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Digital Intimacies 4: EXTENDED, ABSTRACTS DUE FRIDAY 6 JULY
by Tama Leaver 01 Jul '18

01 Jul '18

Dear Colleagues, As our original closing date for *Digital Intimacies 4* was on a Saturday and caused some confusion (apologies!), we've extended the call for *abstracts and they are now due THIS FRIDAY, 6 JULY. * Please consider joining us for what promises to be a very exciting event. See details below, and please share widely! All best wishes, Amy Dobson and Tama Leaver *Digital Intimacies 4: Porousness & Permutations* *December 5**, 6 & 7, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia* Digital Intimacies is now in its fourth year and continues to bring scholars of digital culture together from across Australia and beyond, across disciplines including media and communication, cultural studies, sociology, and gender studies. This year’s symposium is convened by Amy Dobson and Tama Leaver, and is hosted by Curtin University’s Centre for Culture and Technology and the discipline of Internet Studies in the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry. As social media open up intimate lives and practices to public and semi-public gazes, we are in the midst of important cultural contestations over the meaning of intimacy. How intimacy plays out in, and in relation to, the digital has become a prominent concern in scholarship of digital cultures, as well as in broader public debate. Intimacy is generally understood as to do with the ‘personal’ and with ‘closeness’ — as describing feelings or relationships that are most ‘inward to one’s personhood’ (McGlotten, 2013). But, as much queer and social theory tells us, intimacy is also socially and culturally constructed and sanctioned, defined by institutions, laws, and social and cultural norms and practices. Norms around various kinds of intimacies and intimate practices involving media increasingly play out online, and via social media platforms. Digital platforms are structured by a ‘like’ economy (Gerlitz and Helmond, 2013), by drives towards the quantification of self (Lupton, 2016), and algorithms, as well as algorithmic ‘imaginaries’ (Bucher, 2018; Carah and Angus 2018). Digital intimacy has been described in this context as a new kind of social capital (Lambert, 2016), as well as new media ‘genre’ (Raun, 2018). Practices of certain kinds of intimacies via the digital are increasingly seen as vital to ‘successful’ and economically productive use of social media, especially for cultural intermediaries and ‘internet celebrities’ (Abidin, 2018). Simultaneously, many forms of intimacy and communication are being encoded, aggregated, analysed and commercialized as forms of big data, provoking difficult and unsettling questions about new forms of surveillance, influence, and control, as well as distinct lack of transparency around new practices and forms of governance, made publicly visible around recent Cambridge Analytica scandals (Andrejevic, 2013; Leaver, 2017). We are calling for paper abstracts on the themes of digital media, digital cultures, and intimacy, with particular interest in porousness and permutations of every kind; that is, papers that map the flow between boundaries – shifts and permeations of practice and understanding towards new forms, new configurations, and the unsettling existing norms in unexpected and as yet unnamed ways. Within these broadly understood boundaries of digital culture(s) and digital intimacies we invite particular exploration of: * how existing structures, boundaries and norms of intimacy are constituted, reconstituted and made porous in terms of identities, practices and platforms; * how practices of intimacy via the digital can be challenged, changed and new permutations emerge in terms of the social, cultural, and political; * how ‘digital disruption’ (of various sorts) shapes, configures, constitutes and impacts intimacy of every kind. The single stream symposium will formally run for two days, December 5 and 6. Following the successful implementation at last year’s symposium, an optional third day for more focused workshopping, writing, and project planning, driven by the intersections made visible during the two conference days, will be available of December 7th for those who wish to participate. *Keynote speakers:* *Professor Jessica Ringrose,* University College London; *Associate Professor Shaka McGlotten*, Purchase College, State University of New York. Please submit *abstracts of 250-300 words to **digitalintimacies(a)gmail.com* <digitalintimacies(a)gmail.com>* by June 30, 2018*. We will send notifications of acceptances out by the end of July. We are hoping to make this a low-cost event, especially for students, but there will be a small registration fee to cover costs. *Details at **https://digint18.tumblr.com/cfp* <https://digint18.tumblr.com/cfp> Tama Leaver BA(Hons) (W.Aust) PhD (W.Aust) Associate Professor & Internet Studies Discipline Lead School of Media, Creative Arts & Social Inquiry Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth, WA 6845, AUSTRALIA. Tel +61 8 9266 1258 Email t.leaver(a)curtin.edu.au Web http://www.tamaleaver.net Twitter @tamaleaver <http://twitter.com/tamaleaver> -- Associate Professor Tama Leaver Department of Internet Studies Faculty of Humanities, MCCA, Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth WA Australia 6845 Ph: (+61 8) 9266 1258 Email: t.leaver(a)curtin.edu.au Web: www.tamaleaver.net Twitter: @tamaleaver CRICOS Provider Code: 00301J (WA)

