This talk begins from the premise that today’s social computing environments--their interfaces, data structures, and overall designs--have been enormously, if latently, influenced by philosophy. Machine learning strategies for computer vision and automatic classification owe a conceptual debt to Humean empiricism, for example. Embodied interaction design is deeply indebted to the insights of Heideggerean phenomenology. And the ideas of American pragmatist and logician Charles Sanders Peirce serve as an important formalizing basis for networked data structures.
Acknowledging these influences in thumbnail, the main question turned over in the talk is whether networked knowledge structures supplement the social, or effectively constitute it. Favouring the latter, the talk turns to an as-yet under-explored philosophical resource--differential ontology--in order to spark discussion around alternative future systems.
Type:streamed talk
Length*: 30 minutes
Date: between August 7-9
Duration: once
Language: english
Objectives
To communicate a renewed appreciation for how network formalizations inevitably come to function as a material-semiotic medium for thought;
To produce a sketch of what an alternative set of signifying practices might look like by following the insights of differential ontology.
List technical considerations, platform, and any resources you as presenter require AND any participant materials (indicate if support is required for a purchase/cost). Include equipment, technical, and installation requirements if applicable. We will aim to accommodate where possible]
Slides and talk, produced either as a live or pre-recorded presentation.
Neal Thomas teaches communication studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON. His research is focused at the intersection of critical social theory and computing technique, its central motivation being to better understand the impact that social technologies have upon the political imagination of deeply-mediatized societies.
Description
This talk begins from the premise that today’s social computing environments--their interfaces, data structures, and overall designs--have been enormously, if latently, influenced by philosophy. Machine learning strategies for computer vision and automatic classification owe a conceptual debt to Humean empiricism, for example. Embodied interaction design is deeply indebted to the insights of Heideggerean phenomenology. And the ideas of American pragmatist and logician Charles Sanders Peirce serve as an important formalizing basis for networked data structures.
Acknowledging these influences in thumbnail, the main question turned over in the talk is whether networked knowledge structures supplement the social, or effectively constitute it. Favouring the latter, the talk turns to an as-yet under-explored philosophical resource--differential ontology--in order to spark discussion around alternative future systems.
Type:streamed talk
Length*: 30 minutes
Date: between August 7-9
Duration: once Language: english
Objectives
To communicate a renewed appreciation for how network formalizations inevitably come to function as a material-semiotic medium for thought;
To produce a sketch of what an alternative set of signifying practices might look like by following the insights of differential ontology.
Material and Technical Requirements
Platform:videoconferencing Technical considerations: n/a Additional considerations: n/a
List technical considerations, platform, and any resources you as presenter require AND any participant materials (indicate if support is required for a purchase/cost). Include equipment, technical, and installation requirements if applicable. We will aim to accommodate where possible]
Slides and talk, produced either as a live or pre-recorded presentation.
Presenter(s)
Name: Neal Thomas Email: neal@hivemedia.ca Url(s): hivemedia.ca Twitter: @lathemason GitHub: lathemason
Presenter Bio
Neal Thomas teaches communication studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON. His research is focused at the intersection of critical social theory and computing technique, its central motivation being to better understand the impact that social technologies have upon the political imagination of deeply-mediatized societies.