Theory culture and technology reading group
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[edit] Dave Everitt > Theory culture and technology reading group (TCT)
- Simon Mills, Helen Wood, Dave Everitt
Now closed.
[edit] TCT 5: 10 Dec 2008, IoCT (12-2pm)
Reading: Bruno Latour (translated by Couze Venn), Morality and Technology: The End of the Means. Download PDF from Sage Publications or directly from this wiki.
In this essay Latour makes an explicit link between the development of Morality and the development of Technology, explaining the relationship in terms of detours and labyrinths. One can also discern the idea of technologies as actors and mediators in that they "incite around them that whirlwind of new worlds". Some interesting ideas in here.
There may also be mince pies!
[edit] TCT 4: 07 Nov 2008, IoCT (2-4pm)
Reading: Tania Bransden (now Leishman) and David G. Green, Getting along with your neighbours – emergent cooperation in networks of adaptive agents - concerns computer modelling of social interaction. Download PDF from www.csse.monash.edu.au/~dgreen/papers
[edit] Related links:
- Network Theory and Social Complexity
- an introduction from the from the InterSci Complexity wiki, that also has good related links.
- NECSI Complex Systems Wiki
- a clear introduction to complexity science in general.
- Social network theory wiki
- from York, has a good list of seminal texts.
- The Emergence of Social Consensus in Boolean Networks
- a related paper by the same authors (David Green, Tania Leishman, Susan Sadedin - Tania Bransden is now Tania Leishman).
- Consensus and cohesion in simulated social networks
- some deeper reading (Rob Stocker, David G Green and David Newth, 2001).
- Dynamics of Complexity (QuickTime video)
- Keynote delivery by Professor Jeffrey Johnson, Professor of Complexity Science and Design, Open University and ECiD Cluster Leader - includes a concise overview of complexity science (without having to read anything!).
[edit] TCT 3: 13 May 2008, IoCT
Reading: Tiziana Terranova, Communication beyond Meaning: on the cultural politics of information. Available from SocialText
Mixing aspects of complexity theory and information science with cultural studies, rewarding for anyone interested in interdisciplinary perspectives on network culture. Also given out as a related text was: Jodi Dean, Communicative Capitalism, Circulation ad the Foreclosure of Politics. Available from www.ingentaconnect.com
[edit] Related links:
- network science
- book and lecture reviews including Terranova (from The Masters of Media (MofM) blog, University of Amsterdam New Media Masters students)
- Network culture
- an accessible commentary on Terranova's book from the author of Nowtopia. Here's another more traditional review
- Network Culture
- an extract from her book on Amazon.co.uk
- Recomposing the University
- Terranova & Marc Bousquet discuss the effects of neo-liberalism on the university and possible lines of resistance - off-topic but worthwhile for Terranova's view on UK higher ed. (from Mute Beta)
- Terranova on Google Scholar
- useful list of publications
- Heat-Death: Emergence And Control In Genetic Engineering And Artificial Life
- essay by Luciana Parisi & Tiziana Terranova applying concepts from thermodynamics and turbulence, applied to politics and culture (from ctheory.net)
- Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy
- another essay by Terranova (from electronic book review's, techno-capitalism thread)
- Open Congress: Creativity and the public domain
- tired of reading? Listen to Terranova instead (from Tate online - faulty RealPlayer stream (come on Tate), but just might work for you...)
[edit] TCT 2: 08 Apr 2008, Clephan 3.02
Reading: Sanna Talja "Isms" in information science: constructivism, collectivism and constructionism
[edit] TCT 1: 04 Mar 2008, IoCT
Reading: John Simmons, Sade and Cyberspace; Howard Rheingold, Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to Encourage Civic Engagement, the latter involved Howard via live video link (this was recorded, permission needed from all participants before publishing video).
[edit] Update 04/02/2008
Initial planning meeting: IoCT 2-3.30pm Friday 15th February. Over 30 people expressed an interest, around 8-12 make it to each meeting.
[edit] Some proposed themes
- Virtuality
- Affect
- Interactivity
- Post humanism
- Information
- Ontology
- Complexity
- Networks
- Digital aesthetics
[edit] Possibly useful links:
- the concept and nature of 'virtuality'
- Interactivity: e.g. Gilbert Simondon's notion of transduction (see Simondon on Technology and A Short List of Gilbert Simondon’s Vocabulary)
- Bruno Latour's sociology of science, specifically Actor Network Theory, and We Have Never Been Modern
- Dynamics of Complex Systems this new overview of the field by Yaneer Bar-Yam book is available online (as free PDFs) - try Chapter [0 Overview] first.
For Dave's interests see: research and consequent papers