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Barrett Brown and the Pursuance Project
by raincoaster 01 Jul '18

01 Jul '18

The Pursuance Project: transgressively transparent about protecting privacy Or: Making the world safer for activism, one rubber ducky at a time “No activist should have to entrust their life to Facebook. No one should have to choose between security and the ability to organize large numbers of people. No one should have to use platforms designed to waste your time in the course of trying to make their lives count. When Pursuance launches, things will be different.” Barrett Brown Barrett Brown is a gadfly. An author. A fameball. An activist. And a National Magazine Award-winning journalist whose credits include the Guardian, Businessweek, Al Jazeera, The Intercept, Vice, and Vanity Fair. He’s a felon, thanks to, among other things, sharing a URL in a web chat. He is also the founder of the Pursuance Project. That’s an untraditional resume, so it’s not completely out of character for him to announce the launch of the Kickstarter to support Pursuance <https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/85883596/barrett-browns-pursuance-proj…> from the acoustically advantageous confines of his bathtub, nor for him to do so via livestream while actually enjoying a bath. It’s a throwback to his previous bubbles-and-Cab Sauv press conference for Project PM, which tracked the big players in the global security industry before anyone had ever heard of Cambridge Analytica. Come on in, the water’s subversive! Kickstarter rewards include the standard hoodies, tees, and stickers, sure, but also “literary cruelty” (i.e. having your own original writing critiqued by Barrett), and a live role playing session of Shadowrun conducted either remotely or, if you come to Dallas, in Barrett’s living room. His mom will bring snacks. At just under halfway into the Kickstarter, almost 400 supporters from around the world have banded together to raise over 55% of the $48,000US goal, the crowdfunder has made it to Kickstarter’s list of “New and Popular,” and is the most popular top software project on the site. The event ends July 15. And naturally we take cryptocurrency and Paypal donations <https://pursuanceproject.org/donate.html> as well. Privacy is important! Pursuance Project Contacts: Contact: team(a)pursuanceproject.org / +47 407 67 074 For interviews with Barrett or his core team please contact Pursuance at onray(a)pursuanceproject.org / Raymond Johansen +47 407 67 074 The Pursuance Board of Directors includes luminaries from the worlds of whistleblowing, digital privacy, documentary filmmaking, human rights activism, and more: Thomas Drake, Birgitta Jonsdottir, Mano Singham, Alex Winter, John Kiriakou, Robert Tynes, Jay Leiderman, Barry Eisler, Russ Baker, and Raymond Johansen. Barrett Brown is available to meet with media in Dallas, Texas or worldwide via teleconference through our video conference solution. Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPOCibJUeuKRJT-sdc9t9Ew/videos “If you had told me back when I was following the early days of Anonymous that I would now have semi-regular drinks with @BarrettBrown_ and that we'd be promoting an insurgent organizing tool with Bill S. Preston, Esq., I'd have backed away from you slowly. Link We're not asking for money so we can solve a specific problem. We're asking for money so we can enable people to solve all of them, eventually—US journalist & activist @BarrettBrown_. Link On behalf of Team Pursuance Global Pirate Activist Raymond Johansen Norway +47 407 67 074 | U.S. +1 (716) 202-0040

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Second CFP: Archives Unleashed Datathon, Vancouver, 1-2 November 2018
by Ian Milligan 29 Jun '18

