| Geert Lovink on Sat, 23 Apr 2022 07:52:07 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Workshop Agre After Techno-Utopianism 1-2. September 2022 (University of Siegen, Germany) |
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From: Tatjana.Seitz@uni-siegen.de Dear nettimers, I would like to invite you all to our forthcoming workshop, 'Agre After Techno-Utopianism', on the work of Philip E. Agre. It will be held (on site/hybrid) at the University of Siegen, Germany on 1-2 September, 2022, hosted by Media of Cooperation. We want to use these two days to re-engage with his work and thinking (grammars, AI, surveillance critique, internet critique, Netzkritik, list cultures, etc.). To do so, we organise two formats: round table conversations with former colleagues and a workshop part for close reading and discussion of his work. We are open to topics, formats and interventions (scholarly, artistic or otherwise), and hope to see contributions from this community. We have been able to arrange excellent guests from the USA, however, the European ties are still a bit loose. We strongly hope to find European/non-western former collaborators and early supporters (or critics) of Agre's work among you. If anyone feels addressed, I would love to talk to you! Regards, Tatjana Seitz, Sam Hind, and co-organizers -- Workshop Call for Participation Agre After Techno-Utopianism 1-2. September 2022 (University of Siegen, Germany) In person/hybrid It is hard to imagine digital culture without the work of Philip E. Agre. His description of the mutual dynamics of digital technology and ideology, so-called ‘grammars of action’, and the appeal for a critical technical practice have inspired scholars across media studies, HCI, and digital art and design for over 30 years. This workshop, ‘Agre After Techno-Utopianism’, seeks to evaluate his contribution to the study of technology, ideology, critique, and practice since the ‘techno-utopia’ of the early internet era ended, and more dystopic energies emerged. The relevance of his work today is substantial. In Surveillance and Capture, Agre saw the threats new workplace technologies posed that would mutate into examples of surveillance capitalism. In Real-Time Politics, he wrote extensively on the downsides of digital cultures when the web was still considered a techno-utopia. In 1987 Agre and David Chapman explored critiques of dominant AI conceptualizations. Together, these strands can be considered precursors to work, now commonplace, in software studies and integrated into computational methods for the study of digital culture. In Toward a Critical Technical Practice (from 1997), Agre famously offered a synthetic approach to studying technology, straddling the ‘craft work of design’ and the ‘reflexive work of critique’. In High Tech to Human Tech (Agre 1995) the political economy of digital culture became an even greater interest, debunking the ideology of ‘empowerment’ in newly ‘computerized’ workplaces. Even lesser-known work on the Networked University (from 2000) offered a prescient insight into the ‘promise and danger’ of remote learning. Agre’s contribution to, as well as critique of, digital culture was just as significant. He ran the monthly mailing list The Network Observer (1994-96) before starting the Red Rock Eater News Service (1996-2001), offering regular insights into the ‘social and political aspects of computing and networking’. Not only did Agre critique the emerging digital world, but contributed to the counterculture within it. Since this period, we have experienced the downsides of networks, social media, and platforms, with AI and sensory media accelerating capitalism further. Bringing the founders of the nettime (1995-present) mailing list into conversation with the history of REE we want to think about how list cultures equally manifest as cultures of resistance. In this, we want to re-discover ideas that resisted tech-utopian narratives, and practices that challenged these ideologies. Collectively, we want to deepen our understanding of Agre’s thinking and the significance of his work. From revisiting well-known texts to rediscovering less-popular work, and exploring the exciting interconnections between various disciplines and forms of ‘net activism’ that engaged with Agre’s work from computational science to sociology, and from work in political economy to across the wider arts and humanities. Within the context of the contemporary platform condition we want to collectively reflect on the relevance, as well as limitations, of his work; continuing to debunk cyber utopias, whilst disassociating and rearticulating narratives of power. For this purpose, we invite contributions to a two-day workshop, 1-2. September 2022 where workshop participants will dive into the work of Agre through different formats: conversations, exegese, and critiques. In this, we are equally interested in exploring his role in shaping digital culture as we are in his academic work. We invite contributions that engage with Agre's work in a comprehensive manner. We want to develop a foundation for how to read and work with Agre. We especially welcome contributions that seek to apply, and develop, Agre’s key concepts. However, the workshop will also aim to make sense of how Agre's thought has itself developed, from his early experiments with Pengi to the political economy of the internet. How, for instance, did his work on Pengi shape the idea of critical technical practice? What kinds of critique does Interactionism offer for the digital? While the written contributions are designed to support a thorough examination of Agre's thinking, we will provide ample space for discussion. Here Agre can be confronted with contemporary questions. How, for instance, to think about ‘data practices’, sensor media or automation along with Agre? Our second concern is to discuss the possibilities and practical implications of a collective inventory or archive of Agre’s work, exploring methods of documenting the network that developed around the RRE in the US and Europe and consider how it might be preserved and/or re-presented. We believe his heterogenous interventions deserve to be organized in a way that is respectful to the media specificity and materiality of early net critique, as well as being made accessible to the broader public. Format: 2-day discussion workshop with conversation formats and interviews as well as dedicated discussions of contributions. Papers will be circulated in advance. Please submit an abstract or proposal. Deadline for submissions: 10. May, 2022 Suggested (non-exhaustive) topics. How did Agre develop critiques around the following issues:
The Network Observer: https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/agre/tno.html |
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