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About this event
Algorithmic technologies promise predictive certainty through the combination of quantification and statistical analysis, wrapped in a veneer of technical superiority (Hong 2022). Yet research has shown that forms of error, doubt, and unreason (Amoore 2020) are inseparable from algorithmic technologies and can be found at the very root of the emergence of the modern concept of the algorithm (Daston 2022), as well as cybernetics and other projects of data-driven rationalisation throughout the 20th century (Halpern 2015, Erickson et al. 2013). Unreason and irrationality thus need to be carefully excavated and understood within the concrete social impact of algorithmic and computational technologies (Dhaliwal 2022).
This workshop takes up those themes via the work of Sun-ha Hong on algorithmic prediction and techno futures. Sun-ha will open with an overview of recent research, followed by short “lightning talks” of work-in-progress by digital cultures researchers at UQ to kick-start discussions. Readings for this in-person workshop will be provided in advance.
Please register your attendance so we can send you the readings for this session.
Event details
Speaker: Assistant Professor Sun-Ha Hong
Sun-Ha is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Simon Fraser University and the author of Technologies of Speculation: The Limits of Knowledge. His research focuses on how the way we think and talk about technologies shape their human and social implications. In a series of public lectures and masterclasses across Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, Sun-Ha will discuss the powerful imaginaries established by contemporary technologies and the way in which data becomes invested with ideals of precision, objectivity and truth. With his philosophical yet accessible work, Sun-Ha’s visit to Australia offers researchers, students, and the general public a perfect opportunity to enrich their understanding of the digitally-driven shifts that condition our world today.
During his visit to Brisbane in August this year, Digital Cultures & Societies will host a masterclass. Sun-Ha will discuss his work on knowledge production in the data-driven society and present some recently-emerging research. This presentation will be followed by a handful of short, informal talks on work in progress from Brisbane researchers, with Sun-Ha responding. The Masterclass will conclude with a discussion of the key challenges (methodological, social/political, and epistemological) when carrying out digital cultures research in this space.
Masterclass Topic:
Algorithmic technologies promise predictive certainty through the combination of quantification and statistical analysis, wrapped in a veneer of technical superiority (Hong 2022). Yet research has shown that forms of error, doubt, and unreason (Amoore 2020) are inseparable from algorithmic technologies and can be found at the very root of the emergence of the modern concept of the algorithm (Daston 2022), as well as cybernetics and other projects of data-driven rationalisation throughout the 20th century (Halpern 2015, Erickson et al. 2013). Unreason and irrationality thus need to be carefully excavated and understood within the concrete social impact of algorithmic and computational technologies (Dhaliwal 2022).
This workshop takes up those themes via the work of Sun-ha Hong on algorithmic prediction and techno futures. Sun-ha will open with an overview of recent research, followed by short “lightning talks” of work-in-progress by digital cultures researchers at UQ to kick-start discussions. Readings for this in-person workshop will be provided in advance.
Speakers:
Andrew Dougall
Dr. Andrew Dougall is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Digital Cultures and Societies at UQ. His research examines the connection between digital media and order in world politics.
Katy McHugh
Katy McHugh researches the intersection of death, grief and social networking technology. Her PhD introduces speculative designs and design fictions that explore technology futures and the implications of feeding human grief and suffering into attention economy algorithms.
Maria-Gemma Brown
Maria-Gemma is a PhD candidate in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society and the School of Communications and the Arts at the University of Queensland.
Leah Henrickson
Dr. Leah Henrickson is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Cultures at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on social perceptions of artificial intelligence, as well as commercial and community applications of digital storytelling.
Respondent:
Luke Munn
Dr. Luke Munn is a Research Fellow in Digital Cultures & Societies at the University of Queensland. His wide-ranging work investigates the sociocultural impacts of digital cultures, from data infrastructures in Asia to platform labor and far-right radicalisation, and has been featured in highly regarded journals such as Cultural Politics, Big Data & Society, and New Media & Society as well as popular forums like the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. He has written five books: Unmaking the Algorithm (2018), Logic of Feeling (2020), Automation is a Myth (2022), Countering the Cloud (2022), and Technical Territories (2023 forthcoming). His work combines diverse digital methods with critical analysis that draws on media, race, and cultural studies.
For more information contact us at: digitalcultures@hass.uq.edu.au.
Find out more about Digital Cultures & Societies on our website: Digital Cultures & Societies at UQ