29 Jun '18

This is a quick reminder that the submission deadline for the Archives Unleashed Vancouver Datathon is quickly approaching (July 16th @midnight, EST)! Original CFP follows. Archives Unleashed: Call for Participation Web Data at Scale with the Archives Unleashed Toolkit: Web Archive Datathon Harbour Centre, Simon Fraser University Vancouver Campus 1-2 November 2018 http://archivesunleashed.org/vancouver/ The World Wide Web has had a profound impact on how we research and understand the past. The sheer amount of cultural information that is generated and, crucially, preserved every day in electronic form, presents exciting new opportunities for researchers. Much of this information is captured within web archives. Web archives often contain hundreds of billions of web pages, ranging from individual homepages and social media posts, to institutional websites. These archives offer tremendous potential for social scientists and humanists, and the questions research may pose stretch across a multitude of fields. In short, web archives offer the ability to reconstruct large-scale traces of the relatively recent past. *Archives Unleashed Toolkit* The Archives Unleashed Team has partnered with SFU Library and KEY (SFU’s Big Data initiative) to host the next Archives Unleashed datathon. This event is tailored towards web archives practitioners and researchers. The Archives Unleashed datathon presents an opportunity for librarians, archivists, researchers, computer scientists, and others to collaboratively work with web collections and explore cutting-edge research tools through hands on experience. This event will bring together a small group of approximately 15-20 participants to experiment with the newest release of AUT (Archives Unleashed Toolkit) and the Archives Unleashed Cloud, and to kick-off collaboratively inspired research projects. Participants will have access to analytics software and specialists, and will be exposed to the process of working with web archive files at scale. For more information on AUT and the Cloud, please visit http://archivesunleashed.org/. This will be our second Canadian event, with two additional datathons happening in eastern and western area of the United States. Accordingly, the Vancouver datathon will prioritize regional applicants from western and central Canada and the northwestern United States. *Sponsors + Travel Grants* This event is possible thanks to the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Simon Fraser University Library, SFU Key, University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Arts, York University Libraries, Compute Canada, and Start Smart Labs. The Archives Unleashed team is pleased to offer modest travel grants to help attendees participate in this event. These grants can cover up to $1,000 CAD in travel expenses. If you require financial assistance to attend the event, please indicate in your statement of interest that you would like to be considered for the travel grant. *Submission Guidelines* Those interested in participating should send a 250-word expression of interest and a short one-page CV to the Archives Unleashed Team (archivesunleashed(a)gmail.com) by midnight (EST) on 16 July 2018. This expression of interest should address your background and interests in web archiving, and what you would hope to get out of working with tools and web archive data at scale. Applicants will be notified by 27 July 2018. On behalf of the organizers, Ian Milligan (University of Waterloo), Rebecca Dowson (Simon Fraser University), Nick Ruest (York University), Jimmy Lin (University of Waterloo), and Samantha Fritz (University of Waterloo) -- Ian Milligan | Associate Professor | Department of History University of Waterloo | 200 University Ave W Waterloo ON N2L 3G1 +1 (519) 888-4567 x32775 | http://ianmilligan.ca <http://ianmilligan.ca/> | @ianmilligan1 <https://twitter.com/ianmilligan1>

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COST ARKWORK training school opportunity-due 10 July
by Amber Cushing 29 Jun '18

