Mirko Tobias Schäfer / Assistant Professor
University of Utrecht Department for Media and Culture Studies
Mirko Tobias Schäfer / Assistant Professor
University of Utrecht Department for Media and Culture Studies
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The dichotomy between technology and culture is vanishing in a society that recognizes more and more the fact that culture and technology are deeply intertwined. Computer technology and software have a big impact on cultural practices, and at the same time cultural discourses on technology are shaping the construction of technical artefacts. The aim of this course is to study the mutual influences between technology, culture and artefacts. The students will be divided into two groups. The students will investigate the agency of technology in the information society. The Actor Network Theory and Latour's notion of the 'thing' will be used to map and revisit the relations between artefacts (technology) and developers and users (culture). Based on existing literature on the subject, students will explore the following themes:
* The medium specific characteristics of computer technology and software
* The agency of computers, software and protocols
* Connections and influences between artefacts, developers and users
* The parliament of things (Latour) for the information society
Students will learn to differentiate different approaches to describe and research technology. By reading literature from the field of Science and Technology Studies (S+TS) with special focus upon Actor Network Theory (ANT) students will obtain the terminology and methods of this field and be able to apply them to their own research. They will develop a balanced understanding towards the "nature" of technology and its socio-political denotation.
Introduction (Mirko Tobias Schäfer)
Compulsory Reading
* Rammert, Werner (1999), Relations that Constitute Technology and Media that Make a Difference: Toward a Social Pragmatic Theory of Technicization, in Phil + Tech, 4:3, 1999. Online (pdf)
* Bowler, Peter J; Morus, Iwan Rhys (2005), Making Modern Science. A Historical Survey, Chapter 17: Science and Technology, pp. 391-414. (Collegeplank)
* Flusser, Vilém (2002), The Codified World, in Ströhl, Andreas (ed.): Vilém Flusser. Writings, pp. 35-41. (Reader)
Compulsary Activity
Visit your local science and technology museum and have a look at the collection of scientific instruments and think of the relation between instrument, the collection of data and the representation of nature.
University Museum Utrecht
Further Reading
Highlights from 350 Years of modern science presented by The Royal Society, 2009 (pdf)
Further Viewing
The Machine that Changed the World, Jon Palfreman USA/1992, online
Compulsory Reading
* Feenberg, Andrew (1999), Questioning Technology, Chapter 1: Technology, Philosophy, Politics, pp. 1-19.
* Latour, Bruno (2005), Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor Network Theory, Chapter 1, pp. 21-62.
* Sismondo, Sergio (2009), An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, Chapter 8, p. 81-92. (Reader)
Further Reading
* Law, John; Callon, Michel (1992), The Life and Death of an Aircraft: A Network Analysis of Technical Change, in Bijker, Wiebe; Law, John: Shaping Technology / Building Society, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 21-52. Collegeplank.
* Geoff Bowker (1992), What is in a patent?, in Bijker, Wiebe; Law, John: Shaping Technology / Building Society, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1992, pp. 53-74. Collegeplank.
Presentations
* Presentation 2A: Researching Technology. Key concepts of Science and Technology Studies.
* Presentation 2B: The terminology of Actor Network Theory
* Presentation 2C: Networks of Human and Non-human Actors.
Compulsory Reading
* Hughes, Thomas P. (1987), Evolution of Large Technological Systems, in Bijker, W. E.; Hughes, T.P.; Pinch, T.: The Social Construction of Technological Systems, pp. 51-82. Collegeplank.
* Leinweber, David (2009), Nerds on Wallstreet, Chapter 1, pp. 5-29. (Reader)
* Mitchell, Melanie (2009), Complexity. A Guided Tour; Chapter 1: What is Complexity?, pp. 3-14. (Reader)
Additional Reading
* Reddy, Arun (2010), The Science and Technology of Air Traffic Control, in Ars Technica, March 2010, online.
* Stokes, Jon (2009), The Matrix, but with Money. The World of High-Speed Trading, in Ars Technica, July 2009, online.
