK&Resultsperpage=20&lg=UK&mask=suext John Tucker
I wrote a brief "Think Piece" on this topic a few years ago for the Annals: http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2006/03/man2006030096-abs.html. Not quite what you are looking for, but it is a fascinating topic, and one that I continue to follow as it pertains to what I called "Internet Alley" in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. Paul Ceruzzi From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Amy Johnson Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 7:01 PM To: members@sigcis.org Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Materialities of the Digital ~ open panel at 4S Hi all, A colleague and I are running an open panel at this year's annual 4S meeting, called Materialities of the Digital. I've included the abstract and submission info below. If you know of anyone who might be interested, could you pass it on? Or if YOU'RE interested, send something our way. (Submission info here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting; deadline is March 29, 2015.) Really excited about this year's 4S theme of making and doing. Lots of interesting open panels. You can check them out here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting/open_sessions. Thanks, ~Amy Materialities of the Digital Much popular discourse positions digital technologies as either phantom or prosthetic-presence without substance, or extension that enables new experience of the world. Think: Twitter and Google Glass. This phantom/prosthetic dichotomy is a curious one, one that demands scrutiny and challenge. What are the materialities of the digital? And what do we embrace-and hide-when we position them so? We investigate materiality broadly here. We include hardware and network materialities such as data centers and undersea cables, transistors and LCD crystals. Such materialities are often transmuted by metaphor: the cloud, the highway, the screen. Why are these materialities treated as elusive? What details are visible without this obscuring/illumination? We include classic bodily materialities-bodies themselves, but also physical extension through tactile interfaces and digital sex toys like RealTouch. What are the material practices of the digital? How do the shapes of bodies-and selves?-change as digital technologies transform boundaries and surroundings? As bodies/objects cross from one material channel to another? And we include relative materialities, such as language and script, bits and pixels, avatars and alts. Materialities that arise from their use as building blocks and tools, from their use as faces and agents that speak and remember. Components that undergird everything from affective emoji play to bots that shop the darknet. What does it mean to understand materiality as relative and relational? For this panel we invite papers drawing on diverse methodologies, from media studies and digital anthropology to feminist and queer theory, biomedicine, crip theory and disability studies, critical race studies, and neuroscience and neuroeconomics. Open session list here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting/open_sessions Submissions info here: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting (deadline: March 29, 2015) --- Amy Johnson PhD candidate<http://web.mit.edu/hasts/graduate/johnson.html>, MIT HASTS Berkman Center for Internet & Society<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/ajohnson>, Harvard Keio International Project for Internet & Society<http://kipis.sfc.keio.ac.jp/people/amy-johnson/>, Keio University @shrapnelofme<https://twitter.com/shrapnelofme>
participants (3)
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Amy Johnson -
Ceruzzi, Paul -
John Tucker