29 Jun '18

Please share widely. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thanks *COST Action COST-ARKWORK CA15201 Training School 2018 - Call for Trainees* *Theme*: Studying archaeological collections in the digital environment *Date & Location*: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 17-21 September 2018 (5 days) *Local Host*: International Burch University, www.ibu.edu.ba *Venue*: International Burch University, Francuske revolucije bb., 71210 Ilidza, Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina *About this Training School* The training school aims to get participants acquainted with the process of creating, organising, managing and exploring archaeological collections in digital environment, and learn how to examine, evaluate and use different state-of-the art methods and tools to work with archaeological collections. During the training school, participants will examine how archaeologists create digital objects and documents in different contexts, how they integrate these diverse and scattered knowledge sources, and how these insights can be used to inform the development of the state-of-the-art and practical management of the work with archaeological collections. They will also get hands-on experience in using software tools for the analysis of digital archaeological collections. Finally, the participants will examine how this archaeological knowledge work can be disseminated to different stakeholder groups. *Learning outcomes: * Having completed the training school, participants are expected to be able to: · conceptualise a project for creating, managing and organising digital documentation of archaeological collections and the related process steps, actors, methods, tools and resources involved; · describe, critically reflect, understand and evaluate different approaches and tools for creating digital objects/records during archaeological collections documentation; · understand different models and environments used in organising and integrating archaeological knowledge from different sources and repositories; · identify the factors involved in deciding which digital methods and tools to use in a given archaeological project; · select appropriate methods for studying archaeological collections in the digital environment; · use digital tools to analyse, present and interpret knowledge discovered from diverse archaeological data; · recognise the challenges of balancing the archaeological knowledge usage requirements of different stakeholders; *Practical details: * The duration of this Training School is five working days (Trainees to arrive in Sarajevo on 16/09 and depart on 22/09/2018. Part of the days will be spent in the classroom and part in museums. The Grant of 800 EUR (400 EUR for people coming from the neighbouring countries) will be provided for accepted participants as a contribution to the traveling costs, accommodation and subsistence during the Training School. *Organised by ARKWORK * This Action brings together the multidisciplinary work of researchers of archaeological practices in the field of archaeological knowledge production and use. The aim of the network is to make a major push forward in the current state-of-the-art in knowing how archaeological knowledge is produced, how it is used and how to maximise its positive impact on society. The focus of ARKWORK is on training the next generation of scholars and stakeholders by involving future leaders of research as well as high profile experts employed by the industry and public organisations. *Who should apply * Researchers at different ranks are eligible to apply to the training school, including graduate and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and professionals. Researchers from any branch of archaeology, as well as information science, archival science, informatics, computer science, anthropology, sociology of knowledge, and other disciplines are welcome to apply, provided that they have an interest in archaeological practices and knowledge work in the digital environment. *Eligibility* Those who work/attend an education programme, or have citizenship/residency in the following States: COST Full Members: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. COST Near Neighbour Countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Syria, Tunisia, and Ukraine. European RTD Organisations: European Organisation for Nuclear Research, European Fusion Development Agreement, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Space Agency, European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, European XFEL Free-Electron Laser Facility, Institut Laue Langevin. *Applicants to the training school asking for funding should submit: * 1. A motivation letter, not exceeding 250-500 words. Note: Must include a clear indication of experience relevant to the topic of the training school; provide a rationale of why you are interested in the training school and how you envisage the training school to contribute to your learning and research objectives. 2. A short CV (2 pages max) 3. An indication of whether you would like to be considered for funding *Via this web form: **https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PV87HL2* <https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PV87HL2> *For questions, please write to: * Dr. Amber Cushing (Selection Committee Leader) amber.cushing(a)ucd.ie The applicants will be informed about acceptance for grant via Email. Applicants that will not receive a grant, but do receive an invitation can participate with their own or their institutes funding. *Closing date for applications is 11:45pm IST (Irish summer time) 10th July, 2018* Dr. Amber L. Cushing Lecturer/Assistant Professor Director, Msc & Graduate Certificate in Digital Information Management (formerly Digital Curation) Director, ICS PhD Programme School of Information and Communication Studies University College Dublin Belfield Dublin 4 Ireland +353 01 716 8441 www.amberlcushing.info Office: C117 Neman

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Just Out: Videoblogging Before YouTube by Trine Bjørkmann Berry
by Geert Lovink 29 Jun '18