Further Viewing
Presentations
* Presentation 3A: Software as Infrastructure
* Presentation 3B: Complexity and Technological Systems
* Presentation 3C: Innovation and Technological Systems
Compulsory Reading
* Hartmann, Frank (2005), Humanization of Knowledge Through the Eye, in Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel: Making Things Public, pp. 698-707 (collegeplank).
* Van Fraassen, Bas (2008), Scientific Representation. Paradoxes of Perspective, Chapter 4, pp. 93-114 (Reader)
Further Reading
* Migurski, Michal (2009), Visualizing Urban Data. The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions, in Segaran Toby; Hammerbacher, Jeff: Beautiful Data, pp. 167-182. (Reader)
Further Viewing
Visual Complexity
Data Visualization Tools
The Open Graph Viz Platform, Gephi
Digital Methods.net
Presentations
* Presentation 4A: Translating Data into Pictures
* Presentation 4B: The Mechanisation of Vision
* Presentation 4C: Seeing Nature through Techno-Images
Compulsory Reading
* Keller, Evelyn F. (2003), Models, Simulation, and 'Computer Experiments'. In Hans Radder (ed.) The Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation, pp. 198-215 (Reader).
* Pilkey, Orrin H. and Pilkey-Jarvis, Linda (2007), Useless Arithmetic. Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future, Chapter 2, pp. 22-44 (Reader)
Compulsary Activity
May 27th, 20:00 Utrecht Nieuwe Media Avond 4 on Augmented Reality at SetUp Utrecht, Neude 4, ABN Amro Building
Further Reading
* Turkle, Sherry (2009), Simulation and its Discontents, pp. 3-102 (collegeplank)
* Gramelsberger, Gabriele (2006), Storytelling with Code. Archeology of Climate Modelling, in TeamEthno-online Issue 2, June 2006, pp. 77-84, (pdf).
Further Viewing
Wall Stree Raider (Ronin Software)
The Bathtub, Climate Simulation (Sustainer.org)
Presentations
* Presentation 5A: Simulation as Techno-Image
* Presentation 5B:
* Presentation 5C: Questioning Simulation
Compulsory Reading
* Coulter-Smith, Elisabeth; Coulter-Smith, Graham (2009), Mapping Outside the Frame. Interactive and Locative Art Environments, in: Anna Bentkovska-Hafel, Trish Cashen, Hazel Gardiner: Digital Visual Culture. Theory and Practice, pp. 49-65.
* Manovich, Lev (2002), The Poetics of Augmented Space: Learning from Prada, online text (pdf)
Further Reading
Presentations
* Presentation 6A: Infrastructures for AR
* Presentation 6B: Practices of Augmenting Reality
* Presentation 6C: Tagging Cultural Heritage
Compulsory Reading
* Seeburger, Jan; Schroeter, Ronald (2009) Disposable maps : ad hoc location sharing. In: OZCHI 2009 Proceedings, 23-27 November 2009, Melbourne. (pdf)
Further Reading
* Chatzichristodolou, Maria (2009), When Presence-absence becomes Pattern-randomness: Blast Theory's Can You See Me Now, in Anna Bentkovska-Hafel, Trish Cashen, Hazel Gardiner: Digital Visual Culture. Theory and Practice, pp. 79-87.
Further Viewing
Dispo Maps
Bliin
The Participatory Geoweb
Cartography 2.0
Presentations
* Presentation 7A: Rewriting Territory. Activism and Mapping
* Presentation 7B: Territory, Data and Processes of Abstraction
* Presentation 7C: MashUp Maps and Information Infrastructures
Compulsory Reading
* Latour, Bruno: From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik, in Latour, Bruno; Weibel, Peter: Making Things Public, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005, pp. 4-31. (pdf).
* Sassen, Saskia (2006), Territory, Authority, Rights. From Medieval to Global Assemblages; Chapter 7, pp. 323-375. (Collegeplank)
Presentations
* Presentation 8A: Tracing Politics in Technology
* Presentation 8B: Complexity Imaginaire
* Presentation 8C: Analysing a Codified World
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Date April 2010 Category University
Coding Culture. ICT and the Constitution of Culture
MA course, 200600075
Class meetings every tuesday from 13:15 to 17:00
Cursuskrant