29 Jun '18

Dear AoIR members, the Institute of Network Cultures is proud to present Videoblogging Before YouTube by Trine Bjørkmann Berry, Theory on Demand #27. The book is available in pdf, epub, and print-on-demand here: http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/tod-27-videoblogging-before-you… <http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/tod-27-videoblogging-before-you…> An important hallmark in the research into online video, Videoblogging Before YouTube offers a cultural history of online video, focusing on the critical moment when the internet moved from being a mostly textual medium to a truly multimedia one. Through a close analysis of the early videoblogging community and their creative practices, Trine Bjørkmann Berry argues that early in the new millennium a new cultural-technical media hybrid emerged. which created innovative media forms that have been highly influential on YouTube and other audio-visual media forms such as film and television. Through an ethnographically-informed approach to the cultural history of the videoblogging community, the book examines their practices, which were mostly small-scale, self-funded and bottom-up, and truly experimental. The aesthetic, technical form and content of short-form digital film was an important predecessor to, and anticipator of, our current media ecology. "A compellingly written and highly original study of the practices of the early-adopter video blogging community. This essential study will change the ways in which we think about past, present and future online creative communities and digital platforms.” Catherine Grant, Birkbeck, University of London "A rich and illuminating narrative of the communities, aesthetics and technologies of videoblogging before YouTube. At a moment when the digital media imagination seems to have been captured by corporate behemoths, we need more stories like this.” Jean Burgess, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Trine Bjørkmann Berry is a writer and academic whose research is at the intersection of film theory, digital media and digital vernaculars, with particular emphasis on video and the internet. Bjørkmann Berry is a visiting researcher at the University of Sussex. She publishes on online video, digital culture and aesthetics. Her new research examines the history and practices of the video essay. Cover design: Katja van Stiphout. Design: Rosie Underwood. EPUB development: Rosie Underwood. Print on Demand. Publisher: Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2018. ISBN: 978-94-92302-22-9. Published under a Creative Commons license; download your free copy here or order a print edition via Lulu: http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/tod-27-videoblogging-before-you… <http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/tod-27-videoblogging-before-you…>.

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WEBCAST TODAY: Ethics in Infrastructure: Building the Internet We Want
by Joly MacFie 28 Jun '18

28 Jun '18

This is sold out, so we are happy to be able to add a livestream. Star-studded panel! [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ethics/>Today, *Thursday June 28 2018* at *7pm EDT* (23:00 UTC) the *Ethical Tech Meetup <https://www.meetup.com/Ethical-Tech/>* presents *Ethics in Infrastructure: Building the Internet We Want <https://www.meetup.com/Ethical-Tech/events/251311063/>* at Thoughtworks NYC. Can renegade tech save our digital future? Would adopting the principles of decentralization end up hardening our Internet bubbles into fragmented physical infrastructure and competing reality regimes? And what would that world look like for equity in general if other stratifications continue to harden — income inequality, political polarization, predatory automation, climate injustice? Speakers:* Ingrid Burrington*, writer ( @lifewinning <https://twitter.com/lifewinning>); *Grayson Earle*, media artist (@graysonearle <https://twitter.com/graysonearle>); *Dhruv Mehrotra*, artist/researcher (@DhruvMehrotra <https://twitter.com/DhruvMehrotra>); *Darshana Narayanan*, neuroscientist (@dznarayanan <https://twitter.com/dznarayanan>);* Houman Saberi*, network builder (@rise_nyc <https://twitter.com/rise_nyc>), Moderator:* Greta Byrum*, Digital Equity Lab (@gretabyrum <https://twitter.com/gretabyrum>) . The event will be webcast live on the* Internet Society Livestream Channel <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ethics>*. *View on Livestream: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ethics <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ethics>* *Twitter: Twitter: #ethicaltech http://bit.ly/2KoHY6C <http://bit.ly/2KoHY6C>* *Permalink* http://isoc-ny.org/p2/10358 -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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CFP deadline extended CODE A Media Conference of Platforms, Devices and Screens
by Esther Milne 28 Jun '18

28 Jun '18

Dear Colleagues, ***** DEADLINE EXTENDED TILL FRIDAY 20 JULY 2018***** CALL FOR PAPERS: CODE A Media Conference of Platforms, Devices and Screens Swinburne University Melbourne, AUSTRALIA 19-20 November 2018 Keynote Speakers: *John Cheney-Lippold, University of Michigan (author of _We Are Data: Algorithms and the Making of our Digital Selves_ NYU Press, 2017). *Anna Munster, University of New South Wales (author of _An Aesthesia of Networks_ MIT Press, 2013). For contemporary media studies in the so called age of social media, the role of data has never been more complex. At the inaugural CODE conference six years ago, a collective of digital media academics and creative practitioners were negotiating the rapid emergence of new platforms and devices, and exploring new approaches to theorising, researching and doing digital media. Under the banner of software studies, platform politics, and digital media practice, the first CODE conference interrogated the multifaceted nature of code itself. At that stage, we only had an inkling of the coming impact of algorithms, automation, natural language processing, machine learning and neural nets, and the new wave of artificial intelligence. The time has come to take stock of our data streams. And, in particular, to ask how the notion of code, both materially shaped and conceptually understood, helps to orient media studies in 2018. CODE: A Media Conference of Platforms, Devices and Screens is a two day event consisting of workshops, studios, industry panels and papers. There are lots of opportunities to participate but specifically now we are seeking short research snapshots or provocations of five minutes. We are keen to move away from the old broadcast model of conference format with its death by PowerPoint approach. Instead, we want to hear about research plans, projects, methods, tools or critical perspectives. Whether it's an idea looking for partners, or the report from a project just completed, we encourage you to submit your work. Possible topics could include but are not limited to: *Automation and work futures *The ethics of algorithms *Data visualisation and the shifting boundaries of public and private life *Screen estate and making meaning *The literacies and uses of data analytics *Second screen and new audience measurements *New developments in machine learning *What is data driven media studies? *New screen texts: aesthetics and forms of the digital age (eg VR, the TVIV era) *On-demand screen cultures *Curatorial culture and the classificatory imagination *Shifting boundaries of screen performance (eg motion and performance capture) *Cultural heritage and GLAM industries *Pedagogies of code *Digital making and maker culture *Digital archives, archaeologies, and histories *****Preliminary Schedule***** DAY 1: MONDAY 19 NOVEMBER OPENING KEYNOTE KEYNOTE FORUM 10 min responses to the keynote RESEARCH SNAPSHOTS & PROVOCATIONS Five minute presentations from attendees DAY 2: TUESDAY 20 NOVEMBER WORKSHOP: Methods for ECRs and PhD students WORKSHOP: Data literacies PANEL: DECRA applications INDUSTRY FORUM PANEL: Screen research and practice PANEL: Concepts, methods, keyworks CLOSING KEYNOTE KEYNOTE FORUM 10 min responses to the keynote *****Submission Guidelines***** Please submit proposals for individual (up to 500 words) or collaborative presentations (up to 2,000 words) by Friday 20 July 2018 to: codeconference(a)swin.edu.au Proposals must contain the following information: Name(s) of presenter; email address; brief bio; five keywords. Anticipated registration costs: Waged earlybird: $50 Waged standard: $60 Unwaged earlybird: $30 Unwaged standard: $40 Full details will be published at: code2k18.com Organising Committee: Cesar Albarran-Torres Jessica Balanzategui Dan Golding Anthony McCosker Esther Milne (Chair) Emily van der Nagel Supported by Swinburne's Department of Media and Communication. Associate Professor Esther Milne Department of Media and Communication School of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Swinburne University, Melbourne AUSTRALIA 3122 emilne(a)swin.edu.au<mailto:emilne@swin.edu.au> ||| +61 3 92148195

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Deadline Extension: The Cultural Life of Machine Learning: An Incursion into Critical AI Studies
by Castelle, Michael 27 Jun '18

27 Jun '18

** Apologies for cross-posting ** The Cultural Life of Machine Learning: An Incursion into Critical AI Studies Preconference Workshop, #AoIR2018<https://aoir.org/aoir2018/preconfwrkshop/> Montréal, Canada Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre, INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) Wednesday October 10th 2018 Deadline for Abstracts: June 30th 2018 *Extended Deadline*: July 7th 2018 Keynote: Orit Halpern (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University) Machine learning (ML), deep neural networks, differentiable programming and related contemporary novelties in artificial intelligence (AI) are all leading to the development of an ambiguous yet efficient narrative promoting the dominance of a scientific field—as well as a ubiquitous business model. Indeed, AI is very much in full hype mode. For its advocates, it represents a ‘tsunami’ (Manning, 2015) or ‘revolution’ (Sejnowski, 2018)—terms indicative of a very performative and promotional, if not self-fulfilling, discourse. The question, then, is: how are the social sciences and humanities to dissect such a discourse and make sense of all its practical implications? So far, the literature on algorithms and algorithmic cultures has been keen to explore both their broad socio-economic, political and cultural repercussions, and the ways they relate to different disciplines, from sociology to communication and Internet studies. The crucial task ahead is understanding the specific ways by which the new challenges raised by ML and AI technologies affect this wider framework. This would imply not only closer collaboration among disciplines—including those of STS for instance—but also the development of new critical insights and perspectives. Thus a helpful and precise pre-conference workshop question could be: what is the best way to develop a fine-grained yet encompassing field under the name of Critical AI Studies? We propose to explore three regimes in which ML and 21st-century AI crystallize and come to justify their existence: (1) epistemology, (2) agency, and (3) governmentality—each of which generates new challenges as well as new directions for inquiries. In terms of epistemology, it is important to recognize that ML and AI are situated forms of knowledge production, and thus worthy of empirical examination (Pinch and Bijker, 1987). At present, we only have internal accounts of the historical development of the machine learning field, which increasingly reproduce a teleological story of its rise (Rosenblatt, 1958) and fall (Minsky and Papert 1968; Vapnik 1998) and rise (Hinton 2006), concluding with the diverse if as-yet unproven applications of deep learning. Especially problematic in this regard is our understanding of how these techniques are increasingly hybridized with large-scale training datasets, specialized graphics-processing hardware, and algorithmic calculus. The rationale behind contemporary ML finds its expression in a very specific laboratory culture (Forsythe 1993), with a specific ethos or model of “open science”. Models trained on the largest datasets of private corporations are thus made freely available, and subsequently détourned for the new AI’s semiotic environs of image, speech, and text—promising to make the epistemically recalcitrant landscapes of unruly and ‘unstructured’ data newly “manageable”. As the knowledge-production techniques of ML and AI move further into the fabric of everyday life, it creates a particularly new form of agency. Unlike the static, rule-based systems critiqued in a previous generation by Dreyfus (1972), modern AI models pragmatically unfold as a temporal flow of decontextualized classifications. What then does agency mean for machine learners (Mackenzie, 2017)? Performance in this particular case relates to the power of inferring and predicting outcomes (Burrell, 2016); new kinds of algorithmic control thus emerge at the junction of meaning-making and decision-making. The implications of this question are tangible, particularly as ML becomes more unsupervised and begins to impact on numerous aspects of daily life. Social media, for instance, are undergoing radical change, as insightful new actants come to populate the world: Echo translates your desires into Amazon purchases, and Facebook is now able to detect suicidal behaviours. In the general domain of work, too, these actants leave permanent traces—not only on repetitive tasks, but on the broader intellectual responsibility. Last but not least, the final regime to explore in this preconference workshop is governmentality. The politics of ML and AI are still largely to be outlined, and the question of power for these techniques remains largely unexplored. Governmentality refers specifically to how a field is organised—by whom, for what purposes, and through which means and discourses (Foucault, 1991). As stated above, ML and AI are based on a model of open science and innovation, in which public actors—such as governments and universities—are deeply implicated (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000). One problem, however, is that while the algorithms themselves may be openly available, the datasets on which they rely for implementation are not—hence the massive advantages for private actors such as Google or Facebook who control the data, as well as the economic resources to attract the brightest students in the field. But there is more: this same open innovation model makes possible the manufacture of military AI with little regulatory oversight, as is the case for China, whose government is currently helping to fuel an AI arms race (Simonite 2017). What alternatives or counter-powers could be imagined in these circumstances? Could ethical considerations stand alone without a proper and fully developed critical approach to ML and AI? This workshop will try to address these pressing and interconnected issues. We welcome all submissions which might profitably connect with one or more of these three categories of epistemology, agency, and governmentality; but we welcome other theoretically and/or empirically rich contributions. Interested scholars should submit proposal abstracts, of approximately 250 words, by July 7th 2018 to CriticalAI2018 [at] gmail [dot] com. Proposals may represent works in progress, short position papers, or more developed research. The format of the workshop will focus on paper presentations and keynotes, with additional opportunities for group discussion and reflection. This preconference workshop will be held at the Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre of INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique). The Centre is located at 385 Sherbrooke St E, Montreal, QC, and is about a 20-minute train ride from the Centre Sheraton on the STM Orange Line (enter at the Bonaventure stop, exit at Sherbrooke), or about a 30-minute walk along Rue Sherbrooke. For information on the AoIR (Association of Internet Researchers) conference, see https://aoir.org/aoir2018/ ; for other preconference workshops at AoIR 2018, see https://aoir.org/aoir2018/preconfwrkshop/. Organizers: Jonathan Roberge (INRS), Michael Castelle (University of Warwick), and Thomas Crosbie (Royal Danish Defence College).

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Just Now: Organization after Social Media by Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter
by Geert Lovink 27 Jun '18

27 Jun '18

Organization after Social Media by Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter Exploring the politics of networks through and beyond social media Organized networks are an alternative to the social media logic of weak links and their secretive economy of data mining. They put an end to freestyle friends, seeking forms of empowerment beyond the brief moment of joyful networking. This speculative manual calls for nothing less than social technologies based on enduring time. Analyzing contemporary practices of organization through networks as new institutional forms, organized networks provide an alternative to political parties, trade unions, NGOs, and traditional social movements. Dominant social media deliver remarkably little to advance decision-making within digital communication infrastructures. The world cries for action, not likes. Organization after Social Media explores a range of social settings from arts and design, cultural politics, visual culture and creative industries, disorientated education and the crisis of pedagogy to media theory and activism. Lovink and Rossiter devise strategies of commitment to help claw ourselves out of the toxic morass of platform suffocation. PDF available freely online: http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/organizationaf… <http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/organizationaf…>. Ordering Information: Available direct from Minor Compositions now for the special price of £10: http://www.minorcompositions.info/?page_id=16 <http://www.minorcompositions.info/?page_id=16>. Book launch on September 17, 2018 at 5 PM, Spui 25, Amsterdam. Official release to the book trade in Winter 2018. 182 pages, 5.5 x 8.5, UK: £16 / US: $24 — ISBN 978-1-57027-338-4 Released by Minor Compositions, Colchester / Brooklyn / Port Watson Minor Compositions is a series of interventions & provocations drawing from autonomous politics, avant-garde aesthetics, and the revolutions of everyday life. Minor Compositions is an imprint of Autonomedia www.minorcompositions.info <http://www.minorcompositions.info/>| minorcompositions(a)gmail.com <mailto:minorcompositions@gmail.com> -- Geert Lovink is a media activist and theorist, internet critic and author of Uncanny Networks (2001), Dark Fiber (2002), My First Recession (2003), Zero Comments (2007), Networks Without a Cause (2012) and Social Media Abyss (2016). He is the founder of the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) and teaches at the European Graduate School in Saas Fee/Malta. Ned Rossiter is Professor of Communication in the Institute for Culture and Society with a joint appointment in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Western Sydney University. He is the author of Organized Networks: Media Theory, Creative Labour, New Institutions (2006) and Software, Infrastructure, Labor: A Media Theory of Logistical Nightmares (2016).

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New Senior Lecturer / Course Leader for MA in Media & Digital Communications position
by Zoetanya Sujon 26 Jun '18

26 Jun '18

Dear all, Very excited to announce that Regent's University London is inviting applications for a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications / Course Leader for the new MA in Media & Digital Communications. This position is very digitally focused and requires expertise in emerging technologies, digital methods, and a comprehensive knowledge of the transition from 20th to 21st Century media. For further details, please see the job ad and description: https://regents.recruitment.northgatearinso.com/wrl/pages/vacancy.jsf?lates… Happy to discuss if anyone might be interested. Take care, Zoetanya Sujon Senior Lecturer, Regent's University London -- 'You are marvellous. The Gods wait to delight in you.' ('The Laughing Heart' by Charles Bukowski).

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